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Sail Magazine Review

During the 1992 America's Cup, the America3 Foundation's stated philosophy was that the team was more important than any individual or it. Members liked to say, "Team isn't spelled with an 'i.'" But America3 did contain an "I" - William I. Koch, the billionaire sailor who underwrote most of this $68 million defense.

To the Third Power, a new book by Paul Larsen to be published this month, offers an engrossing, if one-sided, look at how Koch used his managerial skill as well as his money to lead the America3 team from 100-to-1 shots to defending the Cup in a rout.

The book details how Koch recruited talented sailors and technicans and gave them the resources to do their jobs. Koch encouraged creativity and relied on the scientific method to separte good ideas from bad. You won't find descriptions of the workings of other 1992 syndicates, of apparently classified A3 technical information, of Koch's family battles, nor of his legendary proclivity to party. What you do get is a portrait of how Koch's management produced a boat and a team good enough to win with him as part of the sailing crew. Obviously, he deserved to be there.

March 1995