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Paul G. Allen joins OneWorld (08/07/01) (source
: sailsail.com)
TechTV announced today
that it will join forces with Craig McCaw on the OneWorld
Challenge campaign to win the 31st America's Cup.
Vulcan Northwest - which owns TechTV - will support
the campaign on behalf of TechTV through a $10 million
sponsorship to the America's Cup syndicate, which
was founded by McCaw.
The San Francisco-based cable television channel is
the leading network covering technology news, information
and entertainment 24 hours a day.
Vulcan Northwest Inc. was founded by Paul G. Allen
in 1986 to manage his personal and professional endeavors,
including various investments, more than 100 portfolio
companies, the six Paul G. Allen Foundations, First
& Goal Inc., the Experience Music Project museum,
Clear Blue Sky Productions and others. Vulcan is headquartered
in Seattle, Washington.
"There is no better partner to have in this effort
than my friend Paul and the team at TechTV. Paul is
a true sports enthusiast (Allen owns the Portland
Trail Blazers NBA team and the Seattle Seahawks NFL
franchise), a man who shares my concern for environmental
stewardship, and someone who loves the adventure of
boating and being on the water," said McCaw.
Today, underwriters of OneWorld at this point include
Craig McCaw, Paul Allen's TechTV, SAIC, and Ford/Lincoln
Mercury.
Pete Montgomery interviewed
Peter Gilmour on RadioNZ. Two months ago as tech-stock
prices nosedived and eroded the wealth of syndicate
underwriter Craig McCaw, Peter Gilmour indicated the
challenge was hurting financially.
McCaw paid huge dollars to lure Black Boat crewmen
Andrew Taylor, Craig Monk, Jeremy Scantlebury, Rick
Dodson and Matthew Mason to OneWorld while its heavy
artillery will come from the sketch pads of Kiwi Lauri
Davidson, who had an acrimonious parting with TNZ
last year.
"There have difficulties over the last two months;
the downturn in the tech sector and the way it affected
Craig McCaw’s companies dramatically and reasonably
resulted in a cut back in expenditure" Gilmour
said, "We are now looking at new partners and
new initiatives and are seeking new sponsors."
In the same time, Bob Ratliffe, OWC's director of
marketing and communication, indicated the syndicate
had nailed additional funds and he suggested doubts
over the syndicate's cup participation were probably
more in the minds of the media as opposed to the syndicate
members. "We have made a tremendous amount of progress
(in the last couple of months) and we will have some
announcements to make in the very near future," he
said from Seattle.
Asked whether he expected the team to amass close
to its touted $US80 million war chest, Bob Ratliffe
suggested OneWorld would be in the ballpark. "We feel
confident we will have enough money to achieve our
goals when it comes to the design, building and sailing
programme which we have laid out for ourselves," he
said.
Yachting circles are suggesting yet another software
company may have stepped into the world of America's
Cup which already boasts the presence of Larry Ellison's
Oracle and a German company, SAP, which has become
a member of Team New Zealand's family of five.
The syndicate is now upbeat about its financial position
while the challenge's Australian skipper, Peter Gilmour,
and crew, which includes numerous big names from Team
New Zealand's successful cup defence early last year,
have been back practising off Auckland for several
weeks.
Peter Gilmour indicated the OneWorld team was in Auckland
to tick of additional testing targets. "The conditions
here are so unique in the way the wind and waves behave.
You can get 15 knots in flat water and 11 knots in
very lumpy water in a north-easterly", he said.
Ratliffe said it would be the last testing in Auckland
before the syndicate began constructing its first
boat in September or October.
-More
and more money for OneWorld
(04/11/01) (source
: scuttlebutt)
Craig
McCaw has assembled a tremendous team of sailors,
designers and boat builders for the 2003 America's
Cup campaign. However, in an effort to respond appropriately
to changed market dynamics, and redoubling his focus
on his telecommunications investments, McCaw has asked
the OneWorld management team to look for commercial
and private partners to take the OneWorld Challenge
forward to its goal of winning the 31st America's
Cup.
The syndicate has already amassed significant resources,
having invested over US$ 30 million of its original
budget of US$80 million. CEO Gary Wright commented,
"We're tremendously happy with the strength of the
team OneWorld Challenge has put together, including
one of the most potent design groups ever to contest
an America's Cup. It offers potential partners an
extraordinary platform for participation in perhaps
the most exciting Cup match ever."
OneWorld Challenge crew
has left New Zealand and is now in Seattle for a short
period training. This presents Seattle Yacht Club
members with an exciting opportunity to get to know
the OneWorld Challenge syndicate team better at an
America's Cup Reception at SYC on April 30. During
the event, syndicate leadership and crew will be introduced
so share their view of what's ahead as they prepare
to take the SYC burgee into competition.
