Southland Sailing : Bill Power Is Named Captain of U.S. Admiral’s Cup Team

Bill Power of Newport Beach has been selected as captain of the three-boat U.S. Admiral’s Cup team.

The Admiral’s Cup series, held every two years, is an international yacht racing competition sponsored by the Royal Ocean Racing Club of England. It will start July 31, with 18 countries participating.

For the first time in the history of the event, the U.S. team is composed entirely of West Coast yachts. They are Power’s High Roler, a Nelson-Marek-43; Lowell North’s Sleeper, an NM-42 from San Diego, and Randy Short’s Sidewinder, a Reichel-Pugh 43 from San Francisco.

Jim Kilroy of El Segundo, chairman of the United States Yacht Racing Union’s Offshore Team Committee, said the selection of the U.S. team was based directly on the yachts’ scores in the recently concluded Brenton Reef series off Newport, R.I.

In previous years, the U.S. Admiral’s Cup team was selected from performances in Florida’s Southern Ocean Racing Circuit.

Providing advisory support for the United States will be Tom Ehman of Newport, Halsey Herreshoff of Bristol, R.I., and Scott Graham of Chicago.

The United States has won the British-dominated series twice, in 1961 and 1969. To date, only the British have won it more than twice. The Admiral’s Cup series consists of races in and around the Isle of Wight off Cowes, England, and includes the rugged 600-mile Fastnet race off the southern coast of Ireland.