Thursday 16 August 2007

Whatever Happened to United Internet Team Germany's Challenge

At a time of little or no official America's Cup activities, The Afterguard ponders what has happened to UITG's 'Official Entry'...

The UITG website carrys a release dated Sunday 5/8/07, referring to an 'early entry allowing more time for preparation', suggesting entry was a done deal. Websites following the America's Cup (press and other) were awash with news of the 'official' German challenge. The Afterguard prepared a news story to coincide with ACM's official confirmation. Yet here we are on Thursday 16/8/07, some eleven days later, and there has been no ACM confirmation.

Now it's that time of year, especially on the European continent, when vacation time can often account for missed deadlines. Yet yesterday, 15/8/07, ACM updated its webpage of officially recognised participants to carry a link to the 'Notice of Entry' (compare our image of the page here to the current one); although the page was updated, ACM chose not to introduce the name of United Internet Team Germany to the list; on that basis we can't claim a lack of attention to the list to account for the absence. Surely, entry fees, paid prior to UITG's announcement, would have found there way to the ACM coffers by now?

We're not sure if UITG chose to announce prematurely, but here at The Afterguard we're grateful for our hesitance to cover the story at the time, choosing instead to await the official confirmation. We'd love to tell you all about UITG's entry, we just can't be sure its actually happened yet! Are ACM doing UITG a disservice, or have UITG done a disservice to the general public?

Inset image: Photo © United Internet Team Germany

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