CC MEMO -- THE WHAT CUP?

We have asked a few of the preeminent yachting and Cup historians to rule on the following question: "What is the correct name of the Cup awarded to the yacht America in 1851?"

It was only later that it became known as the "America's Cup," in honor of the yacht that first won it. Over the years the Cup that the Royal Yacht Squadron gave for that fateful race on Friday, 22nd August, 1851 has been called the "Hundred Pound Cup," the "Hundred Guinea Cup," and more.

After polling the experts via email this morning, ACM's Peter Rusch was quick to forward a pic of the RYS 1851 regatta week poster, copies of which many of you will have seen displayed at the New York Yacht Club or in various books about America's Cup history.

Alinghi's Hamish Ross was also quick to respond (saying, among other things, that anyone who had time to write emails asking such questions obviously has too much time on his hands -- one could say the same about prompt respondents?). We will save Hamish's thorough and erudite analysis until we have, hopefully, responses from a few of the other historians circulated.

If any of our readers has constructive input on this pressing matter, please email it to blog [at ] tfehman [dot] com.

In the meantime, from the poster kindly sent by Peter it would seem clear what the Cup was called in 1851. However, we await, and will of course post, any of the answer(s) received from the experts or others worth passing along.



Or, despite the penultimate headline on the poster,
was the Cup popularly called something else?

CC MEETING -- Reminder

As agreed in Trapani, the CC will next meet in San Francisco 11-13 December hosted by the Golden Gate Yacht Club.

Sunday the 11th is for any preliminary (task force) meetings with a welcome dinner hosted by Oracle Corp that evening, and the full Commission will meet from 9 to 5 on Monday and from 9 to 1 on Tuesday.

Chairman Clyde will be circulating an agenda via email shortly. Please forward any agenda items to George with a copy to the CC Assistant, Michael ten Bokum.

Michael also needs to know final attendance figures for each team, and who will be attending dinner Sunday and Monday evenings per their earlier emails.

VALENCIA CRONICA -- #32

Bridget Baker's Valencia Crónica 32 (24th November edition) is now posted. As always it is password-protected to help assure the privacy of email and telephone numbers. To obtain the password, or to be added to the email distribution list for each week's Valencia Crónica, please write Bridget at valenciacronicaspain [at] yahoo [dot] co [dot] nz.

NICE INK -- Shosholoza Top 2005 SA Sports Team

From today's online edition of the Cape Argus:

South Africa's America's Cup yacht race hopeful, Cape Town-based Team Shosholoza, has scooped the coveted "SA Sports Team of the Year" title. Team Shosholoza, formed less than two years ago as the African continent's first challenger for the prestigious 154-year-old America's Cup event, got the nod at last night's award ceremony in Johannesburg ahead of other favourites including the national cricket team, the Proteas, and the Currie Cup-winning Free State Cheetahs rugby team.

"Our team has come a very long way in such a short space of time," said crew member Solomon Dipeere."We are competing at the pinnacle of world yachting in our bid for the America's Cup in 2007, but representing our country is our main mission," he said.

Congrats to team principal and CC member Capt. Salvatore Sarno and the entire Shosholoza team.

NICE INK -- "PDS" in the Headlines

Former UK challenge head Peter de Savary (1983, and a thwarted attempt in 1988) is in the news.

Today's Daily Telegraph reports that PDS, as he is known in AC and business circles, has been named as the new chairman of the Millwall (UK) football club -- soccer to you Yanks.

From the article, by Christopher Davies and Tim Jeffery:

He shot to national prominence with his Victory Challenge for the 1983 America's Cup in Newport, Rhode Island. It was a glitzy, but good, challenge, knocked out by the eventual winner, Alan Bond's Australia 11.

British-ness was a theme traded upon unashamedly by de Savary. Not content with the Victory name, there was a bulldog mascot, a cricket match in one of Newport's famous mansions and his mothership was Kalizma, a yacht once owned by Richard Burton & Elizabeth Taylor.

