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OneWorld
eliminated from challenger series (12/23/02)
(source
: Foxsports)
|
OneWorld Challenge's America's Cup campaign ended
in a series of tactical mistakes a day after the troubled
Seattle syndicate avoided disqualification.
On Sunday, OneWorld escaped disqualification when the
Arbitration panel could not clearly establish that the
syndicate used a rival's design secrets but the panel
penalized the Seattle's Team a point in each of the
remaining rounds of the America's Cup.
"We set about participating here to do two things,"
said OneWorld co-owner Craig McCaw. "We of course hoped
to win on the water as gentlemen and we worked to raise
awareness of the importance of taking care of the oceans
that we race on".
"Hopefully something will come of both. We believed
that you could have a kinder, gentler event, but we
have to hold out hope that others will do more to improve
it in the future."
McCaw, a cell phone magnate, and fellow billionaire
Paul Allen, the Microsoft co-founder who owns the Seattle
Seahawks and Portland Trail Blazers, put $80 million
into the campaign.
"It's too early to make a call on whether they might
be back again," OneWorld skipper Peter Gilmour said
of McCaw and Allen. "They've picked up a few bumps and
bruises on the way through and it hasn't been easy for
them".
"But winning the America's Cup doesn't come from
your first effort and I wouldn't be surprised to see
OneWorld back out there in one way or another."
San Francisco's Oracle will now race Alinghi of Switzerland
in the best-of-nine race challenger final, the winner
of which will race Team New Zealand for the Cup from
Feb. 15.
Team New Zealand won the Cup in San Diego in 1995 and
defended it on its own waters of Auckland two years
ago, beating Prada of Italy 5-0. Gilmour predicted a
similar scoreline in the impending Cup match but hesitated
to pick whether challenger or defender would be successful.
"It's virtually impossible to make that assessment,"
he said. "From the very little we know and understand
of Team New Zealand, they are possibly a slightly beamier
(wider) boat a little bit like us, and the other two
finalists are slightly more narrow."
The differing performance characteristics of wide and
narrow boats meant the outcome of the series would be
clearly determined by the wind in February, Gilmour
said. |
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Time
to revenge for OneWorld ? (12/22/02)
(source
: Foxsports)
|
Lawyers for Seattle's OneWorld Challenge were studying
leaked documents Saturday that could reveal breaches
of America's Cup rules by San Francisco's Oracle.
Oracle might have obtained prohibited construction drawings
and plans when it bought yachts belonging to the defunct
San Francisco team AmericaOne after the 2000 Cup, according
to documents delivered anonymously to The Associated
Press on Friday.
OneWorld, which actively sought copies of the documents,
challenged Oracle on Saturday to publicly admit wrongdoing,
whether it was intentional or not. Oracle replied privately
to OneWorld that it had no admissions to make.
OneWorld, which has denied leaking the documents to
the media, was considering whether it would place the
matter before the Arbitration Panel, the Cup's principal
rules body. |
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OneWorld
stay with USA 67 for repechage (12/20/02)
(source
:
NZ
Herald)
|
Seattle's OneWorld team are to stick with USA-67
for the next round of the America's Cup challenger series,
starting on the Hauraki Gulf today.
OneWorld chief executive Gary Wright said his team had
made many changes to their boats in past weeks and were
feeling confident, despite losing 0-4 to Oracle in the
quarterfinals.
In that series, OneWorld used USA 65, but chief executive
Gary Wright said his team had chosen their second yacht,
USA 67, for the repechage, which decides who meet Alinghi
in the final.
"USA 65 has been in the shed for a while," he said.
"We've been doing a fair amount of modifications, and
considering our race schedule lately, we've had very
little time for testing. And looking at the forecast
for the next couple of days, we are happy to go with
USA 67." |
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