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Club:
Seattle Yacht Club, USA
Skipper: Peter Gilmour
Manager: Peter Gilmour
Design: Laurie Davidson
Main Backer: Craig McCaw
Main Sponsor: Tech TV
Budget: $75 million |
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| www.oneworldchallenge.com |
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The
controversy about whether Ellison will helm or not pales into insignificance
compared to that which has embroiled OneWorld. For a while in July
and August, it seemed as though OneWorld wouldn’t even be competing
when Louis Vuitton Cup racing started on 1 October. The reason was
a legal battle over whether they had acquired winning Team New Zealand
design secrets through a number of their team members, including designer
Laurie Davidson. The matter has been resolved, legally at least, with
OneWorld being docked a point before any racing begins. But it has
been difficult for skipper Peter Gilmour and his team to focus on
trying to win the Louis Vuitton Cup.
But that seems apt for this team. Theirs has been a rollercoaster
ride that began straight after the last Cup, when huge signing-on
fees and salaries began floating around as Sean Reeves – recruited
from Team New Zealand to put the Seattle syndicate together –
assembled a stellar cast. If you were a top Cup sailor in 2000 and
hadn’t been offered a tasty transfer package you began to doubt
your worth. But cracks began to appear and the first signs of trouble
were when Reeves departed loudly and acrimoniously.
The focus on the OneWorld team has seemingly been on issues other
than sailing, which has left Gilmour and his sailors to try to concentrate
on what they believe will matter when they get to race. There’s
no doubt Davidson, having defected from Team New Zealand with a head
– and a computer – full of data, knows where the benchmark
is. And one can assume OneWorld’s design will be strong.
Which leaves the sailing team. There are some talented but inexperienced
sailors working beneath Gilmour, who has often come close to Cup success
without ever looking like a winner. This team would expect to make
it to the semi-finals. But making it past the hurdles of the last
few months has been something of an achievement in itself.
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