- Second rower joins GBR Challenge (06/28/01)   (source : yachtsandyachting.com)

Following in the footsteps of Olympic Gold Medallist Greg Searle, rower Ian Weighell has joined Peter Harrison's GBR Challenge. Weighell, who was a member of the Oxford eight in the Boat Race this year, has been recruited as one of the grinders for the British America's Cup team. Sailing Manager, Ian Walker, explained the reason for the selection. "I was struck by Ian's enthusiasm as I was keen to have another non-sailor to learn with Greg and for him to measure himself against. With James Lyne, Guy Reid and Mark Covell, we now have strength in what was an area of weakness." The British sailing team continues to grow, now standing at 28 including six sailors on extended trial. Final trials are currently underway and the final squad will be in place by the start of July. Sailing Manager Ian Walker commented: "We've had 10 weeks of tough training on the Solent, with a really high standard of sailors trailling for the team. We've trailed nearly 50 sailors and I'm delighted to have found four or five to strengthen our squad."

New money for GBR Challenge (06/19/01)   (source : madforsailing.com)

Peter Harrison, the multi-millionaire businessman who is financing the GBR Challenge for the 2003 America's Cup, has revealed that he is prepared to increase the overall budget for the programme if the design group can justify it. . Harrison launched the syndicate back in January with a projected overall budget of £17 million but he has said in the last few days that he will increase this if he is convinced there are sound reasons for doing so. "It is a technology race," commented Harrison, who has just signed another £2 million worth of cheques, bringing his total personal spend so far up to £8.2 million. "He who builds the better boat, by and large, is likely to win," he added. While not allowing costs to spiral out of control, Harrison is anxious to give his design group the funding to fulfill its potential. Although the syndicate will build only one new America's Cup Class yacht with the construction process set to begin in November, he wants the designers to have the maximum flexibility in terms of modifications which may be made between round robins of the Louis Vuitton Cup. "Let's say we spend another million," he said. "If you thought you could really improve your whole return on the thing by making your seventeen-and-a-half million, eighteen-and-a half, well my business instincts tell me that's what to do. But I don't want to suddenly burst to £30 million or anything," he added. "What I've started doing with David (David Barnes, the GBR Challenge general manager) is to say, 'if we spend a bit more on this or that, how many possible changes or options can we have for the hull or appendages for which we can make modifications, if required, between round robins?' I liken it to my Meccano set - what pre-planning can we do in terms of having additional pieces of the Meccano, so we can vary the hull according to how we see things when we get out there?". So far Harrison says nothing has come up in the course of getting the syndicate up and running which had not been planned-for in the initial budget forecasts and he is happy with the way the money side of the programme is going.

- First competitive regatta for GBR Challenge (06/16/01)   (source : hoyaroundtheisland.org)

Five months after the official campaign launch, Peter Harrison's GBR Challenge sailed an America's Cup boat in the syndicate's first official regatta. Ado Stead was skipper GBR 44 in the Hoya Round The Island Race, starting at 10am along with four other ACC yachts and the rest of the big boat fleet. Skipper for the event, Ado Stead was looking forward to the challenge. "We're looking forward to our first real race in an America's Cup boat, even though it's a bit different. It's a challenging course for an ACC yacht, built for windward/ leeward racing in a maximum wind of 22 knots, but it should be a good day for all." The crew on GBR-44 (former Asura) was as follows : Bow Peter Thomas - Mid Bow/Sewer Mark Sheffield - Mast George Skoudas - Pitman Jonathon Taylor - Pit/ runner Jim Turner - Trim (Stbd.) Simon Fry - Trim (Port) Ian Budgen - Grinder (Stbd.) Guy Reid - Grinder (Port) Greg Searle - Mid Grinder Mark Covell - Runner/ 2nd helmsman Neal McDonald - Mainsheet Chris Mason - Mainsheet Caddy Chris Main - Navigator Derek Clark - Traveller/aft floater Adrian Stead (Skipper) - Helm Andy Beadsworth. Today, the British America's Cup crew finished in a time of 4 hours, 23 minutes and 43 seconds to lead in the International America's Cup Class (IACC). Second IACC boat in was Eddie Warden Owen helming High Voltage (USA-16) , the former Il Moro de Venezia IV, in 4 hours, 52 minutes and 4 seconds followed by France 2 (FRA-33) in 5 hours, 40 minutes and 49 seconds.

