Eagle Syndicate Brings Magic Back Into Quest for the America’s Cup

Like many an America’s Cup contender, the 12-meter yacht Magic was on its trailer, high and dry, by the time the sailing got serious around Newport, R.I., in the summer of 1983.

Skipper Dennis Conner had selected one of his other three boats, Liberty, to sail against the Australians in defense of the trophy.

So, while Australia II was winning four of seven races to break the United States’ 132-year monopoly, Magic sat by the side of the road, rejected and scorned.

Finals? She didn’t even make the playoffs. Some said she should have been called “Tragic,” she was so unstable and slow. The only trick Magic performed was to make herself disappear.

Well, the old girl is back. The Newport Harbor Yacht Club bought her from the Ft. Schuyler Foundation to serve as a test boat for its Eagle campaign to reclaim the cup at Perth two years from now.

When she rolled into Long Beach’s Marina Shipyard this week, her black hull sparkled in the sun after a cross-country haul from Rhode Island.

The first thing you notice about the new Magic is her keel. She’s had a tummy tuck, with wings, just like Australia II in 1983.

“Australia II was a very stable boat, but Magic’s underbody is almost identical,” Rod Davis, the Eagle skipper, said. “If Magic had had Australia II’s keel, history might have been written differently.”

Davis, who won an Olympic gold medal as part of Robbie Haines’ Soling crew, will use Magic to work out his 11-man America’s Cup crew and test sails and equipment until Eagle is launched next summer.

Then next winter--Australia’s summer--the two boats will be shipped to Australia for more testing and tuning before the next year’s selection trials.

Magic and Liberty were designed with conventional fin keels by Johan Valentijn, who also is drawing Eagle’s lines. To date, the purchase and refitting of Magic has cost about $450,000 of the syndicate’s $6 million budget.

“It’s a laboratory boat,” said Dick Sargent, the syndicate president.

There is a computer on board and sensing devices in the hull to evaluate wind and water conditions under way.

By April, Magic will have company. Yacht Club Italiano, one of two Italian syndicates in the America’s Cup picture, plans to have the Victory ’83 12-meter it bought from Great Britain sailing with the Americans off Long Beach.

Davis’ crew is basically the same one that sailed with Tom Blackaller on Defender in 1983. Davis was a sail trimmer for Blackaller. His tactician will be Doug Rastello of Long Beach.

Their first test will be in the 21st Congressional Cup off Long Beach March 14-17. In yacht racing’s premier match racing event, they’ll meet Conner, Ted Turner, who defended the cup in 1977, and four other America’s Cup campaigners.

Davis, who won the Congressional in 1981 and has competed as tactician and skipper several times, said: “It’s by far the most competitive field they’ve ever had.”

Other entries are two-time defending champion Dave Perry, John Kolius, John Shadden and Jack Gobbell of the U.S.; Harold Cudmore of Great Britain, Chris Dickson of New Zealand and Mauro Pellaschier of Italy. Kolius, Cudmore and Pellaschier also will skipper America’s Cup boats.

“What happens in the Congressional Cup doesn’t have a lot of bearing on what happens in the America’s Cup,” Davis said. “It’s like playing soccer and then water polo. But it keeps your hand in match racing against the best competition.”