Australia’s Two Kookaburras Spring a Surprise at the America’s Cup Trials
The two golden Kookaburras sent shock waves through the America’s Cup ranks Sunday with stunning victories in the defender trials, while two American boats and the New Zealand boat finished in a tie for first place after the first round of the challenger trials.
With the spotlight shifting to the defender’s matches for the right to protect the trophy won by Australia II in 1983, Iain Murray’s Kookaburra III upset the Alan Bond powerhouse Australia IV, with Colin Beashel at the helm, by 43 seconds. Kookaburra II trounced South Australia by four minutes.
“The Australians are in pretty good shape,” Murray said of his defender prospects. “We didn’t expect both our boats to be all that competitive in a lighter breeze.”
It was Bond’s Australia II that snapped the United States’ 132-year winning streak, and the millionaire industrialist is counting on Australia IV to defend the Cup.
Bond’s Australia III fared better with a 1:11 margin over an eastern Australian syndicate’s Steak ‘n Kidney.
Among the challengers, the top boats seemed to have established the pattern of competition over the next two months of trials, while owners of the slower boats planned alterations to catch up.
Eagle, the Newport Beach entry that finished with a disappointing 4-8 record in the first round, was busy recutting its limited sail inventory and also will modify the boat, having noted a certain weakness on the final windward legs of its races.
America’s Cup Notes
Eagle designer Johan Valentijn broke his foot leaping from an inflatable dinghy to the tender late last week. . . . Tourism in Perth is an estimated 45% less than what had been expected at this time. . . . In Sunday’s final first-round races, Dennis Conner, sailing Stars & Stripes, pounded Heart of America by 3:07, while the New York Yacht Club’s America II, with John Kolius at the helm, finished with an easy 3:35 win over Italia (7-5) and New Zealand’s fiberglass 12-meter drubbed Challenge France (2-10) by 6:03. Those three finished 11-1. “Before we started, I predicted the winner of the first round robin wouldn’t be the one to challenge for the Cup, so I’m glad it’s a three-way tie,” joked Conner. . . . Canada II (6-6) defeated Eagle by 1:37, San Francisco’s USA (8-4) held off French Kiss (5-7) by a convincing 1:18 and Courageous IV (1-11) was left with a 7:32 loss from White Crusader in the last day of competition for the 12-year-old boat. Courageous syndicate officials announced earlier that they were withdrawing the boat, which defended the cup successfully in 1974 and 1977 but is no longer competitive.