Crippling budgets keep Aussies away from America's Cup
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The skipper of the America's Cup-winning Australia II team says the continued absence of Australia from the competition is due to the massive budgets needed to compete.
But John Bertrand, who captained the team to a famous victory in the 1983 cup, said the global financial crisis could limit spending and allow the country to compete again.
When the list of challengers was announced last month for the 33rd edition of the America's Cup in 2010 or 2011 in Valencia, there was again no Australian team among the 19 potential contenders.
No Australian challenge has been mounted for the world's oldest sailing competition, which dates back to 1851, since 1995.
"Primarily it's the size of the budgets," Bertrand told Melbourne's Age newspaper, explaining the nation's continued absence.
"We won the America's Cup on a $5 million budget, which pales into insignificance compared to the budgets now.
"Before the financial meltdown some of the syndicates were spending $US200 million.
"The budgets have blown out dramatically, they're massive numbers compared to 25 years ago on Australia II when the stipend for the crew was $12 a day."
But Bertrand says the financial downturn could rein in spending and open the door for Australia to return to challenge for the America's Cup.
"Before the financial meltdown the probability of Australia putting together a challenge was very remote," he said.
"However, with the rules that almost certainly will be instigated over time, there is a possibility Australia will get back into the world of America's Cup."
The prohibitive costs to mount an America's Cup challenge in the mid-1990s forced Australia's best sailors and designers to join well-funded international teams.
Grant Simmer, the Australian tactical navigator on board Australia II, is the design team coordinator for the Swiss Alinghi team, which successfully challenged for the 2003 America's Cup in Auckland.
Bertrand believes an Australian syndicate could be on the horizon.
He was at the wheel when Australia II, with its innovative winged keel, snatched a 41-second victory over Dennis Conner's American defender Liberty in the seventh and final race of the 1983 series off Newport, Rhode Island.
It ended a 132-year winning streak by the New York Yacht Club, the longest such record in sports history.
-AFP
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