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America's Cup Report: Peter Gilmour by Richard Hazelton OneWorld skipper Peter Gilmour takes a look back at the Seattle team's challenge for the Louis Vuitton Cup, contemplates the future for the team, and expresses some thoughts on what the America's Cup should become. |
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Upon arriving back at the dock after having been eliminated from the Louis Vuitton Cup by Oracle, the OneWorld team toasted their efforts and the fact that they'd gotten to the semifinals.
I was pretty stunned. But the next day was Christmas Eve which was a good distraction. It's easy to get into the childhood joy of the holiday with the family. Clearly we're all disappointed, we had our bar set pretty high. But on reflection we were successful in that we accomplished a lot. When you see the guys pushing the boat off the dock to go racing it all looks so easy, but there is so much that leads up to that. We had a tremendous advantage in that we were well led with Craig McCaw, Paul Allen, Bob Ratliffe, and Gary Wright. It takes a lot to put a multinational team together. How did this team compare to other America's Cup teams you've been involved with? This was the best team I've ever been involved with, and that includes the Australian defending team in 1987. We (OneWorld) had a good foundation, our personnel had the ability and the boats were good. Anything you would have changed about OneWorld's approach? There are two kinds of campaigns; evolutionary and revolutionary. I think we were evolutionary and maybe needed to be a bit more revolutionary. Do you think Alinghi, for example, is more revolutionary? Our campaigns weren't that different, but areas where I can see some differences were in things like twisting masts for example, differences in keels and appendages, sail differences, lots of different elements to make the boat go faster. Was there more speed left to find in OneWorld? I think so. When the boats were launched I think we were distracted by a certain engineering design path. We were concentrating on that when we could have spent more time on just going faster. Alinghi's effort seems to have been flawless. Not at all. They've had just as many hiccups as we did out on the course, maybe more, but their boat speed covered a lot of that up. We beat them in the first round with better crew work, then they got better. They had that extra jump. We'd beat them off the line, then after a couple tacks up the course they'd cross us by two boat lengths. Their boat speed got them out of covers, and when they didn't cover, it got them back out of trouble. Speaking of covering—there's been a lot of Monday-morning-quarterbacking about the times when OneWorld had a lead, then were passed when you didn't cover. If you're sailing in a faster boat, you have the capability to come back easier to put on a tight cover. You lose about half a boat length per tack reacting, so if you've got speed you can get back in position. If you've got pace on a competitor you can put a tight cover on. We had pace on Stars&Stripes so it was easy to put on a tight cover with them. In the first Oracle series we crossed in front and went into a classic cover. Then they got more wind and sailed out of it. There's times when it works and times when it doesn't. On TV it looks obvious because you have a global view of everything, you can be both boats. Onboard you don't have that luxury, it's a lot different. We always tried to put ourselves between the competition and the mark, but we had to choose, using the best intelligence we have on the boat, and act on the agreed conclusion. Do I wish we had covered in certain situations Ð of course. But it's a lot more complex out on the course. Will we see OneWorld back if the Cup stays in New Zealand? "The only bad part of our experience was the negative reception we got in New Zealand. Team New Zealand doesn't really have a leader like they had with Peter Blake, and the local press had quite an influence on the world media's perception of OneWorld. It left a bad taste." And if Alinghi wins? "I think so. If we can keep together the strength and goodwill that was OneWorld we can keep going forward. I'd like to see this team stay together, the owners have done something really unique. I'd love to be a part of keeping it together. One of the things I enjoy about the America's Cup is the intellectual challenge, dealing with all aspects of putting it together, the forks in the roads, choosing paths to take and making decisions. You're talking like a team manager. It's very interesting. I'd need to get some education in that regard. What changes do you think need to be made in the way the modern America's Cup is run? I think the running of the Cup should still stay with the defender. It's part of the long history of the event which is its greatest drawing card. They do need to take a look at the original deed of gift and remove all the interpretive resolutions that have been added. All these "band aids" that were supposed to be improvements have just provided new avenues for exploitation and change. Remove resolutions like "sailing on her own bottom", and clarify "designed and built". They can put country restrictions on technology, but sailors should be able to sail for who they chose. There are lots of good sailors from countries who will never have an America's Cup campaign. They should get their chance, just like athletes in other sports. Here's a bit of radical thought; I'd like to see the America's Cup become an annual event. A regular event on everyone's yearly calendar, like the Super Bowl. That would make it much better property for TV and the media, rather than following one event for years, each year it would be a new thing. I think it would also get people's thinking away from all the money spent on development and testing. The more time you have, the more time you have to pour in effort and money. A yearly event would totally change the focus of each campaign with more emphasis on speed than development. I also think it's up to the "senior" sailors to get the "money people" in check, the people that are pushing the lawyers into all the litigation. People are hired now just to be litegous and annoying. I'd like to see the element of sportsmanship return to the America's Cup. |
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