It has been 25 years since John Bertrand and the Australia II claimed the America's Cup, a victory which is among the greatest the country has ever achieved. That said, it is more and more apparent that the Aussies no longer care about the coveted award. The starting point for the decay of interest was the failed campaign by the prime minister of the time Robert Hawke. He offered every Australian a day off of work after Bertrand's achievement. Since the sinking of OneAustrailia in 1995, there has been no challenging Australian presence at the competition. Most of the top Australian sailors have gone to other countries, with the promise of large budgets and the sport turning professional.
John Bertrand has not given up hope for the continent, as he aspires to take a team to the America's Cup once again. The last real attempt for the prize was the 1987 contender, Kookaburra III. Until the Australian win, America held the cup for 132 years. OneAustralia was poised to do well until the boat sank during the challenger series just off of San Diego's coast. The crew successfully swam away and used their second boat, making it to the final only to lose to New Zealand.
The last Australian effort at a win was made by Syd Fisher with a flimsy budget, and he failed to make any sort of impact in the race. According to Bertrand, it is all about the budgets. His victory was thanks to a $5 million dollar budget, easily dwarfing what is currently being offered. Some teams were spending up to $200 million dollars towards winning. However, thanks to the recent economic crisis, Australia stands a chance to come back as other teams will experience drastic budget cuts. Over time, there may be the change that Australia will win the America's cup one again.
Syndicates since the nineties have spent such large amounts of money that Australia stood no chance at winning the prize. All of the tip sailors and designers were headed for international teams. The winners of the 2003 cup, the Swiss Alinghi team, had several Aussies on board. Australia II's own navigator, Grant Simmer is the design team's coordinator for the Alinghi team. This sort of trend of sailors and designers heading to other teams is what is the seed for Betrands current mission.
Bertrand predicts that the return of nation based equality in the budgets and an Austrailian syndicate in the near future. With Australia exporting sailors and designers all over the world, if Australia gains the power of a syndicate, they may just be able to keep these individuals with the express purpose of taking Australia to an America's Cup victory. Rules to other syndicates will also help. Limiting the amount of money offered to sailors and designers. If there is a major overhaul of the rules, Bertrand is confident that Australia is back into the running. The recent financial climate will bring support from other teams to implement rules regarding syndicates and budgets.
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