Congressional Cup : Murray Slips Down Under, Losing All Three Races

Sailors with America’s Cup credentials and Olympic gold medals often find them to be little more than excess ballast in the Congressional Cup, where unheralded sailors frequently beat them just for the fun of it.

Thursday off Long Beach was one of those days.

Iain Murray, Australian Kookaburra III skipper in the Americas Cup final, joined the likes of Dennis Conner, Ted Turner and other sailors who have undergone the humbling experience. Murray lost all three of his races Thursday.

“We’re sailing like a bunch of turkeys,” Murray said, and nobody argued.

First Murray (2-3) trailed New Zealand’s undefeated Chris Dickson around the course by 45 seconds, then fouled out against Peter Isler (4-1) and Barney Flam (1-4).

The anticipated reaction for that last name back home in Sydney: Barney who?

Flam, 62, is a Long Beach real estate executive who sails hard and often locally and is competing in the Congressional a record 10th time. He got in because he was available when two foreigners withdrew only a week ago.

Flam, working with a hastily recruited crew, was four seconds in front rounding the first leeward mark when Murray got too aggressive.

“He tried to push through inside when there wasn’t room inside,” Flam said.

Murray not only brushed the inflatable orange mark, but rammed Flam’s Catalina 38 broadside, just above the E in “Escapade.”

Realizing his foul, Murray tried to re-round the mark but entangled it in some of his lines and dragged it away for several boat lengths until dropping out of the race.

An hour earlier in the light, 8-to-12-knot winds, Murray drew a small measure of satisfaction by finishing nine seconds ahead of Isler, who was Conner’s navigator on Stars & Stripes at Fremantle.

Isler led their tight contest at every mark, but Murray slipped past him 200 yards from the finish when he crossed Isler’s stern on port tack and Isler immediately tacked on an attempted slam-dunk.

It was the right move, but a C-38 doesn’t accelerate out of a tack like a 12-meter, especially in choppy water, and Murray sailed right through Isler’s wind shadow to take the lead.

However, Isler filed two protests over Murray’s tactics at the leeward mark and was upheld by the jury.

Meanwhile, Dickson (5-0) seized command of the nine-race, round-robin series by defeating Murray, Isler and ’84 Olympic Soling champion Robbie Haines (1-4), with two-time winner Dave Perry tied with Isler at 4-1.

Dickson, Perry and 23-year-old John Shadden swept their three races Thursday.

Perry’s success in the Congressional--two firsts, a second and a third in the last four years--is surprising because it’s the only racing he does since winning the event in ’83 and ’84 and finishing second to Haines in the ’84 Olympic Soling trials.

“I’m a schoolteacher,” said Perry, who doesnt even own a boat. “This is the only racing I do, and I have no intention of doing any other racing.”