Yachtsmen Cheer Conner’s Victory : Cupmania Comes to San Diego

A crowd of more than 400 jammed into the San Diego Yacht Club Sunday night, some clutching teddy bears and others wearing pajamas. Sipping champagne from paper cups and roaring approval, they watched into the wee hours of Monday morning as Dennis Conner and Stars & Stripes won the right to sail for the America’s Cup.

“It’s come to a head. We’ve been waiting around for three years for this event to happen,” Dr. Fred Frye, the yacht club’s commodore, said Monday. “We’ve been expecting it and hoping for it. And it happened.

“It’s incredible!”

Cupmania has arrived.

The newest rage in televised sport is especially hot here, since Conner is a San Diego native and Stars & Stripes is being sponsored through the San Diego Yacht Club.

By beating New Zealand, 4-1, in the best-of-seven challenger finals, Conner not only guaranteed a rematch with the Australians but raised hopes that the next race for the Cup in 1990 will be based in California’s second-largest city--a prospect that delights local boosters and merchants.

But yachting enthusiasts say Cupmania is more than an outpouring of local pride. They say more people than ever are catching the fever because new technology has allowed cable network ESPN to beam live television pictures from the racing vessels themselves.

The cameras show crew members feverishly working to keep sails trimmed by grinding winches and doing assorted chores on board.

“TV has changed everything, and that’s terrific,” Frye said. “The on-board camera brings everybody up close and personal with the crew, and that’s what makes it.”

Tom Wilson, a local advertising executive and public relations chairman for the yacht club, said watching yacht races used to be as as exciting as “watching the grass grow” before the new camera angles.

“Three years ago, the only coverage you got was long distance, telephoto lenses from a press boat,” Wilson said.

The new cameras, however, have made the sport more “accessible and demonstrable . . . It has gone beyond the perspective of well-off people with the boats. It is more of a people sport,” he said.

While Sunday night’s party at the yachting club still catered exclusively to boat enthusiasts--only members and their guests were allowed in--the new television technology added a new enthusiasm.

Substitute beer for the champagne, and you would have thought the hooting and cheering legions crammed around six television sets at the club Sunday night were watching the Super Bowl.

When Conner’s sail burst, the crowd let out a collective moan--just like the crowd at any neighborhood bar when the home team fumbles.

And when Conner’s crew deftly recovered, putting on a new sail within two minutes, the cheers were second only to those at the moment when Stars & Stripes crossed the finish line.

“There was a lot of noise. A lot of shouting and yelling. Just like the end of a successful football game,” Wilson said.

As an added bonus, Sail America, the syndicate that raised money for Conner’s effort, invited people to show up in pajamas or costumes. Wilson walked in wearing a miter with the words “Save the Qup” written across it. Red, white and blue were the most popular colors.

One woman, who won the “most patriotic” award, wore bunny slippers on her feet, only she cut off the ears. In their place, she glued small masts with sails.

Local television stations sent their camera crews to pan the crowd, as did ESPN. An Australian station set up for live interviews that included members of the Australia’s Royal Perth Yacht Club, visiting their San Diego counterparts.

Sandy Purdon, executive director of Sail America, said chances are good that San Diegans will be rewarded for their loyalty.

If Conner wins, Purdon said it is about 80% certain the 1990 America Cup’s race will be set in San Diego, drawing challengers from around the world. But without enough investment to build the proper facilities, the race that has become the latest rage in television spectator sports could head someplace else, Purdon said.

“There are still a lot of questions that have to be addressed,” he said. “But they won’t be addressed until after we win the Cup.”