He missed the 1987 Cup but challenged again the next year. For this he secured backing of the then rapidly expanding Blue Arrow employment services company run by the former Tottenham Hotspur footballer Tony Berry. What was a great deal for de Savary was a poor one for Blue Arrow. Berry was later the subject of a Department of Trade and Industry investigation in 1989 but one legacy of the association was that the City viewed anyone wanting to raise backing for the America's Cup suspiciously for a long time afterwards.

The complete article is available here (free site but requires registration).



Peter de Savary

CC MEMO -- Well Commissioned

From today's Valencia Life newsletter:

AMERICAS CUP: THIRD COMMISSIONER NAMED
After the Valencian Government stated that its Commissioner for the Americas Cup would be Esteban Gonzalez Pons, and the Government stated that it was appointing Ricard Perez Casado as its commissioner, yesterday Valencia Mayoress Rita Barbera named Jose Maria Gil Suay as the Commissioner from the Town Hall. Almost simultaneously, the resignation was announced of Fernando Huet from the Americas Cup Commission [VO7] in a move that was widely expected. Mr. Gil Suay is a business consultant and a close collaborator for Mrs. Barbera on her Strategic Plan for Valencia. However, no budget was set for the new department that he now heads.

Perhaps the Challenger Commission should appoint a Commissioner as well.

MEASUREMENT CTE -- Sail Number Allocation

The Technical Director advises that he has now allocated four sail numbers for new (Version 5) ACC yachts.

83, of course, was long ago issued to Shosholoza. More recently 84, 85 and 86 have been allocated, though to whom remains confidential unless and until the respective teams decide to announce their allocated sail numbers.

Sail numbers are allocated after a team has begun layup of a new hull -- the team sends a digital picture to the Technical Director as proof that hull construction has begun.

A number of teams are thought to be interested in number 88; immediately Mr McAlpine announces that 87 has been issued there may be a bit of a race to see who can get their application in next.

CC MEMO -- Another Commissioner?

From the Valencia Life newsletter this morning:


AMERICAS CUP: BARBERA TO HAVE A COMMISSIONER
Valencia Mayoress Rita Barbera announced yesterday that she would also appoint an official Town Hall Commissioner for the Americas Cup 2007 races. This follows on from a similar appointment made by the Socialist Government (who named the former Socialist mayor of Valencia Ricard Perez Casado) and the Valencian Government, who named Esteban Gonzalez Pons. Mrs. Barbera also revealed that she had informed Public Administrations Minister Jordi Sevilla of her decision ‘during a short and amiable telephone conversation’. Commenting on the Government decision to spend two million Euros promoting the Americas Cup, she stated: “If they are prepared to spend two million Euros promoting the Americas Cup and by inference Valencia, then they are most welcome to do so.”

CC MEMO -- Life is a Beach

Check out the excellent Valencia Sailing
blogsite for a couple of recent posts on
Valencia-area beaches that our families
and friends may find useful.

VALENCIA CRONICA -- #31

Bridget Baker's Valencia Crónica 31 (18th November edition) is posted -- for a change within hours of when she sent it out. As always it is password-protected to protect the privacy of email and telephone numbers. To obtain the password, or to be added to the email distribution list for each week's Valencia Crónica, please write Bridget at valenciacronicaspain [at] yahoo [dot] co [dot] nz.

CC MEMO -- New ACM Comms Director

This recently from ACM Teams Liaison, Tamara Martyn:

On behalf of AC Management, we are pleased to announce that Paco Latorre has been appointed as the new Director of Communication. Paco comes from Dorna (the company in charge of the moto GP) and brings with him an extensive knowledge and important experience from the world of sports events. Paco will join ACM permanently on November 21 and we will be sure to formally introduce him to all of you.

A warm welcome to Sr Latorre on behalf of the Challengers. We look forward to meeting and working with him to further develop Cup communications worldwide.

CC MEMO -- Directory Update

An updated CC Directory (revised 7 November) is now available, password protected for CC members only, by clicking here. As always it may be accessed as well from the "CC Directory" link near the bottom of the sidebar.

CC MEMO -- UITG Sorted

United Internet Team Germany challenge rep Wolf Dietz emailed the CC reps yesterday with the good news:

"I just want to send this official press release to everybody to inform you about the new structure of United Internet Team Germany. If there are any questions...please let me know. Best regards, Wolf."

