Dirt pains OneWorld's Mr Clean

Craig McCaw wanted to redeem the America's Cup. Instead, writes HELEN TUNNAH, he is caught in one of its grubbiest scandals.

Seattle billionaire Craig McCaw admits to being wounded by the scandals surrounding his America's Cup ambitions.

"I wasn't emotionally prepared for some of the pain this has caused, but now it's happened I'm more dedicated than ever to setting things right.

"If I knew what I would be going through today, I might have had second thoughts, but part of me says this underlies more why we should have done this in the first place."

The media-shy McCaw, 53, is something of an enigma. Little is known of his private life, apart from one spectacular divorce which netted his ex-wife $NZ1 billion.

His considerable wealth was earned through cable television and telecommunications, before his latest venture in a satellite system dubbed "internet in the sky".

A philanthropist, he helped to save Keiko, the killer whale of Free Willy fame, and launched OneWorld on the back of an environmental campaign aimed to lift the America's Cup from the dross of squabbles past.

Ironic, then, that his syndicate has been mired in one of the grubbiest controversies ever, a claim by former operations manager Sean Reeves that OneWorld used other syndicates' key secrets, including Team New Zealand's.

McCaw will arrive in Auckland on Monday, in time either to see OneWorld thrown out of the regatta or sail on, vindicated, against Prada in the semi-finals.

McCaw has told the Herald from Seattle how he dreamed of cleaning up the cup, not of being dragged into ugly legal rows.

"In many ways I guess I shouldn't be chagrined by it. I'm surprised, of course, and saddened that somehow the controversy has surrounded us.

"Sometimes it disappoints us, sometimes it discourages us and sometimes it just makes us angry.

"Basically I've never seen anything like this in business. Certainly business isn't perfect, but I have to say this is a unique experience.

"I think everyone recognises that there are some things that ought to change because it will affect people's enthusiasm for the event and the enthusiasm for nice people to get involved."

McCaw expects the row to taint his reputation, but he is more concerned about his team members, who live for the sport and have no ability to defend themselves.

A core group of those members came from Team New Zealand, hired by Reeves as the America's Cup holders split after their successful 2000 defence.

McCaw was the largest non-corporate funder of Team New Zealand three years ago because, he says, he wanted them to win and not be crushed by the very raiders who later pounced.

"I came down to Auckland and met Sir Peter [Blake] and I listened to what they had in mind. First, I loved the country, second I loved what they were doing and I realised how little resource they had to put forward.

"I was afraid that they wouldn't get a fair chance to defend, and that people would come down and kind of run over the top of them. I really believed in what they did and I wanted to see them win."

McCaw, of course, is now accused of himself running over the top of Team New Zealand, poaching their designers and sailors in a bid to spirit the cup back to the United States.

He doesn't see things quite that way, but adds that he respects patriots and empathises with the "nervous" business sector, which values what the regatta brings to the economy.

He says he was told the break-up of Team New Zealand was inevitable due to conflicts within the syndicate.

"Peter Blake's departure was a factor that caused some people to want to leave, and frankly, they were out looking. Certainly, when it started, no one thought the likes of Russell Coutts and Brad Butterworth were going anywhere.

"But other than us being a factor in weakening the team, the question is, what is the depth of the team and is it strong enough? I certainly hope and believe it is.

"As best we can tell, Team New Zealand can take care of itself pretty well."

nzherald.co.nz/americascup

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