The Publisher
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Sep 25, 2009, 10:46 AM
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ISAF fee for 30th America's Cup
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A letter published in Sail-World by former ISAF President Paul Henderson regarding the ISAF fee for the 30th America's Cup in 2000 prompted this response by Alan Sefton, Executive Director, Team New Zealand, 1995-2000:
Dear Sir
The Pope (the one who lives in Rome, that is) might not be fallible, but the memory of his Canadian namesake - Paul Henderson - obviously is.
The October 1998 meeting to which he refers in his note in fact took place at the behest of the Defender (Royal New Zealand Yacht Squadron), the Challenger of Record (New York Yacht Club) and their respective event organizations (AC2000 Ltd and ACCA Ltd).
It was necessitated by ISAF threatening to not sanction the 2000 America’s Cup and its attendant Louis Vuitton Cup challenger eliminations unless we handed over an event fee of $US900,000.
We travelled to Southampton with some urgency to make it clear to ISAF that it had no jurisdiction over the America’s Cup, including the Challenger selection series (the Louis Vuitton Cup).
We did, however, want use ISAF’s racing rules, along with ISAF-qualified international jurors, race officials and on-the-water umpires, for which we were more than willing to negotiate an appropriate fee.
“The Pope” did not take kindly to our position (that ISAF had no jurisdiction) and spent much of the morning session attempting to bully us into submission.
Sir Peter Blake, sat opposite “The Pope”, said little (as was his wont) during the uncomfortable confrontation until, just before noon, he quietly asked “The Pope” why he was being so aggressive.
“The Pope” was taken completely aback and the meeting was adjourned until after lunch when ISAF (and, particularly, “The Pope”) adopted a more reasonable approach and the grounds were laid for an agreement under which a fee would be paid to ISAF for using its officials. That fee was considerably less than the event fee that ISAF originally sought, and was paid without any compromise of our original position (that ISAF had no jurisdiction over the America’s Cup).
As for the alleged spinnaker pole incident in San Diego – it never happened. NZL32 had picked up her tow and was, quite typically, cleared away before Bruno Trouble and Boll Koch arrived alongside in their rubber ducks with celebratory champagne. Anyway, a new spinnaker pole for NZL32 in those days cost around $NZ10,000 – which hardly equates with ISAF’s demand for $US900,000.
And, as for Peter Blake putting his arm around “The Pope” and walking out for a conciliatory beer - in your dreams, and more evidence that the Canadian Pope’s memory is indeed fallible. In the context of this correspondence, I’ll put that in the same drawer as The Pope’s statement that “ISAF is the World Governing Body that can bring 'Fair Play and Integrity' which sponsors demand”.
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