Notebook : Eagle (8-15) Keeps Modifications Under Wraps

Officials of the Eagle, who laughed at the secrecy of other syndicates, have been mum about their most recent modifications before the final round of the America’s Cup challenger trials.

A team member told a United Press International reporter in Fremantle, Australia, that the modifications are “as radical as you can go” and the syndicate doesn’t want other teams to catch on.

Eagle designer Johan Valentijn, however, doesn’t think it is important to hide the changes because nobody knows if something new will work until it’s too late make the changes himself.

Valentijn, at home in Newport, R.I., said Eagle’s biggest change is that “we’re going to put a surfboard on the bottom.”

Say what?

Apparently, he wasn’t kidding. The wings are being cut off and replaced by what resembles an elongated surfboard mounted at the bottom of the fin.

Valentijn isn’t sure how it will work. “They are convinced they need to make a big change,” he said. “I agree they need to make a big change, but not to the boat.”

Like Gerry Driscoll, Eagle’s former director of operations, Valentijn thinks that crew changes would have helped more than a new keel. But when Driscoll’s successor, L. J. Edgcomb, and skipper Rod Davis requested the change, Valentijn drew up the plans and sent them to Fremantle.

“Maybe it’ll give them a psychological boost,” Valentijn said.

Dennis Conner, who trounced Eagle by 6:29 in their second-round match, said recently that he has doubts about the morale in the Eagle camp “when the designer is in Newport, R.I., and the manager quit. What do they think? What chance do they have? When you have (so many) losses (8-15), then you know you are slow.”

But project specialist Bill Crispin said by phone from Fremantle: “The crew is still up and looking forward to racing in December.”

The crew, still waiting for a new mast ordered after the first round, is still receiving new sails and recutting old ones. Dick Deaver of North Sails in Huntington Beach is in Fremantle helping to organize an improved sail inventory.

Family Feud: The Australians believe that the competition between the two Kookaburras and Australia IV will produce a battle-hardened defender against the ultimate challenger in February.

“There have never been 12-meter yacht races like (these),” said John Longley, Bond’s project manager. “The challengers must be absolutely as nervous as anything, watching the competition.

“The challengers are going to find when they get into racing (like this) that they are in a very uncomfortable position.”

Two-time challenging skipper Sir James Hardy thinks that Australia has a better than 50% chance of victory whenever the cup is sailed on its waters.

“I’ve felt all along that we don’t have to win the America’s Cup; they (foreign teams) have to beat us to take it away,” he said.

Open Heart Surgery: Buddy Melges is the latest skipper with a yacht under the blowtorch.

Melges’ Heart of America, winner of only five of 23 matches in two rounds, has been in the boat yard for alterations to boost her performance in high winds.

Syndicate officials say the wingspan of the keel fins is being extended by about three feet and the ballast moved lower.

One well-wisher recalled that the American defender Constellation lost 30 straight races before winning the cup off Newport, R.I., in 1964.

“Thirty races, huh?” said a team member with a sense of humor. “Well, I guess we’re right on schedule then.”

A Sail-Off Into the Sunset: All but four boats will be eliminated in each side of the trials resuming Dec. 2, but a consolation fleet race is being planned for Dec. 18 as a send-off for those who fail to reach the semifinals.

The final four in the challenger and defender trials won’t be eligible.

Conner Changes His Tune: As Dennis Conner’s Stars & Stripes headed out to sea each day, music blaring from loudspeakers on the tender Betsy filled Fremantle Harbor.

Stars & Stripes had been using Richard Wagner’s thunderous “Ride of the Valkyries” as its theme song.

But after successive losses to White Crusader and Canada II, Conner changed his fight song.

The day Stars & Stripes beat arch-rival America II, inspiration came from the “Rocky” theme.”

The Green Tureen: Eileen Bond says the America’s Cup turned green on its way from Newport, R.I., to Perth, Australia, in 1983.

Bond, the wife of cup victor Alan Bond, says a New York Yacht Club visitor told her that members mourning the Cup’s loss wanted a farewell drink from the Auld Mug.

“As they got sadder and sadder, they decided to put champagne all over the Cup,” she said.

By the time it arrived in Perth, she says “it had turned green” but was polished up by the Royal Perth Yacht Club.

Steak’s Not Done Yet: Despite 20 straight losses, Steak ‘n Kidney snydicate head Syd Fischer says he’s not pulling out.

Recalling his unsuccessful Advance campaign in 1983 that stayed in the contest until eliminated, Fischer said: “We came to sail the regatta until we were eliminated, and that’s what we are going to do.”

Slow But Warm: Skipper Mauro Pelaschier gives two reasons for staying in the challenger competition with the Italian 12-meter Azzurra, which has only won three races:

“First, it is learning for next time. Second, it is winter in Europe.”