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ePaper created 2014-06-11, 13:05:34 | version 1.30.01
60 Miller returned to the meeting and informed the group of the offer made by the Squadron’s neighbours, there was absolute mayhem. The majority of the group was in agreement that there was no way this could be allowed to happen. Flag officer Bob Stanton dashed out of the room and immediately rang a prominent official at the NZYF to make a last ditch plea. Returning to the room ten minutes later, he announced that he had persuaded the NZYF to agree to a compromise with respect to the sponsorship issue. Stanton relayed that if one organisation could be found to sponsor the whole event, instead of ten co-sponsors,dispensation would be granted. The Ponsonby Cruising Club was obviously not too happy about this decision, which had effectively slammed the door on their white knight proposal to run the event under their banner. In the final business of the meeting, everyone in attendance was requested to make their very best efforts to find a sponsor within the week. Six days later no single sponsor had emerged who was willing to underwrite the entire event. On the seventh day, Peter Montgomery rang Bill Miller and suggested he speak to Warwick Browne, the managing director of Citizen Watch New Zealand. Not only was Browne keen on sailing, he had quite a bit of experience with sponsorship of televised sports, having previously supported jet boat and offshore power boat racing events. He had been very effectively solicited by Montgomery through his good friend Ken Lusty,and recognised it as a brilliant marketing opportunity. He offered to pick up the airfares for the overseas participants, a cost of roughly $4,800, in exchange for exclusive naming rights for the event, effectively snatching it from the jaws of defeat. The inaugural Citizen Watch Match Race Series for the Squadron Challenge Cup had finally gotten a starting gun. Atthenextmeetingof theSquadronMatchRacingCommitteeon13March1979,aresolutionentitled“ChangeinSponsorship” was passed. Given that there was now one single sponsor for the event, it was decided to send letters of explanation to all the other companies who had promised support and assure them that should other opportunities arise, that the Squadron would be most pleased to have their support. Bill Miller was faced with the embarrassing task of personally returning every cheque to its maker, and to politely say“thanks, but no thanks.” Miller has had many notable achievements in his life, but few who know him would say that handing back someone’s money was ever one of them! Given that the value of a new Stewart 34 was about $60,000 at the time, the owner and one crew member of his choice were permitted to be on board for the racing. Not only would this allow them to keep an eye on their asset, but for their part, the owner and his crew had the opportunity, through hands on experience, to take on board valuable match racing skills while sailing with some of the world’s top skippers. At least in the early days of“the Citizen,”as it came to be known,everyone seemed to be happy with this arrangement. The race course was set between North Head,Bean Rock and Orakei,allowing for excellent viewing from numerous prominent points on shore. With the skippers initials emblazoned on the sails and topsides of the boats, it was very easy for spectators to see who was racing who, and more importantly, who was winning. The five pairings of boats in each race would start at five minute intervals. The start gun for one pair was the five minute warning for the next. After each flight of races, there was usually about 15 minute break before the next round of match ups. Each skipper sailed nine races, one against each other skipper, making for a grand total of 45 races in the series. Races consisted of two laps around a windward/leeward course of approximately one nautical mile. The start and finish line was about 4/10 of a mile to windward of the bottom mark. From a spectator’s point of view, the racing was beautiful in its simplicity, and exciting to watch. 1979 Tensions were running high amongst both the crews and the organisers for the first event. Since this was new ground for Doc Williams and TV2, this could have been either a career limiting or a career launching move. Peter Montgomery recalled that first day. “I was staggered by the crowd on North Head, which has never been repeated since racing went to the Squadron [off Westhaven Marina]. I remember crowds of 5000 or more – people would go for a full picnic lunch and a brilliant venue,looking down and it was great. . .” During the three day contests Bill Miller’s wife Betty,made up 3000 copies of the race programme at home on a hand duplicator and then handed them out free to spectators gathered on North Head.