Britain to pull out of Cup?

Press, 4 January 1988, Page 13

Britain to pull out of Cup?

By

TONY VERDON

in London Britain is expected to follow Australia this week in abandoning hopes of challenging for the America’s Cup. The decision of Australia’s Alan Bond to give up attempts to take part in the challenge has been described as a major blow to the British team, Blue Arrow. The leader of the British team, businessman Peter de Savary, is likely to feel that if Bond cannot persuade the holder, Dennis Connor, to accept his challenge, then nobody can. De Savary is still recovering from shock after he and his family were in an aircraft crash in the Caribbean last week. The pilot of the aircraft was killed in the crash, and de Savary was reportedly still badly shaken. “Peter is in very deep shock. You couldn’t begin •to talk to him about the Cup,” a close friend and business associate said. De Savary and Bond, close friends, had earlier planned a joint campaign of media and legal pressure for this month to try and force the San Diego Yacht Club to accept more than just New Zealand’s challenge for the Cup. The “Sunday Times” reported that basic design work on a British “superboat” for the series had been finished at Southampton, after a week of intense tank-test-ing right up until Christmas. Building would have needed to start within a week if the yacht was to be in California for the challenge in August. The "Sunday Times” said the Americans defending the Cup had confirmed they would exploit the rules, having themselves been the victims of a “legalistic mugging.” "One of the French multi-hull scene’s top designers, Gino Morelli, is American and lives in San Diego,” wrote Keith Weatley. “His advice has been sought, and the Americans will probably build a highspeed trimaran, choosing a rough-water venue off Santa Cruz for the New Zealand challenge.” Weatley said the most regular and important challengers for the America’s Cup in post-war years have been Bond and Britain. He said if neither were there this year, the Cup would have gone from a Fremantle zenith to a Californian nadir in lB months.