Is there life still in Gretel II?

Press, 7 September 1976, Page 40

Is there life still in Gretel II?

By

ALAN GRAHAM,

NZPA staff correspondent

Sydney ] The campaign to take Gretel II to the *1977 America's Cup series is posting Australians a, mere SAust6oo,ooo, but .they are sure that even at the old age of seven, the old girl has life in her yet.

ii “Tel! them Bill reckons it’s Jon,” said Bill Northam, Syd- • ney’s 71-year-old Olympic gold medallist who chairs i the Gretel II Syndicate.” ‘‘She is the only boat to (beat the Yanks over the line twice, and from what I’ve

heard, 12-metre design hasn’t changed much since 1970.” The principle that the Gretel backers are using is that • no-one else would spend even ja half million on such an old ;boat in an arena that has • always been dominated by the newest and latest boats and I gear. Not that the 1977 Gretel II I will be exactly the same boat |as the 1970 challenger, or as (the boat that the Western ■ Australian millionaire, Mr • Alan Bond, used as a trial 'horse for Southern Cross in • his 1974 challenge. Gretel II has been bought: (from Mr Bond by her new] owners and shipped to Wy-j long, north of Sydney, where] • she is undergoing an exten-i sive refit.

; Under the guidance of Mr Gordon Ingate, an Olympic and Admiral’s Cup skipper who is the leading light in the syndicate, Gretel II will have a new aluminium deck to replace the heavier wooden deck, and there will be a host of other modifications. She will be taken in May to America, where trials against the Swedish, British and French contenders begin in July. The winner of the eliminations will take on the United States for the America’s Cup at Newport, Rhode Island, in September next year. Mr Bond may also have an (Australian challenger in the water in time for the series, lin which case his boat would •first sail off against Gretel II

for the right to represent Australia. Mr Bond’s chances of having his aluminium yacht ready in Perth in time are regarded as doubtful in Sydney. The Swedish entry, Sverige, was launched last week. She is an aluminium design, by Pelle Petterson, famed in] Europe and beyond for his] (ocean-going craft. It is re-] (ported that he used the com- 1 iputers of the Volvo car com-! pany, one of the yacht’s back-] ers. to decide her lines. Baron Bich, the ball-point magnate, has another of his 12 metres available for France, and the Royal Corinthian Yacht Club is preparing the British entry. The Americans are not relaxing, either, with Ted Hood

(Independence), Ted Turner ’ (Courageous) and Lowell North (Enterprise) all ready I with fast modem boats to take on the world. The United States has] never lost the America’s Cup; since challenges began ini 1851, and will be strongly] favoured again in 1977. h For all that, Sydneysiders] •would like to think that Gre-I tel II has a chance, and they [will have the opportunity to], ■ help pay for the venture. ] I Northam and Ingate have ;about half the SAust6oo.ooo •they need for the challenge.;] ■ They are currently asking • Sydneysiders to help pay for] ■ the rest.