Antarctica Cup - will it happen?

The Daily Sail gets the latest from Bob Williams, who conjured up the idea for this desirable 45 day non-stop blast through the Southern Ocean

Within the offshore yachting community at present there is a feeling of 'believe it when we see it' when it comes to the Antarctica Cup: another round the world (ish) yacht race in maxis, a 4.625 million Euros entry fee that includes the price of the boat, admittedly a great course (a loop of the Southern Ocean - "the longest non-stop fully crewed round the world race for monohulls"), big prize money to recoup costs... What many haven't counted on is the Bob Williams factor.

"A determined old bugger" was how one colleague described Bob Williams (above), the man who is in the process of conjuring up the Antarctica Cup. He is certainly to be taken seriously. A successful building contractor based in Perth, Western Australia, Williams is best known in yachting circles as the owner of the Frers-designed pocket maxi Freight Train that he campaigned during the late 1970s and early 80s. He has also made forays into other areas of sport, notably as head of the Perth Wildcats professional basketball team, that he took from relative obscurity to being national champions in the course of just three years. Now he is again turning to boats.

The Antarctica Cup was launched in April last year and Williams has been canny enough to realise that to make a venture like this succeed it is necessary to come up with an event format that will appeal to sailors, media and sponsors in equal measure.

Williams also knows that a certain amount of flexibility is required to achieve this blend. "At the end of the day we can still have a race and as far as possible to have the race under the format we've been promoting. It is always flexible. We want to hold a race: If at the end of the day one format doesn't appeal to the market place then we'll find one that will...."

The entry fee has been changed from dollars to Euros in recognition that there are likely to be the most appeal for his race from Europeans.

Then there is the boat. Williams' latest thinking is that it may not be the Ron Holland maxi built by OceanFast, as previously announced. The possibility of doing the race in old VO/Whitbread 60s had been mooted by he is unconvinced of the merits of racing these boats through the Southern Ocean for 50 days non-stop.

"We're contemplating the production yard boat route," he says. "We’re pretty happy that that is the way to go. People want the boats to have some value after the event and not be orphans like the Volvo boats, where after the race the boat is worth only a small percentage of what it cost to build."

He has been looking at production yards where moulds already exist for a suitable 80-82 footer that could be built in stripped-out form with modifications to the rig, deck layout and structure making it suitable for Southern Ocean competition. Once the race is over the owners then have the choice of continuing to race their boat in its stripped-out format or adding an interior and turning it into a cruiser-racer.

The number of boat builders with 80ft moulds kicking around are not that many and include the likes of Nautor and Baltic. "We want to introduce finance packages so that there are more options on how to handle the entry fee," adds Williams.

There are other merits of going one design: the boats need not be so unpleasant to live on board. "The accommodation would be more friendly in the sense that it will have a proper galley and in a boat that size, you can have the luzury of having your own bunk and a decent head," says Williams, "so it will be spartan but with a reasonable element of comfort."

The boats will be sailed by 14 plus an extra media person.

At present seven build slots have been allocated - to Roy Heiner, Paul Cayard, John Quigley's BritXL, Buzz Boettcher's Greybeard Syndicate from California, plus Wild Thing owner Grant Wharington and Mark Rodereda from Western Australia. The most recent has been Jon Sanders and David Dicks, both Perth people, local to Williams' organisation HQ.

Sanders is remarkable for having sailing round the world non-stop - THREE TIMES (that is three times without stopping). He has also been the inspiration for a number of young solo sailors to follow in his footsteps - Dicks is one of his proteges, and is currently the world's youngest person to make a circumnavigation. At present, Williams admits, there have been no cash transactions involved in these build slot allocations.

For the race to go ahead he says they need eight boats and ideally these would come from each of the major continents. "We've had a lot of interest from Asia and most recently China. The ideal situation is to have 10 entries from 10 countries. Our job in the next three months is to go into those market places and identify those people who want to represent their country."

He adds: "We are very confident we are going to get there. We haven't had one criticism of the race itself. Everyone has applauded the idea. We do want to appeal to the broader cross-section. It would be great to have mixed crews for example. There are some damned good womens sailors out there."

The race is to start in March 2005 and to keep crew costs to a minimum he is stipulating a 60 day pre-race training period to commence on 1 Jan that year.

One of William's motivations in creating the Antarctica Cup is to put Fremantle back on the map in yachting circles since it lost the America's Cup and then the Whitbread. "Fremantle sits there with all its assets for sailing. It is a heritage maritime city. People who came to Freo loved it. A lot of sailors would love to get back there. The facilities are excellent and it is probably the best port in Australia to host a race like this. Fremantle needs a regular event like this to happen." Another motivation is to revitalise offshore racing in Western Australia, which he says has been in decline in recent years.

Budget-wise he believes that a fully funded campaign would cost around 6 million Euros, but the race could be done for just over 5 million. Some of this will be reimbursed from the 6.4 million on offer in prize money that will be allocated for the fastest time between the 'gates' of the course as well as the overall results. "And you end up with a boat with an after life," Williams adds.

The business plan for the Antarctica Cup does not rely on having a major event sponsor, although some funding is coming from the Western Australia government. "All the entrants can go out and find their sponsors and know they wouldn't be clashing with us. We are sticking with that format."

Bob Williams will be in Auckland for the next 3-4 weeks, campaigning to secure entrants.

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