-
A winning
combination for UK Team ? (01/25/01) (source : madforsailing)
With Ben Ainslie down
in Auckland on America's Cup duty, Ian Walker has
stepped in to take the helm of the IC45 Barlo Plastics
for the opening regatta of the Clean Marine IC45
Winter Series 2001 in Palma de majorca. Commenting
on his appointment, helmsman Walker said, " It is
great to see the British Team on the water so early,
with such a talented team of sailors."
Calling tactics for Walker will be Adrian Stead,
who is running the Barlo Plastics campaign on behalf
of the boat's new owner, telecoms entrepreneur Robert
Condon. Stead's old Soling partner, Andy Beadsworth,
is doing mainsheet whilst another Olympian, Tornado
sailor Hugh Styles, makes his big boat debut as
one of the trimmers.
a
Barlo Plastics
IC 45 Crew List
-
Bow Mark Sheffield
-
Mast Brendan Darrer
-
Pit Kelvin Rawlings
-
Trimmer Richard Faulkner
-
Trimmer Hugh Styles
-
Cockpit Steve Dawson
-
Navigator Julian Salter
-
Main Andy Beadsworth
-
Helm Ian Walker
-
Tactician Adrian Stead
-
The British
Challenge is emerging - Part 2 (01/16/01) (source : sport.telegraph.co.uk)
Rumours are in the wind
that the British are set to challenge for the
America's Cup for the first time since 1987. A
formal announcement is expected by the end of
the month, but sources here, and in England say
the the money is in place with sailors and designers
being signed up.
The much publicised presence of two America's
Cup yachts at Cowes week last year raised the
profile of the Auld Mug in Britain. But it was
the outstanding performance of the British Olympic
sailors with three golds and two silvers which
seem to have finally turned rumour of a challenge
into fact.
Britain will be back in the America's Cup for
the first time since 1987 with double Olympic
silver medallist Ian Walker heading a sailing
team, New Zealander David Barnes running the operations
side (dominant 470 sailor of the early 1980s,
and then part of both the 'Plastic Fantastic'
New Zealand team in 1987, the subsequent 1988
Big Boat challenge and Fay's final throw in 1992,
He then worked as a coach with One Australia in
1995, and America True in 2000).
The RNZYS Commodore, Peter Taylor, says the Brits
have a campaign wallet containing around 12 million
pounds, which means in New Zealand terms it is
more than sufficient to run a good one boat campaign.
The British Challenge have signed up for a base
in Auckland's Cup Village and will be backed by
Peter Harrison, who sold his Chernikeeff internet
systems company for more than £200 million reputedly
slots in at number three on Britain's wealth list,
his income last year recorded at 500 million NZ
dollars) committed himself last October. He has
supported British match racing, the Olympic trials
and the 99 Admiral's Cup team, as well as endowing
a £30 million foundation for disabled and disadvantaged
sport.
Harrison has bought the two Nippon Challenge yachts,
built for the 2000 America's Cup in Auckland,
which had been marketed for $5 million. The pair,
Asura and Idaten, were created by a team of technicians
co-ordinated by hydrodynamicist Professor Hideaki
Miata, of Tokyo University.
Some of those involved in the creation of the
yachts may be part of a design committee to be
run by Derek Clark, who did the same job for Peter
de Savary's aborted Blue Arrow challenges of 1988
and 1992.
Other members of the design group are believed
to be Ian Campbell and Hugues Welbourn, of the
hugely respected Wolfson Unit of Southampton University,and
the much under appreciated and free-thinking Jo
Richards."
A formal announcement is expected by the end of
the month.
In the same time, the America's Cup Jubilee, which
will be staged this year at Cowes(Isle of Wight)
was formally launched at the London Boat Show.
The sailing mecca will be hosting the largest
ever big boat regatta staged in this country to
celebrate the 150th anniversary of the Cup. It
represents the entire history of the America's
Cup Challenges and the fleet will include many
original yachts or their replicas.
Ben Ainslie
joins OneWorld (12/26/00) (source : Elly
& Madforsailing)
There is some dock
talk concerning British Challenge and, particularly,
a purchase of the "hardware and technology" from
the defunct Nippon Challenge. But, in the same time,
Ben Ainslie has now signed a deal with the One World
America's Cup team led by Craig McCaw, which could
see the Laser gold medallist helming in the next
Louis Vuitton Cup.
Ainslie has been in talks with McCaw's Seattle-based
outfit for several months and it has been known
for some time that the syndicate skipper Peter Gilmour
has been very keen to bring him on board. The One
World team already includes a number of key former
Team New Zealand sailors and some top Americans,
among them Morgan Larson and the McKee brothers.
