America's Cup: Return of OneWorld may hinge on Alinghi

AUCKLAND, New Zealand — A great cheer goes up among more than a dozen OneWorld crew members watching America's Cup sailing on the big screen at their team base. Larry Ellison's Oracle has just broken a spinnaker pole in an error that eventually will cost it the second race against the Swiss Alinghi team in the Louis Vuitton challenger series final.

Although Seattle's OneWorld already has been knocked out of the America's Cup, the team is carefully watching the remaining races. Aside from a dislike of the Ellison campaign — apparently a common sentiment among sailors in Auckland — OneWorld team members know the results could determine whether they, along with backers Craig McCaw and Paul Allen, will be competing in the next America's Cup regatta. A victory by San Francisco-based Oracle or defender New Zealand would make a second Seattle campaign unlikely.

McCaw has said he will not compete again in New Zealand because of the at-times ugly BlackHeart campaign denouncing sailors who left the defenders.

The best chance for OneWorld to sail again would be for the Swiss to win and for the cup to move to Europe for the first time. Promises of rule reforms that would reduce costs and increase the number of competitors make Europe the most appealing scenario to McCaw and Allen, who are waiting until racing is over before announcing a decision.

One idea under consideration to keep the talent and technology developed over the past two years would be to launch campaigns for the Olympics and other large regattas under the OneWorld banner, spokesman Bob Ratliffe said.

For now, OneWorld is packing up and the boats are being dismantled. By next month, most of the 105-member crew will be gone and the boats put in storage — either to be sold or used for practice in a future campaign.

In the end, it was simple speed that let them down, Seattle sailor Jonathan McKee said.

"We were close, very close," he said. "Our speed was OK, but was not quite with the very top teams. I don't know exactly where the deficiencies were. It is a combination of so many technical issues."

Financial hiccups and protracted off-the-water disputes also sucked time and resources away from sailing, said Bellevue's Brian Ledbetter, who, like McKee, is an Olympic sailing veteran but an America's Cup novice. Getting penalized twice by race officials for rule breaches was "crushing," he said.

The overall effort has been satisfying in that it has people back home excited about the America's Cup, Ledbetter said.

"Sailing has never had much of a media profile in Seattle before this," McKee said. "It has put sailing on the map. People are following it — it is amazing."