According to information from YACHT, it is certain that Germany One no longer has any chance of raising the necessary budget. The project initiated by Roland Gäbler and a small yacht service company in Eckernförde has come to an end before it has even begun.
In Munich, the organisers of Fresh Seventeen are currently negotiating with a listed company from the information and communications sector.
As YACHT online has learnt from people close to the company, several initially promising talks have ended unsuccessfully in recent weeks. Now, literally at the last minute, a new potential financial backer has come onto the scene who has both the means and the motivation for a commitment.
However, even if the entry is successful, which is expected to happen on Thursday, doubts remain as to the success of the campaign.
According to the statutes, the challengers not only have to pay an entry fee of 1.25 million euros, but also take part in all the acts of the year (Valencia, Malmö, Trapani). Those who fail to do so due to a lack of preparation time are dependent on the goodwill of the Challenger circle. The safely seeded teams could block out the Germans in order to improve their own chances and marketing.
How Fresh Seventeen will manage to buy an IACC cupper, bring it up to the latest version 5 standard and put together a crew that can hold its own at Acts 4 and 5 in Valencia in mid-June seems questionable to impossible.
However, if the syndicate is absent in Spain, participation in the 2007 Louis Vuitton Cup would not be guaranteed beyond doubt - a less than satisfactory starting position for the sponsors as well as for ARD and ZDF, who have secured the rights to broadcast the Cup.
In any case, the campaign will probably not be able to meet the high expectations of organiser Uwe Sasse. To be able to seriously compete, the Munich organisers would need a budget of around 50 million euros. The shortfall is already considerable and cannot be made up even with more money. However, it is likely that the syndicate will only have part of the sum at its disposal - if it manages to do so at all - because there are no other major sponsors in sight.
Jochen Rieker
Herausgeber YACHT