According to the rumor
mill, lawyers for Prada and TNZ are challenging sail
designer Rob Hook. Hired by Illbruck (German team)
to do their Volvo sails and OneWorld (Seattle) to
design their America's Cup sails, Prada and TNZ have
taken issue with the arrangement saying it breaks
the AC rules against teams sharing designers. Arbitration
is expected soon.
-
Mark Chisnell joins OneWorld
(02/16/01) (source
: madforsailing)
Mark Chisnell will be
joining Ben Ainslie at the One World America's Cup
challenge, and will be leaving Britain before the
end of February to take up US residency in Seattle.
He will continue to write exclusively for madforsailing.com
as Editor at Large (albeit a small one).
Mark Chisnell has been a professional racing sailor,
navigator and tactician for more than a decade, in
classes as diverse as International 14s, Mumm 36s
and Maxi yachts. Competitive credits include the 1987
British and 1995 Nippon America's Cup Challenges.
-
News from
Craig McCaw (01/15/01) (source : NY
Times)
Craig McCaw, the Seattle
telecommunications entrepreneur, has at least two
things in common with Larry Ellison, the president
and chief executive officer of the Oracle Corporation:
a fortune that is reportedly worth billions, and a
new syndicate readying to race for the America's Cup
in 2003.
What was not known until recently is that, had the
timing been different, McCaw and Ellison could have
been allies — instead of opponents — in an unprecedented
cup challenge. It appears that Ellison, one of several
fledgling challengers for the America's Cup in 2003,
may not have entered the on-the-water fray for strictly
competitive reasons. His involvement may have stemmed
from a desire to trump one of his present or former
business rivals, the co- founders of Microsoft, Bill
Gates and Paul Allen.
That revelation came out last week in an e-mail interview
with McCaw, who was making his first public comments
about his own cup program, the One World Challenge,
since launching it last June. He said of Ellison:
"Ironically, it turns out that part of his motivation
for competing in 2003 was as a result of a perception
that either Gates or Allen was behind the Seattle
effort. By the time we talked, we were both past the
point of either stopping or merging our efforts. His
team will be a very, very tough opponent."
Now that the lines have been drawn, McCaw's will be,
too. His sailing team — which is already training
in New Zealand — is led by the Australian cup veteran
Peter Gilmour, and features a core group of sailors
from last year's cup-winning Team New Zealand. Other
cup veterans include the Americans Kimo Worthington,
Morgan Larson and Kevin Hall, and the Australian James
Spithill. Among the cup newcomers are Jonathan and
Charlie McKee, from Seattle, who won bronze medals
at the Sydney Olympics, and Ben Ainslie, from Britain,
who won gold at the Summer Games.
McCaw's design team also has a seasoned, international
flavor. The program is headed by Lawrie Davidson,
one of the masterminds of the last two winning New
Zealand efforts. The latest addition is the American
naval architect Bruce Nelson, who oversaw Paul Cayard's
America One technical team in 2000.
The McCaw cup era began on a controversial note. Shortly
after the last cup was over, rumors surfaced regarding
a wealthy businessman raiding Team New Zealand personnel.
Gates's name, among others, was floated. But when
McCaw turned out to be the mystery man, many wondered
why he had built his squad's foundation on foreign
talent.
"When we began our effort, we were looking for the
best sailors in the world who were willing to try
to win while both being nice guys and doing something
more meaningful," McCaw said. "We spoke to a number
of New Zealanders in large part because a number of
them were disillusioned by the way their effort wound
down. We were impressed by the combination of environmental
sensitivities with great sailing. Our effort, however,
was always about a global gathering of talented people
with a conscience."
McCaw says he is a student of the cup and he also
seems sensitive to how his campaign will ultimately
be judged. "I've followed the cup since I was very
young," he said. "I love the history and I've found
its evolution fascinating."
McCaw did not specifically talk about the budget for
his campaign, but he often returned to the theme that
he would not measure success solely by the number
of races won.
" We hope that the One World Environmental Foundation
will receive both visibility and financial support
as a result of our America's Cup effort," he said.
"We're hoping to organize specific projects in New
Zealand and elsewhere that will illustrate simple,
effective courses of action for ordinary people to
take on behalf of the environment," he added.
During the last cup, McCaw made a substantial contribution
to Team New Zealand. "I remain in awe of what they
accomplished with very little," he said. "They've
provided ample evidence that a lot can be done with
a little less." Restraint and accountability are not
the concepts one might expect to hear espoused by
a billionaire America's Cup player. McCaw says he
wants to do it differently.
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.
