America’s Cup Trials : It’ll Be Up to the Sailors This Time, Bond Says

Because of Alan Bond, tank tests, computer studies and aerospace technology are the state of the art in 12-meter sailing, but what does it all mean?

It means the best sailors will probably win the America’s Cup.

Bond says so.

The Australian business tycoon financed and masterminded a 10-year program to free the cup from the New York Yacht Club monopoly, putting in motion an evolution that has quickly come full circle to where seat-of-the-pants sailing will make the difference again.

“There are a number of boats going about the same speed,” Bond said. “At Newport, (R.I.,) that wasn’t the case. We definitely had a speed advantage (with Australia II in ‘83). We had the revolutionary keel, and the stability was quite different.

“The competition is much, much closer now. It was fantastic when a race was won or lost by 30, 40 seconds. That’s now the norm. I can remember going to America when you thought you did pretty well if you were within three minutes of the defenders.”

Saturday, while the challengers took a lay day, South Australia withdrew from the defender trials and Bond’s Australia IV had to fight all the way for a 20-second win over Kookaburra II, the backup boat to defender trials leader Kookaburra III. That’s all that separated the second- and third-place boats after more than three hours of rough sailing in 20 to 25 knots of wind.

The boats were never more than 36 seconds apart, and the lead changed three times. Australia IV, its green-and-gold-striped spinnaker straining, was faster downwind. Golden-hulled Kookaburra II had the edge upwind.

“Each leg of the race is a real race now,” Bond said. “In the America’s Cup boats of the past, after the first couple of legs it was all over. Now you’ll see the lead change two or three times. In the history of America’s Cup, I think it happened only twice. Yet it happens all the time now.”

The reason, Bond believes, is a 12-meter arms buildup.

“The (designers’) minds have got closer and closer,” he said, “and it seems ironic that they come from different technological engineering and designs, and they’re different shapes, and yet they seem to go around the course at about the same speed. I think the 12-meter rule has really closed the gap.

“And so you’re back to human error, and it’ll be the crews and skippers that ultimately make the fewest mistakes that win.”

So why not throw out the computers and save everybody a lot of money?

“There would be less expense,” Bond said, “but there might be less interest, too.”

Syd Fischer, the tactician and driving force behind Sydney’s shoestring Steak’n Kidney operation, is the antithesis of Alan Bond.

Bond is bucks and bluster. Fischer, 59, is the oldest crewman on any boat and a throwback to Corinthian days, an advocate of sport for sport’s sake.

“I suppose commercial influence is progressive,” Fischer said with tight-lipped resignation, “but it’s a pity from my point of view. I like to see yachting as a sport.

“I think if you bring a lot of money into it you get the dirty tricks in there, too, and the corporate people get in there and get up a little mischief.

“That’s my view. It may not be shared by anyone else.”

Fischer might be surprised. Australians say that winning the America’s Cup was their greatest sports achievement, and yet Bond is not as beloved as one might imagine.

How does one categorize Alan Bond? He is the George Steinbrenner of Australia: Rich, vocal and visible.

Although he has his hands full with the Kookaburras, Bond said, “There’s no question that the Australian public at large would like to see Australia IV defend the Cup.”

Australia IV, maybe, but not necessarily Alan Bond. That universal pulse of the public, the taxi driver, lodges an opinion.

“Alan Bond didn’t win the cup,” said one who ferried a reporter from the Perth airport to Fremantle. “Those boys on the boat won the cup.

“If you can find half a dozen people in Western Australia who like Alan Bond, I’ll walk on my hands from here to Sydney.”

Bond is not put off.

“There is a terrible thing in Australia called the knocking syndrome,” he said. “We’ve got nearly 140,000 of the public in our club and they’ve all put $10 in to have a part of the defense. We have many corporations that have put money in.”

But when Bond’s boats, Australia III and IV, took some lumps in the current trials, the reaction of the Australian media was almost gleeful--except, perhaps, on Perth’s Channel 9, which Bond owns.

“There also is the problem that when you go away and bring it back, that’s fantastic, (but) they just expect you to do it. When you’re not up there in the No. 1 position because you’ve lost a few races, you lose some support very quickly.

“But when it comes down to it, I think the average Australian will follow the ultimate (defender trial) winner, and you’ll find them swinging around behind him, whoever he is.”

Bond has been preoccupied with business dealings recently. He is negotiating multimillion-dollar deals for Australian TV stations. He is being sued over a land deal that allegedly netted his family $16 million (Australian, about $10.3 million U.S.), tax free.

But with the Cup matches becoming critical, he said, “My involvement will be more noticeable now that we’ve entered the serious racing phase. All the major decisions that are made are made in close consultation and, if not, the decisions in all probability are taken by myself.

“So if it’s a bad decision, I’ll have to accept (the blame), and if it’s a good decision, I’ll accept that, too.”

Most days, he is on the racing tender, watching the action and, apparently, keeping in touch by ship-to-shore radio.

“You will see me very visibly between now and the defense of the cup,” Bond said. “I’m never more than a phone call away.”

America’s Cup Notes

South Australia forfeited Saturday’s race in the defenders’ series because of a mast problem, leaving Kookaburra III to sail around the course alone to record the win. Afterward, South Australia syndicate officials yanked the blue-hulled, fourth-place yacht from the trials, leaving only four competitors out of the original six.

The boat, which is being bought by Swedish interests representing the Stenungsbaden Yacht Club as a “trial-horse” for its challenge for the next America’s Cup, had been lying fourth, with a 5-19 record. Her defection opens the door for the unhappy but improved Steak’n Kidney, which has only one win to her credit so far.

“As we are not competitive, the new owners didn’t want to risk any damage to their asset,” said South Australia sailing director James Hardy. The South Australian syndicate was plagued by a tight budget and poor performance despite a yacht designed by Ben Lexcen, inventor of the winged keel that gave Australia II the edge in its 1983 Cup victory.

South Australia became the second defense contender to withdraw from the competition. World 12-meter champion Australia III withdrew Nov. 21.