Yachting: Swiss face Cup mutiny over money

By SUZANNE McFADDEN

The Swiss America's Cup camp are threatened with a mutiny as the crew's professional sailors wait to be paid.

Just as Fast2000 started living up to its name on the water with a strong performance against AmericaOne yesterday, yet another crisis is shaking this hapless team.

The future of Fast2000 has been resting on a razor's edge for the last week - the crew of Be Happy were very unhappy after not being paid for four week's work in Auckland.

Skipper and syndicate head Marc Pajot said last night that the funding problem had been resolved, after a sponsor came through with a cash injection.

But some of the crew had still not received the money in their bank accounts yesterday, and the threat of sailors walking out on the campaign was still very real.

There is no guarantee that if the sailors stay to finish the third round robin, which began yesterday, there will be any money to pay them. Pajot could not promise them that there would be cash to hand out at Christmas time.

The Swiss have survived so far on less than $US7 million ($14 million). A last-hour sponsor kept the troubled syndicate afloat, but damage to their strange boat at the end of the two rounds has obviously stretched the budget past breaking point.

Pajot, a veteran of French America's Cup campaigns, said he was not paying himself during this crisis.

"It is true we had a problem in the team. We were not sure if we could pay the sailors for November's work," he said.

"There was real pressure on the management of the challenge. These are professional sailors who want to be paid. But we have found a solution."

The Swiss have had money dilemmas since day one of this project more than two years ago.

They almost lost their base in the cup village for failing to pay the bills, and work stopped on the construction of their boat when the money ran dry. One of the designers walked out when he was not paid.

Pajot is hoping that yesterday's efforts at sea will buoy the uneasy crew.

Be Happy shadowed Paul Cayard's AmericaOne around the racecourse, losing only by 33s in their best performance yet.

"I think today's close race is very good for our team," Pajot said.

Today they face the battling Spanish Challenge, who slipped a little further from top six contention with their loss to Abracadabra yesterday.

The Swiss had a rocky start on the water when their newly-repaired yacht, which has struggled with steering problems, was hit by a wayward umpire boat in the pre-start.

Worried that the scrapes along the hull were more serious punctures, Be Happy returned to the start box after the startgun to investigate.

The boat had suffered delamination, but was not taking on water, so the race was re-started.

The drama did not end there. When they crossed the finish-line, the Swiss were flying a protest flag, claiming the AmericaOne spectator boat had got too close to them near a mark, and the catamarans waves upset Be Happy. But time ran out for them to lodge their protest last night and the result will stand.