Yachting: US Cup boss to meet yachties

By NICK PERRY

SEATTLE - Seven Team New Zealand members will meet billionaire Craig McCaw in Seattle this weekend to discuss their futures with his new America's Cup syndicate.

Designer Laurie Davidson, who has already left Auckland for the United States, will be joined by grinder Craig Monk and mastman Matt Mason, thought to have been offered about $US250,000 ($527,000) each a year to join the syndicate.

Also likely to be in Seattle are grinder Andrew Taylor, pitman Jeremy Scantlebury and designer Ian Mitchell, all understood to be on the verge of signing with McCaw.

Tactician Richard Dodson, who has not made any secret of his plans to join McCaw, may not be in town owing to a personal commitment.

A Seattle meeting arranged with the New Zealanders last weekend was cancelled at the last minute after McCaw told the sailors business commitments meant he could not make it.

Davidson was the first New Zealander to jump ship to the United States last month after wanting more design control than he was given by Team NZ.

He is rumoured to be getting a $US1.5 million paycheque.

But while the defecting Kiwis may be shunned in their home country, McCaw's $US75 million challenge is likely to be hugely popular in Washington state, because of a multi-million-dollar tie-in to a marine protection programme.

A number of projects in the area could benefit from extra funding, including efforts to protect the degrading natural habitat of threatened chinook salmon, a push to build a new Seattle aquarium, and pollution control efforts in Lake Washington and Puget Sound.

Last month, McCaw and his three brothers gave $20 million to help to renovate the Seattle Opera House.

And he even propped up Team New Zealand's campaign in the dying stages with a $1 million donation at a time when the team was short of cash.

But he can afford to be generous.

Six years ago he sold his cellphone empire to telecommunication giant AT&T for $US11.5 billion.

Much of the new challenge is still shrouded in mystery, though an announcement on its future appears imminent.

All McCaw's spokesman, Bob Ratliffe, will say is: "Craig will talk about it when he is ready to talk about it, and not before."

Team NZ: who's in, who's out

America's Cup feature