Cup bid no throwaway

Press, 13 April 1978, Page 18

Cup bid no throwaway

Launching an America’s Cup challenge is no idle gesture for the average man, not even for an average rich man. It takes more than SI.SM to build an appropriate 12m racing yacht and to bring it and a crew of 11, plus mechanics, sailmakers, and the like to the traditional site of the race, Newport, Rhode Island. Baron Marcel Bich, the French “king of the throwaways” — pens, lighters, and razors — has disposed of about $4.5M building two 12m yachts and launching three challenges, reports NZPA-Reu-ter. To date, it has been for nothing. The baron first came to Newport in 1970 when his yacht France was new.

His boat lost every race against Gretel 11, the Australian 12m vessel which went on to lose the cup challenge to Intrepid. Four years later, Baron Bich came back, still with France, and lost to Southern Cross, which in turn lost the cup races to Courageous. In the latest competition last year the baron did not improve on his record among three other wouldbe cup challengers, Sverige, of Sweden, and two Australian yachts, the refitted Gretel II and the New Australia.

Still sailing France, the baron lost all his practice and formal races. How much has all this cost the French ballpointpen millionaire? “I will never tell you that,” he said. “I don’t do any addition. And if you write the expense and my wife should know that, I’ll be out of the room.” Bruno Bich, the Baron’s son and official spokesman, also avoids saying exactly how many pens, lighters, and razors have gone into financing his father’s avocation. “The Americans talk about 1.5 M United States dollars. Our cost is in the

same ballpark. Our manuw facturing costs are lower but our other costs — shipping the boat here and maintaining our crews — are higher. “The big difference is that all our money is after-tax money. It’s all personal money.” (United States entrants are usually financed by contributions which can be deducted from taxable income. The net loss to a contributor might be as low as 30 per cent, with the other 70 per cent coming from what a wealthy contributor might otherwise pay in taxes.)

Having paid the piper, Baron Bich does not mind calling the tune. Even in a close race, he grips the giant wheel in the cockpit and sails the boat. It is, after all, his.

No one doubts that the baron comes to win but he does not seem to mind losing. After coming in behind Gretel II last year, he remarked that it "was “A good day’s sailing. It was a very educating day.” He had taken the helm for about half the race when it became apparent that France was not going to win. When the sparse, bluehulled France is lashed to the wharf at the Newport shipyard dock, the Baron and his crew return home to Castellux, an expensive private house set on a hill overlooking the harbour.

“It’s a, nice house, of the old New England

style,” says Bruno Bich. “It’s similar to what we have in Europe. That’s good for the crew. They can relax and feel at home.” There a French chef prepares dinner about 8 p.m. and the crew retires early in order to be up at 6 a.m. the next day. Breakfast is at 8 am., after 15 or 20 minutes of callisthenics. It is not known whether the 64-year-old baron participates in these.

Last year the baron’s losing margins narrowed. But it was not always so. In 1970 he was at the helm on a particularly foggy day and missed the turning mark. He sailed on and on in the fog and never finished the race.