Veteran Aussie campaigner Fischer says you can count us in

By Suzanne McFadden

The Australians are dressing themselves up and coming to Auckland.

Syd Fischer, the gruff, 73-year-old America's Cup stalwart, will tell the yachting world from Sydney today that his Holy Grail syndicate will definitely compete in the challenger series.

There has been little word out of the Fischer office in the last 12 months on the progress of the campaign, raising doubts over whether they would turn up.

But campaign spokesman Adam Wilson said yesterday that they were on their way with a 1995 boat.

Instead of building a new cup yacht, Fischer will modify his old Sydney '95 boat.

"It won't be coming as it was last time. We're going to be working on the boat, reshaping it," Wilson said. "There's a bit of money being invested into it.

"It's a very good all-round boat. In 1995 it won the last four races when there were strong winds, so it could be perfect for Auckland.

"None of the new boats have been tested yet, so you don't know who will be the fastest do you?

"We're going to be there challenging the rest. If we're not going to win it this time, we're going to give it a good shake."

There are some questions to be answered today - like where the Australians will base themselves in Auckland, as the cup village is full at the moment, and who will sail the boat?

But Fischer is never short of an answer, even if it is an abrupt one. He will certainly add spice to the 1999-2000 event.

"He has a great deal of pride in the America's Cup. But he is sometimes contentious," said the head of the challengers' association, Dyer Jones. "He was for sure in 1983 - he left his boat Advance in Rhode Island and it's still there today.

"A lot of people say you can't have a cup without him any more."

This will be Fischer's fifth America's Cup, putting him up there with legends like Sir Thomas Lipton, who led five unsuccessful challenges, Mike Vanderbilt, who was involved in seven defences, and Dennis Conner, who will sail in his ninth America's Cup this time.