Ainslie had been waiting to see if a British America's
Cup team would materialise, but decided he could
wait no longer as negotiations on that front continue,
and with the outcome in doubt. The crunch came after
a five-day visit to Auckland where One World is
already in business racing USA 55 and USA 51. Ainslie
spent his first day on the mainsheet traveller and
his second on the grinders before Gilmour gave him
the steering wheels for the whole of the third day.
It proved a memorable moment for the young Lymington-based
star, who was impressed with the grace and power
of the yachts and the challenge of assimilating
all the information flowing through the afterguard.
When he got home, Ainslie discussed it again with
his former Laser coach John Derbyshire and with
Rod Carr, the secretary-general of the Royal Yachting
Association who is organising the British bid, and
decided to go for it. "With the residency application
forms for foreign teams having to be filed before
Christmas, it came to crunch time. I either went
with them or stuck it out waiting for the British
to go ahead," said Ainslie.
He said he was sad not to be involved with a British
campaign which may be led by Star class silver medallist,
Ian Walker. "I really hope the British thing does
take off and, if it does, I'd be sad not to be part
of that. But really there is a huge opportunity
to learn from all the top people in the game at
One World and it came to the point where I couldn't
wait any longer."
Ainslie was tight-lipped about his renumeration
but there can be little doubt that he will be handsomely
rewarded by McCaw, whose syndicate will be one of
the four big spenders in the next Louis Vuitton/America's
Cup series. "It's a reasonable salary but at this
stage in my career money is not the objective -
it's all about learning and doing as much as I can
to get to the top level," he said.
Ainslie is hoping he will get the chance to helm
in the Louis Vuitton and even the America's Cup,
but is realistic about his chances with tough competition
expected within the One World syndicate for positions
throughout all of its boats. "Helming is where my
ability will be best used but it depends on the
team and where they think I'd fit in best," he said.
The loss of the Laser gold medallist to a foreign
team is a blow for the British effort, but in the
long run the experience Ainslie will gain with One
World could prove invaluable for Britain in future
years. It is also doubtful whether Ainslie would
have driven a British challenger, given the likely
involvement of Andy Beadsworth in a British syndicate.
In the meantime
Ainslie has to go and "live" in Seattle for a few
months as he takes another big step out of Lasers.
He will still fulfill his commitments in the Admiral's
Cup but he is looking forward to getting back to
Auckland for another taste of the big time. "I just
learnt so much in the five days I was there - it
was unbelievable," he said.
Ben Ainslie
with OneWorld ? (12/07/00) (source : Telegraph.co.uk)
Ben Ainslie 's first
significant step out of his Olympic gold-medal winning
Laser singlehander will be on to the helm of Robert
Condon's 45-footer as part of the three-boat British
Admiral's Cup team.
Ainslie will steer the boat alongside two-time Olympian
Adrian Stead, who skippered the top-scoring Mumm
36 in the 1999 Admiral's Cup and this summer the
Mumm 30 which became the first British yacht to
win the Tour Voile round France race.
But whilst he waits to see whether an America's
Cup bid does get off the ground in Britain, Ben
Ainslie has a firm offer from Peter Gilmour to join
the big budget OneWorld team from Seattle funded
by Craig McCaw.
The British Challenge is emerging
- Part 1(10/31/00) (source : SundayTimes)
A group of millionaire businessmen are planning
to launch the first British bid for 17 years. The
men are confident they will be able to mount an
entry in the next race, to be held in New Zealand
in 2003. The bid would end the embarrassment of
Britain's failure even to field an entry since 1986.
The men have bought four
1995 cup boats to be used for crew training
and they wanted to use this opportunity to
raise the profile of the America's Cup within
the UK :
-
John Caulcutt
(who is an old Harrovian former market-stall
holder who has made his fortune through his
marketing company, Watermark, and is a business
associate of Richard Branson. He competed
in the Olympics on a bobsleigh, plays lead
guitar with his rock band, and is a larger-than-life
figure in the sailing world) has bought Young
America 1995 (USA-36) be renamed Right Time
;
-
Tag Heuer (NZL 39 - be renamed
About Time) has been bought from America True
by Oyster Marine's (a yacht-building company)
Richard Matthews ;
-
France II and France III
(French Team 1995) have been bought with the
French Company Stardust by Chris Gordon (who
received about £6m when Sunsail International,
his flotilla holiday company, was bought by
First Choice last year).
The men hope to secure funding for the project
by the end of this year, to enable them to
start building a 75ft race boat by the middle
of next year.
"It will be a David and Goliath challenge
- there are some hugely affluent syndicates
involved, so it would take two or three America's
Cups to be in a position to win," said Matthews.
