Emirates Spinnaker Tower mid-2005. Because of the six-year delay in opening and not having been ready for the Millennium as planned, the tower was renamed as Spinnaker Tower. The overall development project was over budget, with the tower costing £35.6 million alone. Taxpayers were never intended to fund the tower, but Portsmouth City Council eventually contributed £11.1 million towards construction. In March 2004, Portsmouth Council's former leader Cllr Leo Madden resigned as leader of the Labour Group on the council after a highly critical report of the council's handling of the project and its failure to exploit revenue opportunities, such as the Millennium.
Spinnaker Spinnaker A spinnaker is a sail designed specifically for sailing off the wind from a reaching course to a downwind, i.e. with the wind 90°–180° off bow. The spinnaker fills with wind and balloons out in front of the boat when it is deployed, called "flying". It is constructed of lightweight fabric, usually nylon, and is often brightly coloured. It may be optimised for a particular range of wind angles, as either a reaching or a running spinnaker, by the shaping of the panels and seams. The spinnaker is often called a "kite", or a "chute" (as in cruising chute)