San Diego Is Selected as America’s Cup Site : Boats Will Sail Off Point Loma in May, 1991; Judge Still Must Rule on New Zealand Challenge

In an announcement that recent events have made almost anti-climatic, San Diego was selected Friday as the location for the next America’s Cup regatta, which will be held in the Pacific waters about six miles west of Point Loma in May, 1991.

The selection of San Diego--which had been in doubt the months immediately after skipper and native San Diegan Dennis Conner reclaimed the Cup in Australia last February--had in the last several weeks become quite evident.

Members of the seven-person America’s Cup Committee, the group responsible for choosing the location, had made it clear--both to the public and to other communities vying for the selection, such as Hawaii--that San Diego was the top choice, and only proof that the city was incapable of hosting yachting’s most celebrated event would reverse that assessment.

With San Diego public officials--primarily the San Diego Unified Port District and the civic America’s Cup Task Force--promising to spend as much as $60 million for new and upgraded shoreline facilities, as well as another $10 million for operational costs, any doubts about the community’s seriousness were dispelled.

Economic Boost for City

Along with the expected international publicity and media attention, San Diego anticipates a $1-billion boost to the city’s economy during the four to five months of races--plus the year or more of on-site preparations by the competing yachting syndicates.

There is, however, one cloud shadowing Friday’s announcement and it emanates from New Zealand. Auckland millionaire merchant banker Michael Fay has challenged San Diego to a race for the Cup next June in boats with a 90-foot waterline, vessels about twice as large the 12-meter yachts used in Cup regattas since 1956.

Fay’s challenge is based on a literal reading of the Deed of Gift, the document governing America’s Cup racing, that allows an outside yacht club to issue a direct challenge for the Cup. The issue is now pending before a New York Supreme Court judge, who is expected to decide the issue by the end of the month. The New York court has jurisdiction over the Deed of Gift.

Though the San Diego Yacht Club, which has official custody of the Cup, and the Sail America Foundation, the group that sponsored Conner’s Star & Stripes and is in charge of managing the next Cup races, have tried to minimize Fay’s chances, a New Zealand court victory would make Friday’s announcement moot.

Just last week, on the eve of the official announcement naming San Diego as the location of the new Cup regatta, Fay was able to obtain a temporary restraining order stopping San Diego Yacht Club officials from saying anything about a venue, deflating much of the fanfare and hoopla that was expected to accompany the announcement. The temporary restraining order was lifted this week.

Reignite Enthusiasm

Officials--ranging from Mayor Maureen O’Connor and County Supervisors’ Chairman Brian Bilbray to yacht club Commodore Fred Frye and Sail America chief operating officer Tom Ehman--did their best Friday to reinvigorate the enthusiasm over San Diego’s selection that had dissipated in the last week.

“We’re on a threshold of a new era for this community,” said Frye, a pediatrician.

“This is a proud day for San Diego,” said O’Connor, “and we’re here to support you.”

Sail America has repeatedly compared today’s sporting interest in the Cup with the Olympics and soccer’s World Cup, and on Friday officials borrowed a gimmick from the United States’ premiere mega-sports event, the Super Bowl. Henceforth, the 27th contest in the 136-year history of Cup racing--there have been gaps of many years when the regatta wasn’t held--will be known as America’s Cup XXVII.

As outlined by Gerald Driscoll, chairman of the America’s Cup Committee and a former Cup sailor, the elimination races will probably begin in February, 1991, leading up to a final, two-boat competition the first week in May.

Races held in that late-winter, early-spring time frame, said Driscoll, will provide the regatta with some of San Diego’s best winds. The added benefit of scheduling the races during that part of the year, Driscoll noted, is that they won’t interfere with San Diego’s busy summer tourist season, when hotel space is often at a premium.

Unanimous Vote

Driscoll said the seven members of the committee--four of whom, including Driscoll, are members of the yacht club--voted unanimously for San Diego. “We felt the yacht club wanted this event here. Our primary responsibility” was to the yacht club, he said.

“If we’d have had a 4-3, we wouldn’t have made an announcement,” said Driscoll.

Bilbray, who along with being chairman of the county Board of Supervisors is also chairman of the region’s America’s Cup Task Force, said that “a lot of people worried for a long time” about San Diego losing the regatta, specifically to Hawaii, which made a case for itself based on its strong winds.

The next step, he said, is for the city’s civic leaders to “make (the) transition from proposals and promises . . . to delivering commitments and products.”

Bilbray claimed the Cup’s popularity and the support it has received from San Diego’s political leaders shows that the event has been raised from one for “the rich and powerful . . . and is now an event of the masses, the people.”

Already, 19 foreign syndicates--from Australia and England to Italy and Germany, from Sweden and Japan to Canada and France--have indicated an interest in competing in the 1991 regatta, according to Ehman, the Sail America official.

Each foreign challenger must pay $25,000 by Oct. 31 to formally enter the races, backed up by a $100,000 performance bond due April 30.