Ignoring rumors that the OneWorld Challenge is in financial trouble due to the drop in the value of tech stocks, the Seattle based America’s Cup team is right on track with their preparations to be the first challenger to win the Cup on their first attempt.  In fact they may even be a bit ahead of schedule.

In a meeting with 48* North, Peter Gilmour, sailing director and skipper for OneWorld, and Bob Ratliffe, communications director, said they were a little taken aback by all the scuttlebutt about the syndicate having financial troubles.  “In our initial statement we said we’d be seeking additional sponsorship,” says Ratliffe.

Part of the reason for all the speculation is that OneWorld has kept very quiet about it activities since day one.  Ratliffe states, “Our ‘going dark’ as far as public information has been by design.”  He compares the situation to Starbucks mogul Howard Shultz, owner of the Seattle Supersonics basketball team.  Shultz owns the team, but Starbucks isn’t their major sponsor.  Likewise, Craig McCaw has underwritten the development of the team, but needs a major sponsor to help foot the total bill.  “Our funds are limited, not limitless.”

Ideally OneWorld would like to feature one major sponsor to keep the boat “clean,” like Prada did in the last America’s Cup.  While Prada spent about $100 million on their challenge, it would only take about  $20 million to be the major sponsor of OneWorld.

OneWorld feels it now has a very impressive package to offer a sponsor, reflecting Craig McCaw’s philosophy of under-promise and over-deliver.

“We’ve made a lot of progress,” says Peter Gilmour, sailing director for OneWorld.  “We feel the level of knowledge brought to this campaign by such veterans as  Head Designer Laurie Davidson, has put us way ahead in our development over the other teams.”

Indeed McCaw has assembled an impressive team, and is using collective the knowledge and experience of designers, sailors, and organizers to focus in on the good things various teams did in the last Cup and incorporate them into the OneWorld program.

While the design teams toils over a hot computer to get that extra hundredth of a knot, the sailors are out honing their sailing skills all over the world.  For skipper Peter Gilmour, the Grand Prix Match Racing Circuit provides the closest thing to America’s Cup competition.  “It not only has the top sailors in the world, but also some of the aura and media coverage of a major event.  We rotate the team through the circuit; bowmen, mastmen, trimmers, after-guard.”

“The whole team is aggressively chasing a variety of sailing experiences, such as the Volvo ocean race.  Each one brings back an idea they’ve picked up – ways to work halyards or a new clip, that we look at using on the OneWorld boat.”

After spending some time in Seattle, the OneWorld Challenge Team is now heading back to New Zealand to do three weeks of testing

Besides have the two AC boats, America True and Stars and Stripes, the team also owns to Etchells and the use of two more.  Gilmour likes the Etchells because they can get in a lot of practice without the wear and tear on the AC boats.  “The Etchells are good for positioning – practicing getting in and out of certain positions on the race course.  WE can get in 15 races a day.

When they return to the Norwest, data will go into the final design of the two new boats which will be built at Janicki Boat Yard in Sedro Wooley under extremely tight security.  Completion of the boats will coincide with the end of the New Zealand summer.  While the team prepares in New Zealand, expect to see an announcement of a major sponsor very soon.

[Note: This article is reprinted with permission from the June 2001 issue from 48 Degrees North]