- Greg Searle Joins joins GBR Challenge (05/12/01)   (source : sailsail.com)

Peter Harrison today announced that Greg Searle, Gold Medallist at the 1992 Olympic Games in Barcelona, is to join the GBR Challenge Sailing Team. Searle, 29, who also won a Bronze Olympic medal and seven World championship medals during a prolific rowing career, is joining the British America's Cup team as a grinder, a position where fitness and power are paramount. Searle is following the footsteps of another legendary rower, Rob Waddell, who has joined Team NZ for their defence of the America's Cup in 2003. Harrison outlined the benefits to the programme. "Greg's record is fantastic and it shows not only his physical and mental strengths, but an ability to perform under pressure. This will be invaluable in the Louis Vuitton Cup in Auckland. "I'm sure that he will be able to bring an extra dimension to areas of GBR Challenge by importing ideas from his time in rowing. In addition to his physical attributes, fitness and power - I understand that he topped many of the fitness tests last week - he will bring an Olympic rower's focus to the training regimes." Ian Walker, Harrison's Sailing Manager, commented: "Peter, David Barnes and myself realised at the start of this project that we needed some incredibly powerful and fit athletes to work the grinders on the America's Cup boats. We decided then that we should explore the option of taking an athlete from outside the sailing world. For the last few months we have been exploring this option, testing athletes from other sports such as rugby and rowing. We are delighted that Greg has decided to join the project." Searle outlined why he took the decision and why this might not be the end of his rowing career. "It's a new challenge that I'm really excited about. Part of the attraction is that there are 18 months to go, which is enough time to prepare properly but it will be a steep and exciting learning curve. The time scale also means that the door is not closed on my Olympic career as I'll maintain my fitness and could feasibly step into a crew in early 2003 and be ready for Athens in 2004. He also explained that he's not on the boat purely as a machine. "I'm really looking forward to learning to sail. It's not just about grinding, I need to be able to offer more than that and as such my sailing programme will include plenty of time match racing the Etchells that Peter bought as part of the project start-up."

GBR Challenge Base Declared Open (04/19/01)   (source : sailsail.com)

The UK base for Peter Harrison's GBR Challenge was today declared open, in a ceremony that saw the first of the syndicate's tune up boats blessed by the local vicar. To mark the occasion, Joy Harrison, Peter's wife, smashed a bottle of champagne on the bow of the first 2000 generation IACC boat to sail in Britain. Peter Harrison commented: "Today marks the commencement of the campaign proper. I believe that we've now got most of the key building blocks in place. "We now have the necessary training boats and equipment, our new models are being tested and we have sailing bases in the UK and New Zealand. The Design Team is complete, much of the Sailing Team is in place, our Meteorology Team is assembled, the sail loft is ready, the Shore Crew and Marketing Team have been recruited. We have administrative and marketing offices in the UK and New Zealand. I believe that we now have a challenge worthy of representing Great Britain for sport's oldest trophy and I look forward to the Design Team producing us a fast boat and the Sailing Team honing their match racing skills." The Sailing Team will start their programme tomorrow, with the two boat training sessions due to start in mid-May.

- Rob Humphreys joins GBR Challenge (04/18/01)   (source : sailsail.com)

Peter Harrison today announced that Rob Humphreys, co-designer of Ellen MacArthur's Kingfisher, has joined the GBR Challenge Design Team. Humphreys, along with Derek Clark, was part of the committee that formulated the International America's Cup Class (IACC) rule in 1992. Humphreys will join a very experienced design team which includes former Nippon Challenge designers Taro Takahashi and Akihiro Kanai. Also part of the team will be Jo Richards, a bronze medallist in the 1984 Los Angeles Olympics.

- GBR Challenge Goes Sailing (04/13/01)   (source : scuttlebut.com)

After an intense period assembling the newly delivered Japanese boats, GBR Challenge have finally had chance to test their new toys on the water. Though the team are remaining tight lipped until the official launching party next Thursday, sources within the camp indicate that everyone is mightily impressed. All the bits have fitted together perfectly and the first couple of outings have seen a selection of sails from the huge stock hoisted on the Solent. GBR 52 is the first boat out of the blocks. Reduced to a bare white pained finish with no sponsor's logos and a plain if somewhat tired looking mainsail, she looked efficient and workmanlike if not especially pretty. The priority for the sailing team appears to be to build up a body of knowledge on how to handle the boats. Only once they have acquired the basic skills in handling these exotic beasts will they be able to set about serious boat tuning and race training. Besides actually learning to sail the boats, all the side issues such as getting these big yachts on and off the hoist and towing out through Cowes harbour will have to be mastered. Sailing with 16 or 17 crew on board reduces the workload while the more experienced members of the team have been taking on the key jobs to keep things safe and secure in the early stages. Team Manager, David Barnes, has been taking the helm while Ian Walker and Adrian Stead are hard at work finding their way around a type of boat that neither of them has sailed before. Andy Green was spotted in the trimmer's pit while the unfortunate Andy Beadsworth has had to stay ashore after breaking his arm in a cycling accident. So far there is no news as to when the second boat (GBR 41) will be afloat. As might be expected, a total information blackout surrounds the new boat set to be built later this year or early next.

