AMERICA’S CUP UPDATE : NOTEBOOK : Red Star Gets Deadline Reprieve, but Sponsor Says He’s Given Up
The war between the two Russian syndicates apparently will be resolved by noon Sunday--the extended deadline for having an America’s Cup boat ready to be measured--and it doesn’t look good for either side.
Tom Griffin, the Baltimore clothing manufacturer who has backed Red Star ’92 financially, said Thursday, “I have waved the white flag.”
Stan Reid, chairman of the Challenger of Record Committee, also issued a statement Thursday that CORC had granted a request by the Ocean Racing Club of Leningrad, on behalf of Red Star, to extend the deadline from this past Wednesday.
All International America’s Cup Class boats must be measured to determine if they comply with the new design rule.
The Russians have been headache No. 1 for the America’s Cup Organizing Committee and the CORC. The ACOC must validate challenges, but the CORC set the measurement deadline.
Age of Russia has its boat in San Diego but without permission from the Port Security Committee to put it in the water.
Red Star ’92 has permission and the blessing of the ACOC, but its boat has been stuck in Estonia for lack of a $450,000 charter fee due Aeroflot to fly it to San Diego.
Griffin said potential sponsorship failed to come through and suggested a “conspiracy” was at work against Red Star.
Some of the time it hasn’t been clear who was in charge on either side. The ACOC encouraged them to merge--a stance that undermined Red Star, Griffin said.
“The merger talks killed us,” Griffin said. “It was a breath of life for Age of Russia.” Also Thursday, as Reid was issuing his statement, Natasha Gracheva issued one saying that she--not Marina Kopel--was the “official spokesperson for Age of Russia.”
Kopel, who approached Red Star about a merger this week, responded, “That’s crazy. She’s just a translator for the VEK company (a Red Star sponsor). She has messed quite a few things up.”
Both are staying at the same San Diego hotel, but on different floors.
Gracheva said, “There is no . . . merger.”
And: “Our representatives will be meeting with ACOC representatives during the next few days.”
Vladimir Koulbida, syndicate head, and Michael Vesslov, VEK vice president, were expected to be in San Diego by the weekend, apparently hoping to acquire validation for Age of Russia by default if Red Star’s boat fails to arrive.
Gracheva said: “We anticipate the (Age of Russia) boat to be launched no later than Monday, Jan. 20.”
They were in near agreement on that point. Kopel said Age of Russia, at the Knight & Carver Yacht Center on Mission Bay, should be ready by Sunday.
But Chris Haver, the yard’s America’s Cup liaison, said, “The boat can’t go in the water (because of the restriction) even if it is ready by the 20th--and it won’t be. It might be ready by the 22nd or 24th.”
Cup Trivia: This is Dennis Conner’s sixth America Cup, but another current skipper can match that. Who is it? (Answer below)
What might be the best-looking challenger boat took her first dip Thursday when the Swedish Challenge dropped its entry into the water at the Hyatt Islandia Hotel.
The boat is dark blue with flashy gold graphics. Skipper Gunnar Krantz said they might have it sailing by Sunday.
The Swedes have a low-budget, low-key but apparently efficient operation that has been refreshing for Cup followers. Their loudest noise so far was the popping of champagne corks for Thursday’s launching. They plan to have a formal christening Saturday.
“Another big step forward for us,” Krantz said.
The boat will be placed in a compound with a see-through fence.
“We’re not even covering up the keel,” Krantz said. “We owe it to the public to show off our boat.”
Trivia Answer: Rod Davis, the New Zealand skipper, literally has worked his way from the front of the boat to the back in the America’s Cup.
“I just hope I don’t start back the other way,” Davis said.
In ’77 he was bowman for Lowell North on Enterprise, which lost out in the defender trials to Ted Turner’s Courageous. In ’80 he coached the Australia I challenger.
In ’83 he was sail coordinator and mainsheet trimmer on Defender (which wasn’t; Liberty defended and lost).
In ’87 he skippered the Newport Harbor Yacht Club’s Eagle (sometimes called “Beagle”), and in ’88 managed the crew of the Kiwis’ big K boat, although he wasn’t yet eligible to race on it since he hadn’t fulfilled the two-year residency requirement.