Luxury Crews

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Yacht racing has been compared to tearing up $10 bills while standing in the shower. In the case of America's Cup racing, make that $1,000 bills. Nine teams spent tens of millions of dollars apiece just to enter the competition — and only one will get the chance to challenge the current Cup holder, the Royal New Zealand Yacht Squadron. It's a good thing, then, that the hope of beating the Kiwis, who have held the Cup since 1995, enticed the fabulously rich to open their wallets. The competition includes teams funded by Oracle's Larry Ellison, Microsoft co-founder Paul Allen and telco investor Craig McCaw; biotech mogul Ernesto Bertarelli; shipping magnate Vincenzo Onorato; British tech millionaire Peter Harrison; and, of course, all the old and new money associated with the New York Yacht Club.

After the first round robin in the famously capricious winds of Auckland's Hauraki Gulf, two of the highest-spending syndicates, OneWorld Challenge (budget: $75 million) and Alinghi Challenge ($55 million) could be pleased that their investment had won them a share of the lead. But with six rounds to go before the February showdown with the Kiwis, nobody will be uncorking any champagne just yet. "The second round robin will be a lot tougher," said Alinghi skipper Russell Coutts. "We feel we are near the top of our group, but to stay there we have to work very hard."

The Italian Prada syndicate, meanwhile, were left to wonder where all its money had gone. Having beaten off all comers in 1999 to challenge the Kiwis — only to lose 5-0 — they expected the experience to give them the edge in the elimination rounds, which are collectively known as the Louis Vuitton Cup. But all was not well on dockside. Frustrated by initial losses, syndicate head Patrizio Bertelli, husband of Italian fashion designer Miuccia Prada, fired the yacht's design director, Doug Peterson, and took overall charge of design himself. But to little avail: Prada are lying sixth, making a comeback now very unlikely. Skipper Francesco de Angelis reflected: "Everything will be difficult here. We knew it would be difficult to get points."

While Prada suffered, Alinghi Challenge benefited from some shrewd recruiting. Bertarelli's millions allowed the team to poach Coutts, who had skippered the winning New Zealand boat in 1995 and 2000, as well as his tactician, Brad Butterworth. The investment has made Alinghi a favorite to win the elimination rounds and challenge New Zealand for the Auld Mug, as the America's Cup is known.

The scramble to sign up the best crew and sailing technocrats has given each team a multinational cast, which should hardly be surprising in a world where sport, commerce and culture know few borders. Oracle, representing the U.S., draws 28% of its team from New Zealand and 17% from Europe. OneWorld Challenge, representing the Seattle Yacht Club, is flying seven national flags at its team base. Swiss Alinghi and Italian Prada include sailors from Australasia and all over Europe. "The challenge within the challenge," says Prada's general manager, Giacomo Ovidi, "is that people of different nationalities can work as a team and achieve great results."

If Alinghi wins the Cup, it could stage the next event in Italy, France or Spain — anywhere with the right winds and the proper facilities, says team executive director Michel Bonnefous. The real prize at stake is the right to host the next regatta in home waters (or wherever the successful team chooses to call home). And that means money. For New Zealand, pop. 3.9 million, the staging of the 2000 Cup delivered a $700 million economic boost and the revitalization of Auckland's harbor precinct. The Italian, Swiss, French, Swedish and British teams share the belief that the Cup would benefit by a move to a European port. "It would be a great opportunity for the region," says Prada's Ovidi. "As well, you would be creating something new for Europe and building public awareness of this competition." It would also potentially give other European syndicates, sponsors and broadcasters a better tilt at the spoils of victory.

Some teams, mind you, may already have tilted a tad too far to grab those spoils. Even before racing started, Seattle's OneWorld syndicate was found in possession of three other teams' design secrets. In August OneWorld told the America's Cup Arbitration Panel the designs were stolen by a former employee. Unconvinced, the panel docked OneWorld a competition point. Still, dueling on the high seas would be nothing without an element of skulduggery. So nervous are the teams about others pinching their keel and rudder designs that whenever the boats are lifted out of the water they shroud the hulls in huge curtains.

Those curtains were very much in evidence dockside in Auckland last week, as the competing syndicates worked on design modifications to extract extra speed from wind and water. The next round robin begins this week, but there is a lot more action to look forward to — and many more $1,000 bills to be spent — before the Louis Vuitton Cup ends in January 2003.