Stars & Stripes Catamaran Has Impressive First Run, but Court Battle Remains

Dennis Conner, sailing the Stars & Stripes catamaran on its maiden voyage, waved to the crew of the guided missile cruiser Valley Forge as it steamed into San Diego Bay Wednesday.

The crew waved back--and a few did double-takes at the double-hulled boat with the radical airfoil wing for a sail.

Meanwhile, the mood was not nearly as friendly in the New York Supreme Court, where judgment was reserved on an attempt by New Zealand’s Michael Fay to blow the boat out of the water and out of September’s scheduled America’s Cup defense.

Peter Montgomery, an Auckland radio journalist who has sailed on Fay’s 124-foot monohull, said after watching the catamaran perform, “He’d better win his court case, because he’s bloody not going to win on the water.”

There were smiles all around the Stars & Stripes dock after the 2 1/2-hour test, which was run under an overcast sky in winds considered ideal for a first outing.

The typical San Diego zephyrs ranged from 3 knots, when the craft left the dock under its own power at 10:10 a.m., to 10 or 11 knots, when it passed through the slot between North Island and Point Loma to the ocean.

That was the most impressive time, when the starboard hull slowly lifted out of the water, lifting Conner and his crew in their red, white and blue jackets as if they were sitting on a ski lift. The cat shot ahead past the flotilla of tenders and press boats, who revved their engines to keep up and yelled at one another for position.

Although the boat hasn’t been equipped with a knot-meter or “speedo” yet, tenders pacing it estimated it peaked at 17 knots, without pressing.

The boat was built to fly a hull at 7 1/2 to 8 knots of wind, and co-designer Duncan MacLane thought it was right on target.

“I would guess we were doing 10 or 11 (in boat speed) at the time,” said MacLane, who was among those on board scrambling over the springy net that serves as a deck. “In ideal conditions, this boat should be able to go two times wind speed.”

Generally, catamarans, lacking the weight mass of lead ballast, stop when changing directions into the wind, but the new Stars & Stripes seemed merely to pause for a breath, then stretch its legs on the new course.

That, Conner said, is “because the wing is so efficient. A regular catamaran doesn’t tack well because it has (sail) drag and no momentum.”

Another top catamaran sailor, Cam Lewis, said: “It’s the best boat I’ve ever sailed on. It’s incredible how it makes no wake at all and powers up beautifully in light air. They’ve done their work very well.”

Once through the slot, Conner steered a wide circle and returned to the bay within 10 minutes, zigzagging back downwind to his dock.

One thing he learned on the return was that the boat will need a conventional spinnaker or gennaker headsail downwind.

“There was thought that the boat might not need a soft sail in front of the wing,” Conner said. “But we’re going to order one now.”