By SUZANNE McFADDEN
Nippon have bid sayonara to the America's Cup 2003.
After 13 years of striving to win the Auld Mug, the Japanese challenge are not coming back to Auckland, finding it too tough to keep up with the escalating costs of running a competitive campaign.
The new breed of billionaires entering
the race this time appear to be forcing the cup out of reach of the smaller syndicates.
In the last cup, Nippon survived on a $50 million budget, reaching the Louis Vuitton Cup semifinals for the third time in three attempts.
When they were eliminated in January, Tatsumitsu Yamasaki, the businessman who dreamed up the Nippon Challenge in 1987, promised the yachting fraternity that his team would be back in 2003.
But now Yamasaki, still the syndicate head, has changed his mind and pulled the plug on another Auckland challenge.
Nippon had attracted corporate sponsorship and private backers, despite the continuing economic recession in Japan. But they reached less than half of their targeted budget.
"We could have persevered, and taken the way of a Young Australia-style campaign, but we wanted to be very competitive," Nippon spokeswoman Emili Miura said yesterday.
"We decided it was better to take a break this time.
"We want to concentrate on educating young Japanese sailors for the future."
Nippon had investigated the option of handing over the campaign to another Japanese syndicate.
"But it looks like Mr Yamasaki is the only one crazy enough to do the America's Cup," she laughed. "We could not find another yachting enthusiast big enough."
Yamasaki, who inherited his family's spice empire, is not giving up on his cup dream.
He has put Nippon's boats, Asura and Idaten, up for sale, but the syndicate will continue to exist, working to develop young sailors and designers for a future challenge.
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