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Straits Times
10-07-2025
- Sport
- Straits Times
Sailing–Admiral's Cup revival draws world's elite to Cowes
Sign up now: Get ST's newsletters delivered to your inbox LONDON - After a two-decade hiatus, the Admiral's Cup returns to Cowes this month, drawing a top-tier international fleet of teams packed with America's Cup veterans, Olympic medallists and offshore specialists competing for one of sailing's most coveted trophies. The 2025 event, from July 17-August 1, features a series of inshore and offshore races in the Solent, culminating in the 100th anniversary Rolex Fastnet Race. The team with the best combined score across all races will win the Admiral's Cup. Among the frontrunners, Royal Hong Kong Yacht Club's Karl Kwok helms Beau Geste, bringing together Gavin Brady (six America's Cup campaigns for New Zealand), four-time Cup winner Simon Daubney, and Britain's double Olympic medallist Nic Rogers. New York Yacht Club's Black Pearl, skippered by Germany's Stefan Jentzsch, features British veteran Paul Standbridge, calling this Admiral's Cup his farewell after five round-the-world races and more than 15 Fastnets. Italy's Django WR51—representing the Yacht Club Costa Smeralda—lines up with Vasco Vascotto, owner of more than 25 world titles, alongside a seasoned international crew. The Netherlands are sending a new wave -- the Dutch Offshore Sailing Team's ROST VanUden is skippered by Volvo Ocean Race veteran Gerd-Jan Poortman, but his teenage crew weren't born when the Dutch last lifted the Cup in 1999. Nicklas Zennstrom leads the Royal Swedish Yacht Club's Ran 8, with Ireland's Justin Slattery, a double Volvo winner, on board. Ran remains the only modern team to defend the Fastnet Challenge Cup with the same boat. Another Swede, Daniel Baum, enters the fleet's only wooden yacht, the Tison 48 Elida representing the Hamburg Sailing Team. Elida's secret weapon is the Isle of Wight's James Gair in its crew -- he has 14 Rolex Fastnet Races on his CV and an expert knowledge of the Solent. Organised by the Royal Ocean Racing Club, the Admiral's Cup is a team-based offshore sailing event where yacht clubs represent their countries. Each team typically fields two boats — one larger and one smaller — chosen by the club based on performance and eligibility. Crews are selected by the clubs and often include a mix of top professionals, Olympic medallists and offshore race veterans. While sailors can be international, teams race under their club's national flag. REUTERS
Daily Mail
25-06-2025
- Business
- Daily Mail
Blast from the past: Controversial Aussie figure's jailhouse painting resurfaces at auction and goes for a tidy sum
An artwork painted by national hero turned disgraced tycoon Alan Bond while in jail for fraud has sold for $2196 at a recent auction, well over its estimated value. Remembered alternatively as the man who bankrolled Australia's unlikely victory in the 1983 America's Cup, and as the man who oversaw one of the biggest corporate collapses in Australian history, Alan Bond lived an unusual life. His mixed legacy resurfaced at Gibson's Australian, Maritime and Exploration auction on Monday where his jailhouse painting went under the hammer. The closing price included a 22 per cent buyer's premium but exceeded its estimated value of $100 to $300 by an order of magnitude. The crude painting was dubbed 'Australia II' after its subject - the yacht whose victory robbed the New York Yacht Club of its unbroken 132-year winning streak. It was after that victory that Mr Hawke, then prime minister, famously said: 'Any boss who sacks anyone for not turning up today is a bum.' Bond painted the work in 1999, two years into his four year jail stint for siphoning $1.2billion from the publicly listed Bell Resources to shore up the ailing Bond Corporation. According to the Australian Financial Review, the work came to the auction courtesy of Bond's former lawyer Julian Burnside KC and his wife Kate Durham. Ms Durham told the paper the painting had been hung in Mr Burnside's Melbourne chambers. 'It was a gift,' she said, adding Mr Burnside considered the late businessman to have been both 'good company and yet curiously over-optimistic'. 'To Julian with special thanks' is written on the back on the painting. The one-time billionaire occupies a unique place in Australian history. By the time of his death in 2015 following complications from heart surgery in a Perth hospital, Bond had made, lost and remade his fortune several times over. He rose to prominence at the helm of Bond Corporation which began in property development before expanding into brewing, television and gold mining. In 1987, he founded Australia's first private university, Bond University, which still exists to this day. The tide of public opinion first turned against him in the early 1990s when he was declared bankrupt after failing to repay a $194million loan for a nickel mining project. He was jailed the same year with reported debts exceeding $1.8billion. Bond was released that same year following a successful retrial and, three years later, his family bought him out of bankruptcy. In 1996, however, he found himself again behind bars for the secret, sweetheart sale of Manet's masterpiece from Bond Corporation to a private family-owned vehicle. It was his illegal siphoning of cash from Bell Resources and subsequent jail sentence in 1997, however, that ultimately precipitated the collapse of Bond Corporation. That same year, he was stripped of his Officer of the Order of Australia title, awarded for his role in the America's Cup victory. In 2000, he was released from Karnet Prison Farm, a minimum-security facility in the Keysbrook State Forest in WA, four years into a seven year sentence. Following his release, Bond managed to rebuild his wealth through a series of mining investments, predominantly in Africa. Inside of a decade, he would be readmitted to the Business Review Weekly's 'Rich 200 List' with an estimated wealth of $265m. His death in 2015 following complications arising from open heart surgery in a Perth Hospital, prompted an outpouring of mixed tributes from friends, enemies and loved ones. Hawke told reporters at the time it was 'impossible to overstate how much (Bond) lifted the spirits of Australia' following the America's Cup victory. 'The spirits of Australia were low in the early 1980s,' Hawke said. 'We had gone through bad economic times. The country was badly divided. But we united around this marvellous historic victory.' Hawke acknowledged Bond was a dodgy businessman whose dealings hurt many investors but said: 'On balance, he'll always rank remarkably high for the contribution he made to Australia.' Journalist and former host of ABC's Media Watch, who spent a significant portion of his career chronicling Bond's rise and fall said: 'He made life interesting, that's for sure'. 'If Bond comes back in another life, my hope would be that he has a little more regard for the truth and that he takes as much care with other people's money as he always did with his own,' Barry said at the time.
