12-Meter Chairman Wants to Be Mediator in Dispute Over Cup

The chairman of the International 12-Meter Assn. has offered to mediate the current America’s Cup dispute in hope of saving the class.

Gianfranco Alberini of Italy told reporters in San Diego Tuesday, “If the future of the America’s Cup is moving to big boats, the association may remain in the interest of activity for the class. But for sure, the interest will substantially decrease and may finish.

“I am willing to act as a peacemaker for the two groups if I can speak to Michael Fay.”

But Alberini said Fay wasn’t returning his phone calls.

Fay, a New Zealand merchant banker, won a court decision last month to challenge the San Diego Yacht Club for the Cup in 1988 in a boat with a 90-foot waterline, the maximum size allowed, rather than the conventional 12-meters, which are the minimum.

Alberini and Fay were passing through Southern California Monday and today en route to New York for meetings in which the situation will be addressed. Alberini will chair a meeting of the 12-meter people today, and Fay on Thursday will attend a meeting of others interested in sailing the larger, more modern boats.

Alan Bond of Australia will be the host of the latter meeting, which also will be attended by representatives from Britain, Canada, France and Japan. If there’s going to be a Cup competition of big boats in ‘88, they want in, too.

Alberini is concerned that the San Diego Yacht Club and the Sail America Foundation, which will manage the next defense, are adamant about excluding all other challengers from an ’88 event in order to enhance their chances of winning and preserving their planned full-blown defense in 12-meters in ’91.

Fay arrived in Los Angeles a day behind schedule Tuesday because of a mechanical problem with his flight and planned to proceed to New York today.

His aide, Peter Debreceny, said, “Everybody wants to see a multinational challenge. The purpose of the (Thursday) meeting is to see how that could come about.”

But Alberini fears that if New Zealand wins in ‘88--and perhaps even if San Diego wins--the 12-meters will go the way of the Model T.

“We don’t know what they (New Zealand officials) intend to do if they have a chance to race and maybe to win the Cup,” Alberini said. “That is creating an uncertainty for the class and an uncertainty for the challengers and defenders.

“You may see the possibility to race with different boats in the future, not necessarily with 12-meters. But I think this decision should come out of a meeting of the challengers and defenders and not a decision of the court. That is the reason I am a little disappointed.”