Conner, Hadlee team up

Press, 31 March 1989, Page 40

Conner, Hadlee team up

PA Auckland Dennis Conner briefly forgot the headaches of the America’s Cup yesterday morning when he joined forces with the New Zealand cricketing superstar, Richard Hadlee, to learn the rules for a new board game, called Cup Fever.

The two star in a commercial to promote (he game with a grandmother, two children and stunt crew which was filmed yesterday at Te Henga Beach on Auckland’s west coast.

The public will see Cup Fever when it is launched mid-April in a series of 30-second television commercials.

Karen Edwards, a director of the game promotors, Jackabee Services, said the game would be a big sensation. “People will have to buy it to find out what it’s about .: but it will rival

Monopoly,” she said. All she would reveal was that more than one game could be played at one time. Meanwhile, Conner may not challenge for the America’s Cup in New Zealand in 1991 — his syndicate has no money. Conner said he had not yet seen Wednesday’s New York court judgment which disqualified his catamaran defence against New Zealand’s Cup challenge at San Diego last September. He made no comment about the expected collapse of his former Sail America syndicate which backed him through two campaigns and said he had not discussed another challenge with its directors.

He said the court decision was unexpected. "It’s come as a bit of a suprise to me. I’m not sure what to do.” “It (America’s Cup) is a

big commitment. I’ve already done five — I don’t know if I have six in me. We’ll just have to wait and see,” he said.

Conner said he expected to meet with the New Zealand syndicate chief, Michael Fay, yesterday. "I guess the first thing to say is ‘Good on you, mate.’ Congratulations. “I have a lot of respect for Michael Fay. He has proven himself to be a tremendous competitor on and off the water,” he said.

Meanwhile, the San Diego America’s Cup group will meet tomorrow to discuss whether to appeal the court ruling. However, the America’s Cup Organising Committee (A.C.0.C.) spokesman, Tom Mitchell, said yesterday he doubted there would be a definitive decision before "sometime next week.”

“We are not engaged in

a stalling tactic but have a difficult diecision to make,” he said. “When we take all our information in, what we have to look at is what is most important for the future of the America’s Cup. And that is what our decision will be based on.”

Mr Mitchell said A.C.O.C. and its legal advisers were “really tearing” Justice Carmen Beauchamp Ciparick’s ruling apart to look for what they regard as mistakes in her decision.

It already believes it has found one error in her ruling relating to the language she uses about “centre-board or sliding keel” vessels in the Cup.

While that in itself was not grounds for an appeal, A.C.O.C. believed it had also found other inconsistencies.

That did not mean there would be an appeal, said Mr Mitchell.