Bill Koch, founder of the all-female America's Cup racing
team America3, added a male crew member to the team. Dave
Dellenbaugh, a rules expert and starting helmsman for Koch's
victorious men's team in the '92 Cup, came aboard as of Saturday.
According to Barbara Lloyd of the N.Y. TIMES NEWS SERVICE,
Lifetime Television, which has committed nearly $1M to the team,
did not know of the change until this weekend. Lifetime
President Doug McCormack: "I was having breakfast and drinking
my coffee when I got a phone call from Bill Koch. What he had to
say hit me like a ton of bricks. I'd by lying if I said we
weren't disappointed." McCormack agreed to the new plan, "but
there was no doubt his vision for this competition had been
altered. The concept of backing the first all-women team in the
144 years of America's Cup history had given way to a women's
team with a male strategist -- still unusual, but without the
cache of going it on their own." McCormack: "We're operating
under the assumption that this is something the women brought on
themselves. ... I'm not going to come in here with an Armani suit
and tell them how to run this thing." Other America3 sponsors
include: L'Oreal, Yoplait, Chevrolet, Citizen and Glamour
Magazine. None knew of the change until this weekend, yet talks
within America3's camp began more than a week ago. New Team
Captain Dawn Riley: "It's nice to say, well, all-women was the
only way to go. But you get tired of it when you're always in
women's programs, and they say, 'You didn't win, but that's OK.'
We'd rather say, 'We won'" (FT. WORTH STAR-TELEGRAM, 3/20).
