Anyone who pines for "the good old days" of America's Cup racing has on some rose-colored glasses. Syndicates, lawyers, autocrats and professional sailors (in all but name) have been involved in force since at least the 12 meter days. I know it isn't nice to remember, but in the many years the NYYC held the Cup, they stacked the rules so that was virtually impossible for the Challenger to prevail. And when Australia II showed up in Newport with her winged keel, the howl from NYYC and Dennis Conner about "cheating" was deafening. Never mind that Liberty had bent the rules herself by getting two ratings certificates, allowing her to shift and adjust ballast into different configurations based on the sea conditions expected for that race. Even before the era of the 12's, the Cup was in the hands of millionaire egoists. Check out "Temple to the Wind", a book about the 1903 race, and the NYYC's decision to build the cup defender "Reliance". One of the most chilling and disturbing stories is how the NYYC got Charlie Barr, then the pre-eminent professional racing skipper, to come out of retirement for the race. My point being that the America's Cup has never had anything to do with your average Wednesday night or weekend racer. The technology may eventually trickle down, but the races themselves have always been about rich guys exercising their egos. The current battle between Paul Allen and Ernesto Berterelli is different only in that they have diametrically different ideas about what the Cup should be in the future: Allen seems to want to bring it back to where it was before New Zealand won: races between sydicates of millionaires, symbollically fronted by Yacht Clubs. Berterelli's model seems to be Formula 1 racing: a circuit of races all around the world (but focused in Europe) with teams sponsored by corporations.
