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Technology
The Thriller B's Prelims for the America's Cup set sail next month. Now billionaires by the boatload are betting a fortune that their technology will land yachting's most coveted prize.Dennis Conner wants it badly: the America's Cup, the pinnacle of yacht racing. He has been in more Cup events than anyone else-nine. He first won it in 1974, then lost the Cup in 1983 as skipper for the New York Yacht Club, breaking a 132-year winning streak. He won it back four years later, and then won it again in 1988. (Challenges to the incumbent occur irregularly.) Now head of his own Team Dennis Conner, he already has left his San Diego base for New Zealand's Hauraki Gulf to begin four months of elimination races in the Louis Vuitton Cup. That event will yield a winner to challenge the reigning Cup holder, New Zealand, in February. This time, however, Conner must overcome a boatload of billionaire rivals he jeeringly dismisses as "the B's."Conner built a fast boat (Stars & Stripes) on a tight budget: $40 million. But the B's are spending twice that or more on hull design, gadgetry, tactical talent and trappings. Suddenly, skill is merely a commodity. "The sailing? It's just how they keep score," says Conner.
Top teams are sprinkled liberally with names from The Forbes 400. Larry Ellison has plowed $80 million into his Oracle/BMW syndicate. Cellular titan Craig McCaw and Microsoft cofounder Paul Allen have united to fund the OneWorld Challenge with $75 million. Ernesto Bertarelli, the Swiss billionaire and chairman of drug firm Serono International, is spending $69 million. Patrizio Bertelli, chief of Prada, is betting $90 million to avenge his loss to New Zealand in 2000. "Larry Ellison has a two-story, 10,000-square-foot floating hospitality tent for his sponsors. I'm very jealous," admits Conner. Sea salt in his wounds: In July the rudder snapped off one of his $4 million racing yachts and the boat sank off Long Beach, Calif. Good thing he had two. Research and development can run $15 million. Tacticians now pull in $180,000 a year, skippers as much as $500,000. And the billionaires cover the cost of feeding and lodging teams of 100 or more, plus their families, in hotels. "The scale of everything has gone up massively," says Peter Harrison, a British data networking centimillionaire and head of the GBR Challenge team, or "syndicate." A sponsor offered to ship one of his boats to New Zealand, gratis. Rather than lose six weeks waiting for a cargo ship, Harrison spent $350,000 to fly it over in a huge plane that usually carries Russian tanks. Ellison, McCaw and Allen hatched their Cup dreams back when the Nasdaq was going to infinity. Now, with Oracle shares down 80% from their high and McCaw's XO Communications in bankruptcy, the Cup has become a new chance to prove themselves. Notorious for exiling lieutenants at Oracle, Ellison has treated his sailors the same way. He bought two AmericaOne boats that Paul Cayard skippered in the 2000 Cup. Ellison then named Cayard to run his sailing operation, supplanting Chris Dickson, but kept the latter on the payroll. Six months later Ellison beached Cayard, too. "They lowered the boom on me," says Cayard. "This is my career. For Ellison, it's just ego and image." McCaw's OneWorld team has had its travails, too. When he learned that a crew member obtained the specs of Team New Zealand's 2000 entry and sail designs from this year's Prada team, McCaw fired him and notified Cup officials. OneWorld could have been disqualified but was fined $13,500 and docked a point, the value of one victory at Vuitton; it will take at least 33 points to win the challenger event. Now OneWorld is suing the fired crewman--for allegedly trying to sell McCaw's OneWorld designs to Oracle/BMW and Team Dennis Conner. Design specs are top secret because the margin of victory--perhaps a seventh of a knot, in a race where the boats average 10 knots--has less to do with skippering than engineering. "In this game, technology is everything," says Kenneth Read, helmsman of Stars & Stripes. "We're just along for the ride."
SEC Probes GE's Contract With Welch - 9/16/02 9:30:52 AM ET The announcement comes hours after the former chief said he'd give up use of expensive retirement perks. Genzyme Sees Lower Total Revenue - 9/16/02 9:28:50 AM ET Genzyme warned for a third time this year that slowing sales of its kidney disease drug would hurt results. Laptop Gymnastics - 9/16/02 10:00:00 AM ET Laptop computers are no good for sharing. This one is built for two. WorldCom To Cut Roughly 2,000 Jobs - 9/16/02 8:37:50 AM ET The bankrupt U.S. carrier says it will chop 25% of its staff, most of which would fall in Europe. Cablevision Weighs Cable TV Sale, AOL Mentioned - 9/16/02 4:59:43 AM ET Charles Dolan, chairman of Cablevision, reportedly said he was open to selling its cable TV systems.  |
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Market data provided by Reuters. Disclaimer Stock quotes are delayed at least 15 minutes for Nasdaq, at least 20 minutes for NYSE/AMEX. U.S. indexes are delayed at least 15 minutes with the exception of S&P; 500 which is real-time. Forbes 40 Index powered by Telemet. News may include latest headlines from Reuters. |
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