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America's Cup: Owner-Driver Rule? So now another rich guy has won a regatta. In this instance, the rich guy is Ernesto Bertarelli, the money bag behind Alinghi (Swiss) America's Cup Challenge, and the regatta he won just happened to be the recently completed Farr 40 Worlds. Now he's a legitimate helmsman, right? I mean some people are insisting that Philippe Kahn is now a great sailor. And with that logic, Bertarelli must be all that. So, maybe now he's looking sideways at AC helmsman poster boy Russell Coutts, thinking, "Wait a fucking minute. I just won the biggest regatta in the world, In the toughest class in the world! Why in the hell can't I steer my own boat in the AC? After all, I'll only be racing against one boat - how tough can it be? Besides, with the geet I'm paying Coutts, he can just tell me where to point it, and we'll be good to go!" Sounds like a reasonable expectation. However, do you think Coutts, despite the millions he's being paid, will be glad he left the motherland to watch this spoiled wank steer his big toy to certain defeat? Now, let's go to the other side of the world, to Ventura CA and the Oracle Challenge owned by another really rich guy, Larry Ellison. This rich guy has been making noise about wanting to drive during the Cup, news which must make Dickson and Cayard choke on their Team sushi. These two guys are by all accounts pretty bright guys and they certainly know that they've hit one of the biggest, if not the biggest, of all their paydays. In fact, given the economic climate and forecast, it's not a stretch to think that this might be the most money they'll ever see from this sport. Nonetheless, one can't quite picture these two sitting on their hands ( they can't do that - how will they count their money? ) - okay just sit around while Ellison hacks away any chance of getting to, let alone winning the Cup. They gotta say something. You can just hear it, can't you? "Jeez Larry, I mean it's your $100 million and all, but you see, uh, well, we think it's best if one of us steer. I mean, you've done a good job with Sayonara and all, but this is really the big leagues. Uh, I think, uh, you shouldn't steer." Ellison, a virtual self made billionaire with a wicked temperament and a penchant for firing those very high in the Oracle food chain, isn't likely to cotton to any talk like that out of anybody, regardless if the last name is Cayard or Dickson. And since neither Cayard nor Dickson has actually won the Cup, Ellison might figure he doesn't need these two ungrateful miscreants. Give 'em the flick, save a bundle of dough, and use Cutler to get him around the course. Maybe this will be the new directive in the AC Class: Owners must drive! Hey,
It could happen. |