Party celebrates Fay entry to Cup Hall of Fame

By REBECCA WALSH

A black-tie ceremony to honour merchant banker Sir Michael Fay's induction into the America's Cup Hall of Fame will be held in Auckland next month.

He joins Sir Peter Blake, Russell Coutts and Tom Schnackenberg as members of the Hall of Fame, which is based next to the Herreshoff Marine Museum in Rhode Island in the United States.

Sir Michael, who is on holiday with family at his island off the Coromandel Peninsula, was one of the key players behind New Zealand's first challenge for the cup in 1987 when KZ7 reached the finals of the challenger series.

In 1988 he launched the "big boat" challenge, where Dennis Conner's catamaran beat the New Zealand monohull. A third campaign in 1992 saw New Zealand lose to Italian syndicate Il Moro di Venezia.

After three campaigns in five years, Sir Michael and business partner David Richwhite decided not to fund another challenge.

In 1995 Sir Peter Blake formed Team New Zealand, which went on to win and later defend the America's Cup.

Sir Michael joins a Who's Who of the yachting world including Americans Ted Turner and William Koch, and Australians Sir Frank Packer and Sir James Hardy.

He was described by the selection committee as the pioneer of New Zealand's cup success. His controversial "big boat" challenge exemplified New Zealand's "no holds barred" push to win.

Team New Zealand chief executive Ross Blackman said Sir Michael's vision and support of the cup had laid the foundation stone for Team New Zealand.

"I think it's overdue. History will show Michael Fay will go down as one of the guys who made a huge contribution to the cup ... he was the founding father of what has become in many people's eyes an incredibly successful sports team."

Tickets to the ceremony at the Auckland War Memorial Museum on February 17 cost $400 and more than 400 guests, including members of Team New Zealand, will attend.

American sailor and philanthropist Malin Burnham and the late Stanley Rosenfeld, a marine photographer, who chronicled cup racing and compiled a photographic history of the event, will also be inducted.

nzherald.co.nz/americascup

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