As Some Exalt With Cup Fever, Others, Well. . . : At the Clubs, ‘It’s a Big Thing, We’re Boating People’

At the San Diego Yacht Club, the scene was reminiscent of New Year’s Eve in Times Square after Dennis Conner wrapped up the America’s Cup series early Wednesday morning.

Champagne flowed, a brass band played and the air was filled with victorious whoops as the city’s No. 1 sailor concluded his business in Australia.

A crowd estimated at 700 to 900, including Mayor Maureen O’Connor and singer John Denver, taxed the confines of the Shelter Island clubhouse. A sign tacked to the wall warned that maximum occupancy was 120, but on this night it went unheeded.

The revelers--most of them fortified with beer, wine or cocktails--stood, sat on the floor and in each other’s laps, or assumed whatever posture would allow a view of one of 11 television screens.

They arrived as much as three hours before the race began, and many stayed into the wee hours of the morning. They came expecting to celebrate, and they were not disappointed.

Endeavoring to capture the scene was a clutter of about 100 reporters, radio announcers and TV technicians. The glare of TV lights and the presence of microphones held aloft on extension poles lent a note of importance.

Many in the crowd were decked out in colorful T-shirts, including some which read, “G’bye, G’day,” “Throw Another Aussie on the Barbi” and “SD Loves Dennis.”

As the race started, a waitress bearing a cheeseburger and fries elbowed her way to a blonde woman with blue fingernails standing near a TV monitor. She never took her eyes off the screen as she nibbled.

One of the most interested spectators was John Burnham, son of Malin Burnham, president of Sail America.

“Everyone here is motivated to have a good time,” he said. “This is like a fairy tale for Dennis, to win for the United States and for San Diego.”

Nearby, an old rivalry went by the wayside when members of the Southwestern Yacht Club gathered at their clubhouse. Boats from the two clubs often compete on local waters, but this was different.

A standing-room-only crowd gathered to cheer for its neighboring club and Conner.

Over the door to the bar hung a banner that proclaimed “Stars & Stripes Sail-ebration.” Posted around the Southwestern Yacht Club was this notice: “In support of Stars & Stripes, we have been asked to have all members fly their American flags until the Cup has been brought home.”

“When they’re competing on the water (there is a rivalry) but when it comes to things like this, they’re like this,” Diane Schaefer said, crossing her fingers.

Schaefer and her husband, Conrad, had arrived at the club with three legs remaining in the race. A stewardess, she had arrived from New York moments earlier and headed straight to the club, still in her uniform.

These people did not jump belatedly on the America’s Cup bandwagon. These people knew sailing.

When Kookabura III’s spinnaker slipped while coming around the fourth mark, there was a collective “Ohhh” in the bar and then the room went silent as people watched the consequences.

“It’s a big thing here,” Conrad Schaefer said. “Hey, we’re boating people.”