The Bosun
Don’t time fly when you’re watching other people spend money? It’s now just a year before a gaggle of re-modelled AC75s is set to start thrashing across the Bay of Naples to decide which team of 100+ designers, shore crew, sail-makers, engineers, technicians, computer jockeys, millionaire ‘guests’ (and five sailors in foxholes) will challenge ETNZ for the 38th America’s Cup.
For those who care, here are the current hopefuls and the odds quoted by Rule 69’s favourite bookie on their chances of making it to the Cup final:
The Italians – 2-1
The Swiss – 4-1
The British – 5-1
The French – 8-1
The Americans – 15-1
The Australians – 20-1
But don’t rush to place your bets just yet. That field could be diminished by lack of finance, time constraints and legal problems. Such as…
Sir Jim Ratcliffe’s case to recover the INEOS AC75 Britannia and its associated assets from Sir Ben Ainslie has now been transferred to the Admiralty division of the High Court of England & Wales. The matter is yet to be heard in London but, if Ratcliffe wins, the British challenge (now branded as GB1) would probably collapse. That would make Luna Rossa the Challenger of Record, with the option of seeking a Deed of Gift match.
Also overhanging the whole Cup fandango is Case No. 26020937 – John Donnelly Sweeney v. Royal New Zealand Yacht Squadron – listed for hearing by the New York Attorney General. This is Sweeney’s “Verified Complaint” that the Cup, as currently conducted, is in breach of the Deed of Gift. If the AG decides to proceed (or to authorise Sweeney to bring the action on behalf of NY State as its “relator”) then the Court might order a halt to the Cup until a finding is made.
Meanwhile, work on the teams’ site at Bagnoli is not without its problems. Reuters reports that the old coastal landfill contains 35 million cubic feet of industrial waste, left after the steel mill, cement factory and asbestos plant there closed in 1992. Rather than remove all that toxic soil local officials have decided to just skim the surface slag and cover the site with a geomembrane of plastic sheets. Mesothelioma, anyone?
The work at Bagnoli is well behind schedule. Overnight, AC Race Director Iain Murray issued a notice announcing that the Preliminary Regatta scheduled for Naples on June 25-28 has been postponed indefinitely. He gave no reason for the delay, however an Italian news service has quoted from an official report that confirmed “the work schedule in Bagnoli is getting longer”.
