Back in September 2012, exactly three months after Team Korea officially entered the Louis Vuitton Cup by paying the corresponding entry fee, I contacted Brett Bakewell-White, then Design & Technical Director of the first ever America’s Cup challenger from Korea. My question was very simple. I wanted an update on Team Korea and, in particular, the design and construction of the team’s AC72 yacht.
Bakewell-White’s reply was short and can be read here below. Now that the America’s Cup World Series is over and it is more than clear that a Korean AC72 doesn’t exist and never existed one wonder why on earth should anyone tell such a lie. There is no doubt the team was hoping to get a big, Korean multinational as its main sponsor and never gave up hope but it is one thing to vaguely state that construction could start at some stage rather than claim it had already started.
I think this also brings up an interesting issue. Despite Stephen Barclay’s claims, the only teams that are left standing in the 34th America’s Cup are the ones that had strong funding from the onset. The America’s Cup World Series might have helped them secure more partnerships and achieve more exposure but none of the other challengers (Aleph, Green Comm, Korea, China and Energy) that were on the starting line in August 2011 in Cascais was able to find the sponsor that would have allowed them to carry on and compete in the Louis Vuitton Cup.
Here’s what Brett Bakewell-White told us on September 11th, 2012:
Dear Pierre,
Thanks for your email.
Currently we have no public announcements pending. We are entered in the LVC, and so we need an AC72 to compete in this event. Build time is short and so we are building only one boat. While we are completing our 72 the sailing squad will continue to compete in the ACWS events and also be training and expanding the team in anticipation of sailing the 72.
All team members are extremely busy working towards our goals.
Regards,
Brett Bakewell-White B.Arch., MRINA.
Team Korea’s AC45 capsizing. Plymouth, 11 September 2011. Photo copyright Sander van der Borch