MELBOURNE (Reuters) – America’s Cup challengers Hamilton Island Yacht Club (HIYC) have recruited Iain Murray to head up Team Australia’s challenge for the 35th addition of the regatta in 2014.
Murray, a veteran of Australian challenges, recently held the dual roles of CEO and Regatta Director of the 34th America’s Cup, but will now help shape the next event with defender Oracle Team USA.
“Iain knows what it takes to win an America’s Cup, having competed in three Cups over the years including Australia’s victorious 1983 win,” Australian wine tycoon Bob Oatley, who filed HIYC’s challenge shortly after Oracle won the 34th America’s Cup in September, said in a statement on Thursday.
Murray and his team will represent all challengers in dealings with the defender, San Francisco’s Golden Gate Yacht Club.
The 35th America’s Cup will be the first time that Australia has had an entry since Oracle captain James Spithill skippered ‘Young Australia’ in the 30th edition in Auckland in 2000, despite the country’s strong sailing tradition.
Larry Ellison’s Team USA notched eight successive wins over Team New Zealand to seal the 34th America’s Cup in a remarkable comeback in September, helping to make the once-troubled event among the most exciting in sailing history.
(Reporting by Ian Ransom– Editing by Greg Stutchbury)
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