Yachting: Idle Aussies fed up with playing cards

By SUZANNE McFADDEN

Frustrated young Australian skipper James Spithill sits on the dock each morning and watches the America's Cup boats go out to sea.

Spithill's campaign has long since left the Louis Vuitton challenger series. But he and five of his crewmates have been waiting around in Auckland to see if they can help out across the Viaduct Basin at Paul Cayard's AmericaOne.

The decision will be made by an arbitration panel, but there is no indication when that will come.

In the meantime, Spithill and his mates watch videos, play cards and sleep at the railway campus in the central city - waiting.

"It's the most frustrating thing I've ever known," the 20-year-old skipper from Sydney said. "We just want to get out there and go sailing. It all seems so stupid.

"We sit on the dock and watch the other guys go out for the day. The worst thing is that we're sitting around, not earning any money. What do you do?"

The Young Australians have booked tickets to fly home for Christmas at the end of the week. If Spithill does not get the word from AmericaOne, he will helm Syd Fischer's Ragamuffin in the Sydney-Hobart race on Boxing Day.

Regardless of the panel's decision , the Australians will not be able to race for Cayard in the Cup itself.

But the question is whether they can crew on AmericaOne's B boat on test days. Spithill, who proved himself aggressive and accurate in the pre-starts behind the wheel of Young Australia, would drive the back-up boat against Cayard.

"It would be a dream come true for me if it comes off," Spithill said. "Hopefully I would learn even more and stay here right through the Cup.

"We'll just be learning for next time. It's not like we are Tom Whidden or Dennis Conner."

Spithill was offered a part-time job with another syndicate, but would have had to go through the same drawn-out process.

Fischer has vowed that there will be another Young Australia in the next America's Cup, and his protege Spithill is expected to drive again.

Spithall said: "It's been an awesome time. People treated us well - no one said a bad word about us.

"Every syndicate rang and congratulated us when it was all over."