Coming to Europe

America's Cup host to be named in December

MILAN, Italy (AP) -- Alinghi, the Swiss team that won the America's Cup earlier this year, will decide by mid-December where in Europe to host the 2007 competition, on the basis of the best meteorologic condition and facilities available, team officials said Tuesday.

"The priority will be not losing too many racing days as a result of adverse weather and sea condition," Alinghi's sport director and strategist, Jochen Schuemann, told a news conference in Milan. The schedule of regattas off Auckland, New Zealand, in the last competition was often disrupted by adverse weather.

Alinghi won the silver America's Cup in March by routing defending champion New Zealand 5-0, bringing the trophy to Europe for the first time in the competition's 152-year history.

Between 15 to 20 challengers, including the U.S. Oracle syndicate, were expected to file their application by the end of this year.

According to Italian reports, Prada's Luna Rossa may enter the competition, scrubbing retirement plans suggested by team owner Patrizio Bertelli after the Italian boat failed to qualify for the final in Auckland.

Alinghi's skipper Russel Coutts, who had been at the helm of Team New Zealand before, will be part of the group in charge of selecting the host city.

The cities selected so far, out of 160 bidders, were Barcelona, Palma de Mallorca and Valencia, Spain; Naples, Porto Cervo (Sardinia) and the Elba island, Italy; Lisbon, Portugal; and Marseille, France.

Schuemann said the number of bidders would be cut to four by the end of May with the winning venue announced by mid December.

A number of regattas, open to Alinghi and Cup class boats, will be organized from September through 2005, to have the teams confronting ahead of the America's Cup, Alinghi officials said.

The first of the planned regattas will be held off San Francisco in September with both Alinghi and Oracle among the starters. But most will be organized in southern European ports, from which Alinghi is selecting the host of its 2007 defense as its homeland has no coastline.

Alinghi officials said all boats would be initially very similar to the ones that competed in New Zealand as the new models will be designed as soon as the host city is decided.

"For sure there is a big difference between sailing in the ocean off Portugal and on a flat sea off Mallorca," said Italian mastman Francesco Rapetti.

Team members were tightlipped about Alinghi's budget for the next America's Cup, but Schuemann emphasized a big budget is not all it takes to win the trophy.

"Not the richest but the best team won the cup," he said.

Team NZ boat builder warned of structural problems

AUCKLAND, New Zealand (AP) -- The fall out from New Zealand's 5-0 loss in the America's Cup continues, with the team's boat builder saying he'd warned designers about potential structural problems months before damage occurred.

In the wake of a damning review on the Team New Zealand management released Monday -- almost two months after the loss to Alinghi of Switzerland -- boat builder Mick Cookson said the problems he'd highlighted contributed to the crippling hull and deck damage on training boat NZL81 in the leadup to the Cup regatta.

The design and performance of Team New Zealand's black boats with their controversial hull appendages were criticized in the review.

The training boat NZL81 was twice put out of commission in the leadup while the racing yacht, NZL82, was never tested in extreme conditions until the match and, as a result, failed to finish two of the five races through gear failure.

Cookson, who built Team New Zealand's 2000 cup-winning yacht NZL60, said the failure of NZL81 could have been avoided.

"The failure of NZL81 ... didn't shock me because it was the area that we had questioned. I know what could have prevented it happening and I told them," Cookson said. "It was frustrating at the time to have to send boys in there to work all night trying to fix it."

Management was also raised in the review as a reason for Team New Zealand's failure.

Team New Zealand was hit by the departure of a number of key staff just months after its successful defense in 2000, including skipper Russell Coutts and tactician Brad Butterworth.

The pair and other crew moved over to Alinghi, headed by billionaire businessman Ernesto Bertarelli.

In the report prepared by Team New Zealand director Peter Menzies, the syndicate said all subsequent events and occurrences could be traced to the replacement management structure not delivering.

Team New Zealand has said it will make a decision by October on whether to proceed with a challenge in Europe in 2007.

 

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