- Meteorology programme for GBR Team (04/03/01)   (source : sail-sail.com)

Peter Harrison today announced the meteorology programme for his GBR Challenge, which is clearly designed to benefit the future of British sailing in addition to giving his campaign the best support possible in Auckland. Harrison has contracted British meteorologist Fiona Campbell to the campaign and signed an agreement with the Meteorological Service of New Zealand Ltd, which also has an agreement with Team NZ. In addition, David Houghton will act as a consultant to the programme. Harrison clearly has confidence in the meteorological components that he has secured. "I believe that the meteorological contract with MetService, coupled with the expert analysis of Fiona Campbell and David Houghton, will stand GBR Challenge in good stead over the course of the campaign." Harrison also explained the desire to benefit British sailing as a whole. "I have always stated that this campaign should support other elements of British sailing and the sport's future in this country. I am confident that Fiona's expert knowledge will benefit our syndicate, and also that she will return from the event with additional experience that will prove invaluable to future British Olympic campaigns." David Barnes, General Manager of GBR Challenge, is clearly delighted to be working with the MetService again. "I worked in conjunction with MetService in the 2000 America's Cup and found the resource to be very useful for the campaign. MetService's weather models, forecasting and technical expertise are exceptional." Ian Walker commented: "Accurate weather forecasting was one of the keys to our Olympic success in Sydney, giving us an edge over some of the other nations. It's great for GBR Challenge that Fiona Campbell and David Houghton will be working with us, and positive for British sailing that Fiona will gain experience that she can feed back into the Olympic programmes."

- Former Nippon boats arrive in Cowes (03/30/01)   (source : Madforsailing & Sailsail)

The Peter Harrison's GBR Challenge today transferred the main assets of the former Nippon Challenge to their base in Cowes. The three IACC (GBR 52 and GBR 44 - first 2000 generation IACC and GBR 41, built for the '95 America's Cup), four masts, seven sea freight containers, four RIBs and rubber support boats (between 8 and 14 metres long) were all unloaded today from the container ship that left Tokyo two months ago and arrived in Southampton last night. Bright conditions and a windless morning enabled the project to get off to a smooth start. Six of the containers, the masts and the RIBs were transferred onto a barge and towed by a tug up the Medina River into the syndicate's base in West Cowes. The IACC boats were unloaded onto the dock in Southampton where their rudders were fitted before they were towed to join the containers in the GBR Challenge base. At the start of the day the IACC boats were lifted off with counter weights inside the bows to compensate for the lack of rig to enable the yachts to be balanced whilst being craned. The next stage of the operation also went without a hitch as the barge easily made the 15.30 deadline to arrive at the base prior to high water. By the end of the day, both of the 2000 generation IACC yachts and six of the sea freight containers were in Cowes. The sailing team are eager to start testing their sailing skills on the boats." The syndicate shore team is currently preparing the yard for the boats' arrival and the refurbishment of areas of the site that will see the necessary facilities installed. Already the administrative offices are up and running, with the logistical arrangements well under way, including the travel-hoist facility which is now working. Ian Walker, the sailing director of the GBR Challenge, plans a summer of intensive training on the south coast before the team move to New Zealand in the autumn to begin their campaign proper with a new boat which is due to be built at the base in Cowes.

Neal MacDonald joins GBR Challenge (03/16/01)   (source : sailsail.com)

Fresh from his record breaking exploits whilst winning The Race on board Club Med, Neal MacDonald starts work for Peter Harrison's GBR Challenge on Monday. MacDonald, who has previous America's Cup experience with the One Australia and Sydney 95 syndicates, joins the Sailing Team but will also have responsibilities within the spar and rig development programmes. Peter Harrison, Chairman of GBR Team, commented: "I am delighted that Neal is joining us next week. He was very highly recommended to me by all that have been involved with his sailing campaigns, whether they be at Olympic, Whitbread or America's Cup level."