Yacht Club Whoops It Up for Cup Finals

At the elegant Balboa Yacht Club, where large windows provide a picture-book view of the boats of Newport Harbor, the hoopla among club members Friday night was reminiscent of a neighborhood tavern on Super Bowl Sunday.

It was the beginning of the America’s Cup final series on cable television. And, though club members said most Friday night gatherings at the bar and adjoining dining room are more sedate, they did not try to contain their excitement this night.

“It’s our World Series,” club manager Rick Lamb said. “You bet we are excited.”

Sally Welsh and Janet Walsh, Newport Beach business partners, were anxious for the bartender to switch from the Lakers-Phoenix basketball game to the pre-yacht race activities.

“This is where the action is,” Welsh said. “We’ve been waiting four years for this night to get here.”

The club bar usually closes about midnight, but members said it would stay open Friday night until the first race in the best-of-seven series ended early this morning. They joked that there would be a little drinking, a few baskets of popcorn and a little merriment.

“A lot of merriment,” Walsh piped in.

The Balboa Yacht Club, built 62 years ago in Corona del Mar, was constructed to resemble an old boathouse. But the resemblance is relatively faint.

The foyer is decorated with an array of boating trophies and colorful yachting paintings and posters. The tables in the bar circle an open stone fireplace, and the room is decorated with dozens of multicolored burgees--flags gathered by members that represent yacht clubs around the globe.

While the bar was crowded, most club members watched the festivities over Polynesian shrimp salad or sauteed salmon in the spacious dining room, where a 52-inch wall TV was installed with huge stereo speakers.

“We had a hard time convincing some members to let us put a TV in here, “ said yacht club Commodore Dick Jenness, noting that about half of the club’s 600-plus members are involved in some kind of racing. “But we convinced them we could run a lot of educational things on boating that would interest the young people.”

The big screen came in handy Friday night.

In the bar next door, members enthusiastically credited the Australians’ victory in 1983 with stirring up interest in this year’s race.

“I had to go to Australia to even see the America’s Cup,” said Dottie Neff of Corona del Mar. “We want it back here where it belongs.”

But she and her husband, Howard, who is the club’s port captain, agreed with most that the Australians’ victory had created excitement both among boaters and the media.

“It’s the first time that it’s opened up the whole thing,” Howard Neff said. “People in the Midwest are excited about this race, and that’s never happened before.

The Neffs said they had cable television installed at home just so they could watch all of the series.

Works on Crew

Walsh excitedly told friends that her son’s roommate has been working part time on the crew of Stars & Stripes.

“He is English, but he’s been thrilled to death to be a part of this.”

Jenness, who lives in Newport Beach, said his own interest in the race had also been intensified by the quality of the television coverage.

“Sometimes watching these races is like watching paint dry,” he said. “But with video cameras right on the boats you can actually hear the sounds of the race. You can feel the tension.”

Jenness, who said it took him 10 years to build his own 32-foot boat, said club members were involved in a variety of boating interests and that boats within the club ranged from small keel boats to world cruising boats.

Love for Sea

“There is one common denominator among our members and that is our love for the sea,” Jenness said. When the countdown for the start of the race hit zero, cheers erupted in the crowded dining room and bar.

“All right, Stars & Stripes!” people yelled.

Rick Lamb, watching intently, said aloud, “It was an even start. No advantage.”

One minute into the race, Stars & Stripes, skippered by Dennis Conner, showed the first advantage during a wind shift. That brought the next uproar from the yachting crowd.

“Move on out!” one man yelled.

Then the club members fell silent as if watching a tennis match.

At the first commercial break, Patty Jenness, wife of the commodore, gasped that the beginning was every bit as exciting as she expected.

“We will all be bleary-eyed by the end of the week, but I am really turned on by this.”