AMERICA’S CUP : Cash May Help Eagle Carry On : First-Round Results Make Fund-Raising Harder, Says Official

The Eagle’s poor showing in the first round of America’s Cup challenger trials at Fremantle, Australia has hurt the Newport Beach boat’s fund-raising efforts, syndicate officials said Tuesday.

But the Eagle’s effort to challenge for the Cup is long from being over, said officials, who briefed reporters on changes being made to improve the boat’s 4-8 first-round record.

“I’m disappointed,” said Gary Thomson, syndicated president. “We should have won at least three more races than we did. Funding-wise, it hurts us.”

Eagle official Bill Crispin said that the sale of Eagle paraphernalia such as T-shirts and caps has slumped significantly.

Thomson said a syndicate supporter said: “ ‘Gee, it’s too bad you guys are out of it.’ He didn’t know that the series consists of two more rounds. We’re not out of it.”

First-round victories were worth only one point each, but they will increase to five points in the second round starting Nov. 2, and 12 points in the third round in December.

“We’ve given up eight points is all, and there are 187 more points possible,” Thomson said.

The top four boats after three rounds will advance to the semifinals. Dennis Conner’s Stars & Stripes, New York’s America II and New Zealand’s fiberglass KZ7 are 11-1, with San Francisco’s USA and Britain’s White Crusader at 8-4.

Eagle lost to all of those boats but hopes to reverse its fortunes with a new mast ($80,000), new boom (donated), modified keel, deeper rudder and 18 new sails ($231,000).

“We’ve got to give it more power,” Thomson said. “All of us were surprised that the winds were as light and shifty as they were.”

Thomson said skipper Rod Davis also was “concerned about the steering to weather. With those high waves, the rudder tends to come out of the water so much that Rod isn’t getting steerage.”

The new sails will be flatter for strong winds and larger for more drive. To compensate and remain within the 12-meter rule, 900 pounds of lead ballast is being taken off the front of the keel. The wings will remain intact.

A new, lighter Sparcraft mast will be installed and positioned six inches aft to keep the center of effort balanced. A new carbon fiber boom fabricated by syndicate board member Tom Omohundro weighs only 165 pounds, compared to nearly 300 for the old one.

Other syndicates may be making similar changes, Thomson conceded, “and the people that have been on the water are much higher in their learning curves, but the curve is flat. How much more can they learn? Only 2 or 3%. We may have 25% (to improve).”

Eagle’s testing was limited to a few months off Long Beach.

“We expected heavier air in Long Beach and we didn’t get it,” Thomson said. “We didn’t spend enough time in heavy air to tune. We’re playing catch-up. We were in spring training for the first round. If we’re (still) not smart enough to figure it out, then we won’t be in the hunt.”

The syndicate, budgeted at more than $8.5 million, is more concerned with finances than the boat.

“Money is our single biggest issue,” Thomson said. “I think we need a couple of million dollars to get into the final four. If you get into the final four, I think there will be considerable money available.”

Thomson said slumps in the Orange County oil and computer-related industries have made it difficult to receive contributions. Eagle has turned its fund-raising focus to a “Crew of 1000” campaign. Each donor of $1,000 or more will receive a plaque.

“It’s exactly like a political campaign,” Thomson said. “We didn’t do well in the primaries, but I don’t think it’s discouraged anyone who’s close to the campaign. We’ve got some real believers in our program.”

America’s Cup Notes

According to Eagle president Gary Thomson, Australia’s Alan Bond suspects that the controversial KZ7 from New Zealand was not monitored by Lloyd’s Register during construction and may, indeed, be illegally built, as Dennis Conner implied. Thomson said there is reason to believe that “only two of the three New Zealand boats were checked. The third wasn’t, and that’s the one they’re sailing. I think that Dennis didn’t press the issue because the New Zealanders could replace the boat at the end of the first round (but no later). I think ultimately the boat will be checked.” The plan is to check all four semifinalists. At that point, an illegal boat would be disqualified. . . . Thomson said Eagle had planned to build a fiberglass boat, “but we couldn’t get Lloyd’s to approve our plans in time.” So they built Eagle of conventional aluminum. . . . Eagle’s 49-person team is being housed at a temporary village on the south side of Fremantle instead of the Captain Fremantle hotel owned by a syndicate board member, Don Russell. It was decided to isolate them away from distractions, and also free the hotel rooms for income. . . . In the continuing defender trials Tuesday, Bond’s Australia IV (3-1) beat winless Steak’n Kidney by 9 minutes, 1 second, and unbeaten Kookaburra III beat sister boat Kookaburra II by two seconds in the closest race of the trials. Winds were 24 to 27 knots and shifty. South Australia withdrew from its match against Australia II after bowman Andy Dyer was swept overboard. He was recovered unharmed.