The 2007 Cup of Superlatives is in danger of losing its appeal. It turns out that some teams have acute financial problems. It may only be a matter of time before the first syndicate cancels its entry.
Because the moment of truth is approaching, the construction of the new ships. The teams that do not yet have any activities to show are automatically suspected of not making it to the start line in Valencia. So far, the old boats have been used for the Acts. That was favourable. Only the South Africans used a new boat due to the lack of a competitive second-hand boat.
But now the teams have to spend money to supply the sailors with new hardware. Information about the start of construction, the construction phase and the assigned sail numbers is doing the rounds. And the strategy of when to build and deploy which boats is one of the particularly critical decisions that will decide who wins the Cup.
Whoever builds first reveals a lot to the competition that they can copy. If you build too late, you won't be able to test and optimise the ship long enough. That's why the big teams play poker. Information policy is part of the strategy.
But there are no such worries among the smaller teams. The Germans have already made it clear that they will probably only build one boat. It is nearing completion at Knierim. The launch is scheduled for May.
In contrast, the Cup community is very worried about the Swedes. Victory Challenge is keeping quiet about construction plans and some sailors are said to have already been looking for new jobs. The Franco-Chinese are also not yet making any moves to announce a new design. On the other hand, news of unpaid salaries is piling up. At any rate, the reports of an astronomical budget are false as things stand at present.
The French are very open about their money problem. Although they were one of the first teams on the entry list, they have been living from hand to mouth ever since. But they did an amazing job with their ancient boat. But in Trapani it almost broke apart at the end. A major title sponsor was finally to be presented at the boat show in Paris. But so far only a few small ones have been secured.
Recently, there were also negative reports about the Italians from +39, who nobody thought would even get this far and sail the acts. But they did it with great success. But there are rumours about unpaid salaries. On the other hand, the construction plans have already been announced.