Vogue
21-06-2025
- Business
- Vogue
Ralph Lauren Spring 2026 Menswear Collection
Even as the USA's reputational stock falters, global regard for Ralph Lauren—the most all-American of American brands—is on the up: Vogue Business last month reported the company's sales in Europe and China had increased 12 per cent and 9 per cent respectively in the fiscal year 2025. That uptick means that the majority of the company's total $7.1 billion of revenue for the same period was generated beyond the Land of The Free. So during a period where luxury more broadly has also been faltering, how has RL been bucking the trend two-fold? This evening's Ralph Lauren Purple Label pointed to at least part of an answer. Once you'd steered beyond the vintage car in the courtyard, the presentation was split into two sections. The first cluster of looks were garments for an idealized version of the New York Yacht Club: wearable American magic. Navy washed against white on a piped terry boating blazer worn with a bengal stripe shirt and cravat over pleated linen shorts and ankle-strapped espadrilles. A four-button (silver) navy double breasted blazer with ersatz branded club badge was commodore-level quality. Thickly woven textured silk navy short sleeve shirting and drop shoulder color block knits, or classic Ralph (via the Marylebone Cricket Club) cable-knit sweaters all added to the breezy feel. The next section, housed in the brand's Milan palazzo's first-floor courtyard, was a tonal triumph. Of the maybe 25-strong cast of globally-sourced heartthrobs, around 23 wore shades running from the pale khaki of a game-pouched fishing jacket over a safari shirt and action pant to the richly-burnished, nutty brown of a distressed leather flight jacket with complementarily-strapped pilot's watch. From the slubby silk linen windowpane check field jackets to the tailored linen takes on mid-century military shirting via the darker interjections of art-deco intarsia tuxedo jackets, these were clothes for sophisticated yet unstuffy heroes. The jaunty cravats and woven short sleeve shirting recalled Cary Grant as John Robie The Cat; the masterful khakis were slimmed down Hemingway fare for living large on The Keys; and the flight jacket and tux were prime Pitt and Clooney material. Lauren has always said he designs cinematically: this was American luxury that evoked a reassuring, aspirational, and highly-idealized version of its homeland—and which seemed all the more desirable thanks to that vision's current distance from reality.
Yahoo
23-05-2025
- Sport
- Yahoo
An America's Cup without an American boat? American Magic says it may not sail in Naples
BARCELONA, Spain (AP) — American Magic has put its participation in the next America's Cup in serious doubt after it cited 'transparency' concerns related to Team New Zealand's decision to hold the 2027 regatta in Naples, Italy. The team that represented the New York Yacht Club in last year's cup in Barcelona issued a statement on Thursday saying America's Cup defending champion Team New Zealand 'has been unwilling to commit to the transparency and cooperation necessary' regarding its plans for Naples that were announced last week. If American Magic doesn't compete and no other American team enters in its place, then for the first time in the event's history, there will not be an American syndicate in the America's Cup. American boats have won the America's Cup a record 25 times and held it from its first race in 1851 all the way through 1983, when an Australian syndicate won it. Team New Zealand responded to the American Magic statement by publicly releasing the latest draft version of the 2027 protocols 'as an illustration of complete transparency.' American Magic's complaint was made public shortly after British team Athena Racing, representing all challengers, issued a statement criticizing what it called the lack of information provided by Team New Zealand on the deal with Italian organizers. It is 'difficult to understand what exactly has been agreed between Team New Zealand and the government of Italy as the sporting framework and details of the event do not yet exist,' Athena said. American Magic backed up Athena's position by saying that 'without the meaningful changes they (Athena) are advocating, it is difficult to see how NYYC American Magic can participate in the 38th America's Cup.' Neither Athena nor American Magic went into further detail regarding their complaints. In a statement, Team New Zealand said it had been working with all teams in developing plans for the 2027 event and the latest protocol went back to Athena Racing 10 days ago, before the announcement of Naples as host. 'The defender has not had any feedback back from the challenger of record on the latest version other than acknowledgement it had been well received by the teams,' Team New Zealand said. 'However, the defender now feels due to the unreasonable allegations that have been levelled at it by Athena Racing and American Magic, that it is appropriate to publicly release the latest draft.' Team New Zealand said all teams had been offered 'full access and transparency to the host venue agreement' upon the signing of a non-disclosure agreement, but no NDAs had been returned. ___ AP sports: Joseph Wilson, The Associated Press
Washington Post
22-05-2025
- Sport
- Washington Post
An America's Cup without an American boat? American Magic says it may not sail in Naples
BARCELONA, Spain — American Magic has put its participation in the next America's Cup in serious doubt after it cited 'transparency' concerns related to Team New Zealand's decision to hold the 2027 regatta in Naples , Italy. The team that represented the New York Yacht Club in last year's cup in Barcelona issued a statement on Thursday saying cup holder Team New Zealand 'has been unwilling to commit to the transparency and cooperation necessary' regarding its plans for Naples that were announced last week.
