By Stuart Alexander in Marseille
Much of the insecurity in international yacht racing is on display in Marseille as the TP52 fleet gathers for the second of six regattas in the Audi Medcup series.
For a start, three of the boats which were at the first regatta in Alicante have not bothered to turn up. The reason, it is said, is because their sponsor backers only want to advertise to the Spanish market and they will not travel to France or Sardinia. Major sponsors are always making pious claims about their partnership with sport but peddling their commercial wares seems to take priority and the integrity of a series can be ignored.
Then we are told that the BMW Oracle boat USA 17 will both make its debut in Marseille and bring down the curtain on the season at the end of it. Only some can afford to fritter budget like that - it costs about €1.2m to build and about €200,000 a regatta to campaign - and that particular team has several other projects on its plate too.
All of which made a day's racing with the Quantum team the more enjoyable. Quantum is a US-based sail making company, the majority of the crew are American and in skipper Terry Hutchinson and tactician Morgan Larson they are developing a balanced, focused approach that should see them competing for the top slots before the series ends in Portugal in September.
Hutchinson, an intense man - Captain Chuckles he is not - built 10 days training into the budget to ensure that they could at least hold their own for the first three races. He did not want to be coping with a lost cause with the series only half over.
He knows that, in the commercial world of sailmaking North is the top dog, Quantum the underdog, but the whole crew is happy with that. "We had a budget for the year and we aim to come in under budget," says Hutchinson. "You don't have to spend the most to win and you have to be careful not to waste money."
He was clear about the chemistry of the crew he wanted to put together and he is equally clear about the way in which the team should grow and strengthen as the series goes on. He hopes that fans, be they American or from other countries, will increasingly want to feel like supporters, as in Formula One.
The result is, so far, a harmonious group that is also outward looking. Hutchinson may also hope for the bonus of beating the man to whom he was tactician in the last America's Cup, Team New Zealand's Dean Barker, at the helm of the King of Spain's Bribon.
(Photo: The Quantum team in action - Ian Roman/Audi Medcup)
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