America’s Cup, le critiche questa volta sono di Peter Gilmour
America's CupVela 9 Novembre 2010 Zerogradinord 0
America’s Cup – Perth – L’annuncio della sfida di Artemis Racing ha rappresentato uno spunto di riflessione per Peter Gilmour. Nel corso di un’intervista rilasciata al Western Australia, il CEO del World Match Racing Tour ha affermato che, allo stato attuale, una sfida australiana alla Coppa America rappresenterebbe un enorme spreco di denaro.
Secondo Gilmour, qualora un magnate australiano volesse investire 200 milioni di dollari nel tentativo di portare a casa il trofeo più antico della storia sportiva dovrebbe aspettare almeno sino all’edizione numero trentacinque. Larry Ellison sta infatti cercando di trarre il massimo vantaggio dall’esperienza fatta con i multiscafi e sarà molto difficile per uno sfidante strappare la Coppa a BMW Oracle Racing.
“Penso che al momento la cosa migliore sia aspettare. E’ come essere passati dalla Formula 1 alle gare in motocicletta. Si tratta unicamente di una svolta epocale, ma non nella giusta direzione. Sono convinto che in futuro si tornerà ai monoscafi. In pratica si sono gettati nello scarico centocinquant’anni di tradizione per passare ai catamarani. Se vinci, scrivi le regole e controlli il gioco… sotto ogni aspetto. E intanto, a Valencia, resta un’industria da milioni di dollari”.
AMERICA’S CUP, STEER CLEAR FROM THE CUP
[Source Western Australia] The Royal Swedish Yacht Club announced last night it was spending millions of dollars on an America’s Cup challenge. But WA sailing legend Peter Gilmour said it would be a waste of money for an Australian syndicate to join the ocean racing circus.
Any Aussie billionaire with $200 million to chuck at the world’s oldest sporting trophy would be better off waiting until after the 2013 challenge in San Francisco, Gilmour said yesterday.
The 34th America’s Cup will be defended by US software billionaire Larry Ellison, the world’s sixth richest man, and his BMW Oracle Racing syndicate out of the Golden Gate Yacht Club.
This year Mr Ellison won the right to defend the cup when his giant rigid-wing trimaran USA beat the catamaran Alinghi 2-0 in Spain. The 2013 cup will be raced in catamarans.
This and the last challenge have had some of the biggest legal challenge in the cup’s 159-year history and Gilmour said he would not think of being involved until they got out of catamarans and back into monohulls.
“My best advice is to sit on the fence,” Gilmour, one of the world’s best match racers who has been involved in seven cups, said.
“It has gone from F1 to racing motor bikes. It’s just a massive quantum shift and quite frankly it’s not going in a great direction. I think a future winner will turn it back around to monohulls.”
Gilmour believes Mr Ellison is just pressing home his advantage after winning in a multihull and while they will be “fast and furious” the nuances of match racing is what has made the America’s Cup.
“Effectively 150 years of tradition is being thrown down the drain for catamaran sailing,” he said. “If you win it, you get to set the rules, control the game . . . every aspect of it. And in Valencia, that was a billion-dollar industry.”
Mr Ellison changed the rules by forcing Alinghi’s hand in the courts and before getting on the water. It was acrimonious and “good, decent people don’t have the appetite” for this kind of sailing, Gilmour said.
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