A Minnow Among Sharks : USC Student John Shadden, 21, Seems Out of Place in Field for Congressional Cup

It takes no deep knowledge of sailing to know which of these names is out of place in the 21st Congressional Cup series at Long Beach starting today: Dennis Conner, Ted Turner, John Shadden.

Shadden, a 5-foot-5 skipper from Long Beach is only 21. He would seem to be a minnow among killer sharks in one of yacht racing’s most prestigious match racing competitions.

“My match racing is limited to Douglas Cup (a collegiate series) a couple of months ago, and qualifying for this,” Shadden said. “But compared to a guy like ‘Ireland’s) Harold Cudmore, it’s nil.”

Shadden’s crew will be the youngest in the series, with the oldest crewman having just turned 26. Most of his sailors are taking off from school this week. Shadden, a junior business student at USC, had to take a midterm examination early Tuesday morning and rearrange some others.

“But the talent in the boat is definitely not lacking,” Shadden said. “It’s just a matter of me not crashing into the committee boat or making some other fool mistake.” We’re just going to go out and try to beat the pants off everybody.

“The only thing I’m concerned about is going into the protest room. I like to finish the races on the water. But you can’t always avoid that, especially in match racing.”

Shadden does have some advantages. His crew probably has more recent time together in a Catalina 38 than any other, except possibly Jack Gobbell’s crew, of Huntington Harbour. Shadden’s crew also seems to be taking the series more seriously than some of the others.

For example, Dave Perry, the two-time defending champion, said: “I feel rusty. The last sailboat race I was in was May 25.”

That was the last day of the U.S. Olympic trials in the soling class. Perry led going in but lost out to Robbie Haines.

“That was for the gold,” Perry said at the time, and he was right. Haines ultimately did win the Olympic event, with Rod Davis as one of his crew.

Davis, now skipper for the Newport Harbor Yacht Club’s America’s Cup bid, is the favorite in the Congressional.

At one time Turner would have been among the favorites, too, but he said his most recent races were last summer and that they largely amounted to “old-timers’ appearances.”

He is picking up a local crew for the Congressional.

“I’ll be sailing with a crew I don’t know well,” Turner said. “Several people here have the same problem. We’re just here as cannon fodder. We’ll just try not to be too much of a punching bag.”

Turner in 1977 and Conner in ’74 and ’80 have successfully defended the America’s Cup for the United States. Conner lost it to Australia II in ’83 but hopes to win it back at Perth in ’87.

Rivals here such as Davis, John Kolius, Italy’s Mauro Pellaschier, New Zealand’s Chris Dickson and Cudmore have the same idea, and all are concerned with raising funds for their campaigns, but Conner doesn’t believe that makes this event important in itself.

“If you do well, fine, it gives you bragging rights,” he said. “But it’s not gonna affect whether Ford Motor Company is gonna give you $2 million. There’s no correlation how we’re going to do between this and the America’s Cup. In the America’s Cup, you get to develop your own boat, your own crew. It’s much more a judge of an entire program.

“Everybody wants to win, but there’s not as much pressure here. Everyone’s friendly. It’s a chance to see some old friends.”

Conner said that makes the Congressional a wide-open event.

“A guy doesn’t come here unless he’s a good sailor. I wouldn’t be surprised to see John Shadden win. A big name doesn’t impress anybody at the starting line.”

Sailing Notes

Three of the nine rounds are scheduled on the first day of the four-day series today. Matches with America’s Cup overtones on opening day include Rod Davis-Dennis Conner, Conner-Mauro Pellaschier, Davis-John Kolius and Conner-Ted Turner...Former champions in the field include Conner in ’73 and ‘75, Turner in ‘77, Davis in ’81 and Dave Perry in ’83 and ’84...The yachts will sail a 1 1/2-mile windward-leeward course beyond the east end of the Long Beach breakwater.