Scuttlebutt- A meeting with Ernesto

by Cory E Friedman on 9 Oct 2007 'Uneasy lies the head that wears a crown.' -- Henry IV. Part II.

'Let me tell you about the very rich. They are different from you and me.' -- F. Scott Fitzgerald.

'Yes, they have more money.' -- Ernest Hemingway.

Imagine yourself with a problem. You are 42 years old and Forbes says you are the 76th richest person in the world with $8.8 billion from the sale of the business your dad passed on to you.

You are an accomplished sailor and have run a team that has won the America’s Cup twice. The last time was extremely successful, although a little close for comfort. Your vision is to make the next Cup competition even better, with new bigger, faster boats – while, of course, winning again.

You expected that you would be basking in glory -- the toast of the sailing world. It hasn’t worked out that way. Sure, you did what you had to do, doesn’t everyone?

Some people down under were sore when you hired the core of their team after a spat, including the Cup’s greatest helmsman, but you wound up sidelining him for the last Cup competition anyhow.

Now they say you cut a few corners when you signed up a paper Spanish yacht club that had never run a race as the challenger of record, which then cut you a pretty sweet deal that allows you to call all the shots. Maybe you didn’t dot all the i’s or cross all the t’s. Everyone knows you can’t make the best omelet ever without breaking a few eggs.

You sure didn’t expect the whole sailing world to be on your case. Most of the main players are on the sidelines. The problem is that, in order to run the Cup and implement your vision, you have to win. If you make it unlikely that you will lose, the biggest players will continue to stay away.

If you wind up with just ENTZ and the seven dwarfs challenging, you can’t build the vision. Even worse, the 11th richest guy, with $21.5 billion and climbing from a major business, is desperate to win this time and has not only hired the super-star you busted up with, but has dragged you into court, of all places, claiming you broke the rules.

That lawsuit has sidelined the sponsors and you have announced that you may even have to postpone the next Cup. It looks like he will spend whatever it takes to beat you this time and not go down in sailing history as a three time loser.

What do you do to turn this around?

One thing you can do is schedule meetings with everyone in the media you can and make your case.

That’s how I came to be in the Model Room of the New York Yacht Club with Ernesto Bertarelli, Hamish Ross, Ed Baird, two other members of the Alinghi organization – and the Cup. The Alinghi group had met with the NYYC brass the day before. Sports Illustrated preceded me and the Christian Science Monitor followed. Another day was scheduled in San Francisco.

Rather than asking canned questions and receiving canned answers, I cut to the chase and began a real give and take:

I realize the structure of the Cup is unique, but the Cup has become a major business, how is it that you guys can’t find a business solution to the dispute and get on with building the Cup into a major franchise, the way that Bernie Ecclestone built Formula 1?

For the rest of this story see: www.sailingscuttlebutt.com/news/07/1007a/