BIRDS OF A FEATHER

As previously reported a plump little birdie told us that DC's "Robin", Bill Trenkle, was recently seen in New Zealand readying the boats for shipping.

We are now told that DC is preparing to sell them to Vincenzo Onorato (Mascalzone Latino, the "Latin Rascal") so he can challenge for the next Cup. Legal-eagles in San Diego are busy preparing the papers.

Onorato and other possible challengers (are there any - hello, John Sweeney? have you sold your $10 mil crew position yet? got any sponsors?) has until April 29th to file challenges. That is the final deadline.

But there is another hurdle to fly over: the teams (defender and all challengers) must show for measurement at Valencia in June with an updated (Version 5) AC boat and be ready to race in "Act 4" on June 16th. Fail that, and you would forfeit your one million Euro performance bond to the organizers.

So not only does Vincenzo need DC's boats - Mascalzone lost out to the Spanish on the bidding for the OneWorld matched-pair - he needs them in time to get them to Valencia, and do a nose or ass job on at least one of them to get it to float and measure to the new ACC rule. Version 5 boats are a ton lighter than under Version 4, but can have another 100mm of keel depth to make up in righting moment for the weight loss. (Is there a subtle message somewhere in all that for DC?)

It is no secret in Cup World that Mascalzone's design coordinator, John Cutler, and lead designer, Phil Kaiko, flew the coop in early December when it did not look like Onorato would be able to raise enough dough for a viable challenge. They landed with all four feet on the ground, and perhaps one or two in their beaks, with the new Spanish team when they crowed the news of their challenge on December 17th. Yes, these are the same John Cutler and Phil Kaiko who left Dawn Riley's K-Challenge for Mascalzone last summer because they thought K-Challenge was going down - talk about birds of a feather. If we were the Spanish team, we'd be keeping an eagle eye on those two in case they find some greener grass, and maybe juicier worms, before the April deadline. Russell? Paul??

But this story has wings, and it has recently taken off. In retaliation for Kaiko and Cutler leaving Mascalzone, Onorato's lawyer, ex-Prada peacock Alessandra Panderese, filed papers with the jury claiming that Kaiko and Cutler did design work for Mascalzone before they left. And, dear reader, if there is one thing we all learned during the tedious OneWorld tar-and-feathering during the last Cup (Kaiko again), there are strict AC rules against teams sharing designers and design information.

If Mascalzone challenges, and it now looks likely they will, and Mascalzone's claim that Kaiko/Cutler did do design work for them holds up, the fledgling Spanish Challenge could almost immediately turn from chicken salad to chicken s....

From soaring with the eagles, to on the "downlow" with the buzzards. Fear of Flying, anyone?

2/23/05