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Swedish syndicate loses backer, sails on Posted: Wednesday September 25, 2002 1:06 PM
AUCKLAND, New Zealand (AP) - The Victory Challenge for the America's Cup, Swedish-based but with sailors from Sweden, Denmark, Finland and Norway, has been forged from a Nordic sailing tradition and tempered by tragedy. The challenge was conceived and given life by Swedish media magnate Jan Stenbeck. But Stenbeck, 59, died of a heart attack in Paris on Aug 20. The sudden loss of a syndicate's guide and inspiration might have been insurmountable. But the Swedish group, a compact one which has been drawn together more closely by its founder's loss, has carried on in Stenbeck's memory. The spirit of Stenbeck is a constant visitor to the Victory Challenge base on Auckland's Halsey Street where a team of some 70 individuals, among them 31 sailors, toils daily from 6 a.m. until late. "Jan had always had a passion to achieve the impossible," said Victory Challenge team member Bert Willborg. "Jan had been talking about the America's Cup for a long time and had been a keen follower of the event. "The message of his tragic death came as we were launching his second new boat, SWE73, and a day of joy, of a feeling of accomplishment, became a day of sorrow. "The boat designers, the boat builders, the whole team was assembled. The next moment we needed to get them into the briefing room and tell them of Jan's death." The team held a small ceremony the next day to mark his death. "The message from the management team, from the major sponsors and from the family was immediately to continue as planned," said Willborg. "So it was instead of being a long, long time of mourning, we had a minute of silence early the next morning and sent out the new boat for sailing." Hugo Stenberg, eldest of Jan's four children, has now joined the team in a management role. "He will help to fulfill his father's richest dreams and ambitions so I think in one way this has made the team even stronger and more together," said Willborg. Asked to explain Jan Stenberg's passion for the America's Cup, Willborg gestures toward the panoramic windows of the Swedish base, to the team's dock on Auckland's Viaduct Basin, where the team's motor boat Black Knight -- committee boat for the 1983 Cup at Newport, Rhode Island -- is moored. The acquisition of the boat was Stenbeck's first investment in America's Cup history. "The driving force, the force behind the challenge was Jan Stenbeck who had been thinking about it and even taking a few steps to prepare for it for a long time," said Willborg. The Italian boat Prada emerged from a group of 11 challengers at the last Cup regatta in Auckland two years ago to take on holders Team New Zealand for the America's Cup. In doing so they came closer than any recent European syndicate to winning the Cup. "The first decision was to get down Mats Johansson to Auckland with a mission to acquire the best America's Cup yacht he could find," Willborg said. "He made a deal with Team New Zealand for NZL38, a boat which was used by New Zealand in San Diego in 1995 and which had never lost a match in racing, only in the jury room. "When that boat arrived in Sweden in mid-June 2000 that was the starting point for the syndicate. The boat was launched in Gothenburg under the new name Cristina after the daughter of Jan Stenbeck." Johansson, who is now Victory's project manager, then acquired the first members of his sailing team, selecting a small group from his own sailing school which takes young dinghy sailors and gives them keelboat experience. Johansson and helmsmen Jesper Bank, of Denmark, and Magnus Holmberg of Sweden, have a considerable amount of sailing experience but none derived from the America's Cup. "There are none within the crew who have been sailing in the America's Cup but there are 12 Olympic sailors, Jesper Bank has two Olympic gold medals and there are more than 25 gold medals from world championships," Willborg said. "It was part of the strategic plan to have a Nordic flavor to the challenge, even though this is a Swedish syndicate and that is the reason there are also sailors from Denmark, Finland and Norway. "The team has now spent more time on the water in the Hauraki Gulf than any other team," added Willborg. "Now we are ready for the Cup to begin."
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