"It's like Formula One - it would be naive
to think that having been out of it for so
long, you could come back in and rival Ferrari
or Maclaren in your first season."
While wealthy in their own right, the men
will need to secure sponsorship to raise the
minimum £10m - or more realistically, £15m
- required.
The group hopes to recruit its crew from the
new Olympic sailing stars, taking the sport's image
away from navy blazers and pink gin. Ian Walker,
who won a silver in Sydney in the Star class, said
last week he was eager to take part.
News from the British Challenge
(10/27/00) (sources : BoatMagic
& Yahoo.com)
Sources close to British America's
Cup hopes are tight lipped on the subject, though
the current rumours doing the rounds, all of them
remarkably consistent, are that the campaign will
be backed by Dimension Data, previously Chernikeef,
who has given substantial backing to British yachting
in the past. A formal announcement is expected at
the end of October.
It's necessary because time is running out
for a British America's Cup bid as the nation's
top sailors threaten to quit these shores to join
a foreign effort for the 2003 regatta.
Ben Ainslie, Britain's gold medallist
Laser sailor, watched with interest as Team New
Zealand romped undefeated to Americas Cup victory
in Auckland this February and he wants a piece of
the action. But with no one on hand to front a British
syndicate, Ainslie has revealed that he is poised
to sign for an American challenge. "I've had an
offer from an American team, but I've not signed
up to it," said Ainslie ahead of Friday's 2000 Chernikeeff
RYA National Match Racing Championship Finals. "I
am biding my time to see if a British challenge
is going to be involved. But it needs to happen
now, it is only a matter of weeks before a decision
must be made. "I am ready to go to a foreign syndicate
to gain the experience and if there is no British
involvement, I probably will have to.".
Ainslie's fellow Sydney gold medallist,
single-handed Europe sailor Shirley Robertson, suggested
she would also be keen to be involved in an Americas
Cup, but warned that she may not defend her Olympic
title in Athens. "I'd love to do an Americas Cup,"
said Robertson, Scotland's first female Olympic
champion for 80 years. "But I've got no plans. I'm
very cautious about saying that I'm going to do
the Games again in 2004. It's a four-year commitment,
and I'm still on a high and enjoying the partying".
Yesterday, Skippers from most of
the confirmed teams for the next America's Cup (Ed
Baird, Dean Barker, Dennis Conner, Russell Coutts,
Chris Dickson, Peter Gilmour, Andy Green, Chris
Larson & James Spithill) attended a "State of
the America's Cup" press conference at the Royal
Bermuda Yacht.
In a relaxed, hour-long genial exchange they traded
quips, revealed a few secrets and agreed that the
next America's Cup regatta would lift the stature
of the event to a new plateau.
Dennis Conner told that he is
close to completing an agreement with the New Yorkers
to sail under their banner at the next challenge
in New Zealand in 2003. Queried if he would challenge
next time from the New York Yacht Club, Conner revealed
that he wanted to represent New York in Fremantle
in 1987 and in Auckland last year. "I've had two
unsuccessful bids, you might say, to represent the
club," he said. "It would be a nice dream for me
to win the Cup and bring it back to New York and
the trophy room at the New York Yacht Club. It would
be nice closure. While it might be a dream, I would
relish the chance for it to be reality."
Briton Andy
Green talked about his plans for a British
challenge, but admitted he needed a major backer.
Green said he and British sailors had spent a great
summer sailing that country's two IACC boats in
Cowes. "There was a lot of positive feeling, but
feeling unfortunately doesn't get you to the America's
Cup," he noted wryly. "The British sailing team
at the Olympics did an amazing job," he added. "They
got three gold medals and two silvers. I'm hoping
that will encourage a few people with some serious
money to get involved."
Magnus Holmberg from Sweden revealed
that he had just signed up to skipper Sweden's Victory
Challenge (see article). Holmberg said Argentinian
designer German Frers who helped start Italy's Prada
Challenge last time would design the Swedish boats.
Peter Holmberg, from the US Virgin
Islands, sat at the opposite end of the table from
Ed Baird, and like Baird, acknowledged he had no
concrete Cup plans.
Ian
Walker targets America's Cup (10/04/00) (source : bbc)
Olympic silver medallist Ian Walker
wants Britain's sailors to be chasing America's
Cup glory in three years' time. "The America's Cup
is a platform British sailing has not been able
to compete in for more than 10 years," said Walker
(who finished runners-up in the star class with
Mark Covell in Sydney).
"I feel we have given them the biggest boost
possible by returning from the Olympics with a hat-full
of medals and having given sailing a major profile
boost in Britain".
On the other hand, Walker said that olympic gold
medallist Ben Ainslie has received a number of offers
to join foreign crews for the next challenge.
