By Susan Kruller
March, 2003

Did you know . . . Even a conservative guess would put the total amount of money spent on this season's America's Cup campaigns at a staggering US $550 million? To support nine challenger boats (10 if you include Germany’s ill-fated Illbruck Challenge), more than 300 sailing team members were employed to race during the challenger series.

Well Done, OneWorld!

A lot of syndicates gave their best on the waters of the Hauraki Gulf in Auckland and came home empty-handed, but OneWorld Challenge finished high enough in the standings to claim some hardware to display for its efforts. OneWorld Challenge was awarded with the Lipton Memorial Trophy for their second place finish among U.S. boats in the Louis Vuitton Cup challenger series. OneWorld finished third overall in the competition against eight other challengers.

The formal prize-giving event for the Louis Vuitton Cup was held on January 20 - at the beautiful Kelliher Estate on Puketutu Island. The Lipton Memorial Trophy, sponsored by the New York Yacht Club, was presented to our syndicate during the awards ceremony with Peter Gilmour accepting for OneWorld Challenge.

Plans are in the works for a reception at Seattle Yacht Club so the trophy can be presented. March 5th is the date set for the event so OneWorld management and team members returning to Seattle have time to return home after the America’s Cup.

Hip Pocket Challenges

In 2000, as Team New Zealand crossed the finish line to record their second America's Cup victory, Royal New Zealand Yacht Squadron was handed a “hip-pocket” challenge from Italy's Yacht Club Punta Ala by the club's Commodore Bruno Calandriello. Translation: Prada wanted to be appointed as the Challenger of Record for the next America’s Cup competition.

Why the urgency? What happens is, as soon as the race finishes, anyone can challenge for the Cup next time. It’s the first syndicate that comes through with the challenge - accepted by the holder of the Cup - that creates the next event. This is a critical formality, because someone has to challenge for the next event to occur at all.

Although being selected as the COR in isn’t technically a matter of being first to challenge, it can help eliminate any question of losing an opportunity to late timing. Syndicates serious about becoming the COR are eager to establish their challenge very quickly in hopes that they’ll get the nod by will, wish or whimsy – hence the act of trying to stuff a challenge firmly in pocket of a defending club’s officer.

There’s a bit of gamesmanship that comes into play, as the defender must be very cautious not to accept a "valid" challenge by an incidental action open to any legal interpretation until it has had a chance to review all the options. That puts an extra burden on the defending club officials not to be lured into a situation where witnesses could misinterpret a gesture or comment as a confirmation of acceptance. In modern Cup tradition, a winning Club has on hand at its victory a representative of a pre-selected pending Challenger of Record club.

A valid challenge must be from an established and recognized yacht club as defined by the Deed of Gift.

Once the COR is selected, the defender gets to decide where the defense is, in what waters, at what time and on what date. The Challenger of Record, the challengers and the challenger association – concerned with who will ultimately challenge for the Cup - traditionally control the challenger series. The event responsibilities have been split since around 1970. Usually the notice of challenge states that the Challenger of Record will step aside if it doesn’t win the Louis Vuitton series.

In reality, the nominated challenger has already been through a long planning period with the defender prior to the challenge, so most of the details regarding the Protocol have already been negotiated. The notice of challenge will "magically" state the defender-preferred dates of the next Match, define the class of boats to be sailed, the details of the race course, and the venue for the Match.

So what’s so attractive about being the COR? Representatives of the Defender and Challenger of Record are the only parties that sign the “Protocol for the America’s Cup” - which set down the rules for the conducting the next America’s Cup defense. The Deed of Gift, written more than 100 years ago, established the America’s Cup event and still governs it to this day. There are details in the Protocol that address all the requirements of the Deed of Gift in the current setting. Cost of entry, entry deadlines, notice of race deadlines are but a few examples of the first items that will be defined in the Protocol. The challenging syndicate wants to have the most influence of any challenger over the rules.

You can see why the defender wants to select a COR that is like-minded, agreeable in terms rules reform and is well respected by the challengers as they organize their eliminations competition. You can also see why the potential defender shops around early to see who will mutually agree to the its agenda.

Food for thought as you reflect on all the gestures made at the close of this year’s America’s Cup. [As of March 2, the next COR has been announced, Click Here to read more about it]

The Paper Chase!

As the America’s Cup wraps up, a surge activity instantly occurs that drives out the make up of future syndicate teams. Current and future syndicate owners must move quickly to secure the best team, vendor contracts and equipment they can for the 32nd America’s Cup.

A short list of available helmsmen undoubtedly includes Paul Cayard, Peter Holmberg, Andy Green, Francesco de Angelis, Rod Davis, Gavin Brady, Kenny Read and perhaps Bretrand Pace or John Kostecki. It also appears that there is no shortage of experienced designers. It looks like Doug Peterson, Mani Frers, Juan Kouyoumdjian and Reichel/Pugh are still unsigned. With all of this talent available, it will be an interesting and rapid personnel shuffle.

Syndicates have to decide quickly whether to compete again or to put their racing hulls up on the auction block to go to new organizations that will need boats for tests and practice. Deals have been in negotiations since the first challenger was eliminated. Some of the hottest prospects are still competing.

There are some syndicates who know they want to compete again. Oracle and Team Dennis Connor have indicated as much. Other syndicates are waiting to see where the next Cup will be held before making their decision. Craig McCaw announced he wants to decide after the America’s Cup has concluded. “After that we’ll evaluate the situation as to what our next move will be,” said McCaw. OneWorld Challenge, along with many others, has expressed interest if the Cup goes to Europe – a better opportunity for rules reform, more sponsorship possibilities and more challengers would result. Even Louis Vuitton Cup officials think it would be a good change.

Stay tuned. It will be very interesting in the next half year to see who stays in the game, who drops out, what new comers develop and discover who comes up with the winning combination to pursue the Auld Mug next time!