Click here for the press release on the UITG website.



UITG CC Rep Wolf Dietz

VALENCIA CRONICA -- #29 and #30

Finally have found time to post Bridget Baker's Valencia Crónica 29 (3rd November edition) and Valencia Crónica 30 (10th November). Sorry for the delay. Bridget sends them out by email promptly each Thursday, but have been travelling the past few weeks and it is sometimes difficult to FTP when on the road.

Her newsletters were good to begin with, and get better with each issue.

As always they are password-protected to protect the privacy of email and telephone numbers. To obtain the password, or to be added to the email distribution list for each week's Valencia Crónica, please write Bridget at valenciacronicaspain [at] yahoo [dot] co [dot] nz.

CC MEMO -- Memorial Service Request

From ACM today....


Dear Teams,

As you know, this Friday (the 11th) at 16h00, a memorial ceremony will be held by Victory Challenge at their base in tribute to Gerry Moosbrugger. Out of respect for this ceremony, we would request that all ongoing works at your bases be stopped as of 14h00 in order to minimize noise level and nuisance as much as possible.

Activities can resume as normal once the ceremony is over. ACM has already asked the UTE, the union of companies contracted to build the basic infrastructure of each base, to stop all works on Friday afternoon. However we would be very grateful if you could tell the companies that you have contracted yourselves to stop all ongoing works during the afternoon. Works aside, please keep your general Team's activities on your base as less disruptive as possible during the ceremony.

To ensure that everyone got this message, please confirm that interrupting works on Friday afternoon on your base won't be an issue. Please don't hesitate to contact us should you have any questions on this matter.

Kind regards and thank you for your collaboration,


ACM Team Relations
Tamara Martyn & Anne Soulié

CC MEMO -- CC Condolences

Text of a letter from the Chairman today upon this very sad turn of events for the America's Cup community....



Berkeley, CA
8 November 2005


Ms. Monica Tamayo-Moosbrugger
Victory Base,
Port America's Cup,
Muelle de la Nazartet
46024 Valencia, SPAIN


Dear Ms. Tamayo-Moosbrugger,

On behalf of the Challenger Commission for the 32nd America’s Cup, I write to express our condolences to you and to your family. Gerry was greatly respected in the America’s Cup community as a professional, as a friend, and as great person. His tragic death is an enormous loss for all of us, as well as being a terrible loss to you, Sebastian and your families. Our thoughts are with you all, and I offer our deepest sympathies.

Sincerely yours,



George Clyde, Chair

CC MEMO -- Memorial Service

From Sweden's Victory Challenge
Valencia, 8 November 2005


Dear all,

A memorial service for Gerry Moosbrugger will be held for the Victory Challenge team and the America's Cup community at 4 PM, on Friday, November 11, at the Victory Challenge base compound in Port America's Cup, Muelle de Nazaret, Valencia.

Gerry Moosbrugger, a world class sailmaker, suffered severe injuries in a traffic accident last Wednesday evening when his motorbike was hit by a car on Avenida Blasco Ibañez. He died on Friday after never regaining consciousness. Gerry was 28 years old, father of Sebastian, 2, and married to Monica Tamayo who is expecting their 2nd child in January. The funeral will take place in Munich, his hometown.

Prior to the memorial service at the Victory Challenge base, a mass will be held at 12 PM on Friday at: Chapel 1 TANATORIO MUNICIPAL CIUDAD DE VALENCIA Camino de Picassent, s/n Valencia.

For those who wish to say their last farewells to Gerry, it is possible to visit the funeral parlor from Thursday 12pm to Friday 12pm at Room 9 TANATORIO MUNICIPAL CIUDAD DE VALENCIA Camino de Picassent, s/n Valencia.


Victory Challenge



In memoriam: the AC community
mourns the loss of Gerry Moosbrugger.

TRAGIC NEWS

We learned today of the tragic death Friday of Victory Challenge's Gerry Moosbrugger, and it is with great sadness that we pass on the news. Gerry was a popular figure on the world sailing scene and a good friend of many on the various AC teams. Victory Challenge has issued a statement which is also posted on their website.