KEY POINTS:
Crack syndicate Emirates Team New Zealand is down to only "four or five" people, says former director of sailing Rod Davis, one of the latest casualties as the cost of prolonged America's Cup court action bites deep.
Davis has been "let go" as the legal wrangle between BMW Oracle and holders Alinghi continues to exert financial pressure on would-be Cup challengers.
While coaching the New Zealand Olympic yachting team in Qingdao last month, Davis received the news that his job as Team NZ director of sailing was over. However, while the timing was unfortunate, Davis was philosophical about the inevitability of the move.
"You know, I can't really fault Team NZ in this position. It's been remarkable that they hung on to people as long as they did," said Davis. "You just can't keep going on forever in an uncertain world.
"Team NZ has ceased America's Cup operations for the time being, so pretty much everyone has been released or made redundant or whatever you want to call it," said Davis. "Darn near everyone has gone now; there's only four or five people left, I think."
The move does not mean that Team NZ is surrendering its America's Cup ambitions - merely that it must go into "sleep" mode for the time being; re-assembling a team when the legal strangulation of the Cup is over and a regatta can actually be held.
Team NZ has hung together longer than any other syndicate, except Oracle, while others folded their tents long ago.
Team NZ chief Grant Dalton was travelling and unavailable for comment yesterday, while Team NZ spokesman Warren Douglas wasn't sure of the exact numbers and names of those left and the arrangements made. Team NZ skipper Dean Barker is racing in the Med Cup TP52 regatta, where he is second overall.
When it announced its team in 2004 for the 2007 Cup regatta in Valencia, Team NZ consisted of 75 people, excluding directors Gary Paykel and Jim Farmer QC. Those 75 comprised the sailing team, a design team, a sails team, a rig team, a weather team, a shore team, an operations unit and a business unit.
Davis is the highest-profile casualty of the latest layoffs. He has been involved with the America's Cup for 20 years, appointed coach of Team New Zealand in 1988, prompting his move to New Zealand from his native US.
He famously won Olympic medals for the US and New Zealand - winning gold for the US in the Soling class in 1984 and silver in the Star class (with Don Cowie) for New Zealand in 1992.
"I am now starting to look for yachting projects to set up for next year," said Davis. "I've only been back a week and I am looking overseas and in New Zealand but I'd prefer to stay in New Zealand."
While Davis' record will likely find him work, others may not be so lucky. "There is a glut of people on the market now because of all this [court action] and yachting is not in the greatest shape worldwide because of the economic downturn."
However, Douglas said: "No one is hiring America's Cup sailors for obvious reasons at the moment but these guys are all so highly skilled, they will get work. It's the same with the shore team. They are all working in their trades and there is an understanding with the team that, when the button gets pushed for racing again, they can return."
The move follows previous measures in March when about a third of Team NZ were laid off because of the financial squeeze. More than 20 people were made redundant and others switched to retainer-based payments, as budgets were stretched to take account of the ongoing delay to the next America's Cup regatta.
That delay is caused by the stubborn miring of the America's Cup regatta in US courts. BMW Oracle originally successfully challenged Alinghi's proposed arrangements for the next regatta - widely criticised as "unfair" by other challengers - and won the right to take on Alinghi in 90-foot trimarans in a head-to-head contest for the Cup next year, involving no other syndicates.
However, Alinghi overturned that on appeal, leading to an Oracle appeal to a higher court; where a verdict is expected in the next six months.
In the meantime, in another ode to the vast and sometimes meaningless expenditure inherent in the America's Cup, Oracle - skippered by Russell Coutts under the financial umbrella of billionaire Larry Ellison - have been trialling their massive $14 million trimaran in the hope the head-to-head challenge will take place.
The kicker is that the giant multihull may not ever race, depending on the outcome of the court case.
There are persistent rumours that settlement talks between Oracle and Alinghi are taking place behind the scenes. However, as Alinghi has the whip hand at present, the Swiss are not expected to give any ground.
There are also rumours that, if Oracle lose on appeal, Ellison will walk away from the next Alinghi-controlled regatta and will not contest the America's Cup.
Either way, the next multi-challenger regatta is years off, with most betting on 2011 but with one estimate assessing the next one to be as far off as 2013.
That was made by British millionaire Sir Keith Mills, who launched the newest America's Cup syndicate, TeamOrigin, led by well-known New Zealand sailor Mike Sanderson, just in time to fall foul of the Alinghi-Oracle clash.
The 2013 estimate is what might be expected of someone finding it increasingly difficult to justify the large outgoings. TeamOrigin are scheduled to make an announcement on Tuesday.
Most cup watchers are convinced it will not be good news; that they too will follow other America's Cup teams, including South Africa's Shosholoza and Italy's Mascalzone Latino, into abeyance as they await the return of the America's Cup to the water instead of the murky depths of the US court system.
