BBC SPORT | Other Sports | Sailing | De Savary announces bid



By Rob Hodgetts BBC Sport Online

First Wight Lightning, then Wight Magic and now white-hot speculation about the future.

British America's Cup racing is back on the agenda in a big way and the sparks are flying.

Peter de Savary's announcement that he is considering mounting a British challenge for the Cup in 2006 has served to fan the flames.

Entrepreneur de Savary said through his associate Kit Hobday in Cowes that "conditionally, he will go for it".

They're self-opinionated and most of them are not very good

Kit Hobday on professional sailors

But he insists he will only go ahead if Team New Zealand lose in their second defence in Auckland in February and the Cup goes to either Europe or the east coast of the United States.

Hobday revealed that de Savary had approached the Knightsbridge-based Royal Thames Yacht Club to act as host club for the bid.

And he has gained Buckingham Palace approval for the boat to be named Britannia.

De Savary has a long history of America's Cup campaigns.

In 1983 his Victory challenge reached the final of the selection trials before losing to Alan Bond's Australia II.

He was then involved in an ultimately pocket-draining exercise with Blue Arrow in 1988 and a half-started attempt in 1992.

However, Hobday gave no details of design and build plans, or any indication of potential crew.

McLaren technical director Adrian Newey
Newey is keen to move into boat design

But the melting pot was stirred by rumours of a Formula One team moving into America's Cup boat design.

McLaren's technical director Adrian Newey is thought to be keen to transfer his aerodynamic skills to aquadynamics and the team are known to be interested in broadening their technical expertise.

Meanwhile, Hobday said the crew would not consist of highly-paid professional sailors - "they're self-opinionated and most of them are not very good," he told The Daily Telegraph.

Instead, he indicated that his own Farr 52 Bear of Britain crew would provide the basis for the team.

The crew selected would do it "for patriotism, glory and honour," he said, without elaborating on how an amateur or poorly-paid crew could mount a worthwhile campaign over the course of several years.

His comments also raised eyebrows among the professionals sailing at Cowes Week and left Bear of Britain the boat to be shot at in Class O.

Wight Magic heads south

The announcement came in the wake of GBR Challenge's second boat Wight Magic being named in Cowes before being flown to Auckland.

But Hobday was keen to point out that their timing had not been planned to take the wind from the sails of GBR Challenge supremo Peter Harrison.

GBR Challenge boss Peter Harrison
Harrison remains focused on this year's campaign

Harrison intends to continue his backing for a British campaign after the current challenge but refuses to get drawn into a war of words with de Savary at this stage.

But a further twist came when Britain's Chris Law came out of retirement to beat a host of America's Cup sailors to win the UBS Challenge in Newport, Rhode Island.

Law outpaces Cup rivals

Law, 50, skipper of Britain's 1986 America's Cup entry White Crusader, was ignored by Harrison.

But he has shown he is still arguably the UK's best match-racer - GBR Challenge helm Andy Green was sixth in Newport - and may yet find himself back in the Cup with de Savary.

In the world of professional sailing, feathers are being ruffled but the sport is back on the map and the tension is mounting.

The Louis Vuitton Cup challengers' series for the right to race Team New Zealand in the America's Cup begins in Auckland on 1 October.


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