San Diego America’s Cup Ball Was a Splash Without Clash

Rub-a-dub-dub, three men in a tub

Dennis Conner, Malin Burnham, Michael Fay.

Come this September, a date we’ll remember,

They’ll battle in the America’s Cup fray.

The general tone of the present America’s Cup tiff may be that “There ain’t enough room on this here blue Pacific for you and me, pardner”--but Cup defenders Conner and Burnham and New Zealand challenger Fay got along swimmingly at the America’s Cup Ball, given Saturday at the U. S. Coast Guard Air Station on Harbor Drive by the officers of the San Diego Yacht Club and the Sail America Foundation.

All of which is to say that, at this nifty celebration of virtually Hellenic sportsmanship, Words by and large were not exchanged. Sail America chief Burnham and New Zealand syndicate honcho Fay huddled more or less amicably on several occasions, most amusingly when the Bill Green Orchestra struck up the rock classic “Do You Love Me?”

However, Fay and Stars & Stripes skipper Conner, who may not be the chummiest of chums, tactfully tacked through the evening, carefully changing courses and running upwind of one another whenever the social maelstrom threatened to draw them within hailing distance.

The same did not hold true for the rest of the 800 guests, who, cognizant that they were stamping an indelible imprint on local history, got along fine.

The small Kiwi contingent--Fay took just one table for 10--steamed gracefully onto the Coast Guard grounds and proceeded to charm the locals more or less out of their socks. Sarah Fay, a striking beauty by any measure, captured every eye by waltzing in wearing an astonishing, ruffled gown confected of kiwi-green silk. Her opposite number, Judy Conner, looked equally smashing in red (taken together, the two women produced rather a Christmasy effect), and both seemed to enjoy their roles as unofficial belles of the ball. Asked whether the anticipation phase had set in, Judy Conner responded, “Sure, I’m excited. It’s almost finished, almost there!”

Ball chairman Kay North, a veteran since 1960 of the quadrennial (until 1987) America’s Cup balls given in ritzy Newport, R.I., made the setting suitably glamorous. “Tonight is a friendly celebration of tradition,” she said. “Not too many San Diegans have been to the Newport balls, but I thought I had a sense of how it was done when I planned this one.”

The scene jibed with the occasion; the cavernous Coast Guard hangar, which could house Fay’s behemoth, 133-foot yacht New Zealand, was draped with the sails that powered Conner’s 12-meter Stars & Stripes to victory in the America’s Cup competition off Fremantle, Australia, in 1987. The billowing spinnakers and jibs, which were still caked with sea salt when pulled from their packing crates, all read “55 US 22 US.” They formed a sort of cloth dome over the center of attention, the pedestal-mounted, gleaming silver America’s Cup, which stood at the very center of the hangar so that all eyes might be on the prize.

Last Ball in Fremantle

San Diego Yacht Club Junior Staff Commodore Fred Frye, who reigned as commodore when Conner captured the Cup, compared the event favorably to the 1987 ball given at a one-time wool sorting warehouse in Fremantle.

“There were 3,000 of us because they had all the syndicates there, and it was one crazy party,” he said. “I’m hoping that tonight will be the first of many, many America’s Cup Balls to be held in San Diego.”

That sentiment seemed to be widely held (except, presumably, by the handful who would like to host the next ball in Auckland, New Zealand). County Supervisor Brian Bilbray, head of the America’s Cup Task Force support group, said, “If nothing else, tonight teaches us that international understanding runs deeper than smiling and acting friendly. Without spits and spats, the venture might not be so exciting, but tonight’s a real start toward a lasting San Diego tradition in which the world will wish to share.”

The spits and spats to which Bilbray referred (to name just one of many, the Kiwis are less than enchanted by Conner’s choice of a catamaran to defend against their massive yacht) never seemed to surface under the mellow gaze of the fat full moon that lit the party. The America’s Cup crew, all in team dress uniforms of blazers and white ducks, mingled freely with such Kiwi counterparts as New Zealand skipper David Barnes, sail designer Tom Schnackenberg, sailing master Rod Davis and Rules Committee member Andrew Johns (as a special gesture, the caterer was instructed to offer the favorite Kiwi brew, Steinlager beer). Among sailing Yanks in the crowd were Stars & Stripes mastman John Barnitt, navigator Peter Isler, grinder John Grant and tactician Tom Whidden.

Former Skippers Honored

The crowd also contained a number of old salts who have skippered entrants in previous America’s Cups and were called to the stage for special recognition by master of ceremonies Charlie Jones. Among them were Australian Sir James Hardy, who captained the Southern Cross in 1974; Frenchman Bruno Trouble, skipper of the France 3 in 1980, and Gerald Driscoll, who was captain of the Intrepid in 1974.

Because balls by and large have to be fund-raisers these days, the America’s Cup Ball did collect a sizable kitty to be shared by a trio of beneficiaries. But none of them, interestingly enough, will be Stars & Stripes. As far as Cup principals are concerned, the ball is strictly to celebrate the upcoming race. The Coast Guard morale fund and the U.S. and New Zealand Olympic yachting funds will benefit.

Acting under the conviction that the forthcoming race already has generated sufficient hot air to blow New Zealand back to its Auckland dock, the committee resolutely forbade speeches of any sort. The various principals, including current yacht club Commodore Douglas Alford and Sail America chief operating officer Thomas Ehman, were introduced, but after that it was a case of everyone for himself. The Champagne flowed as unfettered as the ocean stream, buffets offered custom-carved beef tenderloin and roast duck, and many guests worked off the effects of both by dancing until the 1 a.m. closing bell.

A sizable committee toiled to put together the ball on short notice (because of a court dispute, it was not clear until this summer whether there would be a race in 1988). Among the committee members were Donis Lovett, Lynn Soares, Gary Fraser, Anne Evans and her son, William L. Evans; Windie Knoth; Jane Wilson; Joy Frye; Jane Fetter; Sue Raffee; Bill Waite; Berneice Copeland; Janet Gallison; Sally LaDow; Tommi Adelizzi; Linda Eves; Karen Miller; Sara Jane Sayer; Britt Alford and Linda Nicholas.

Among guests were Alice and Mike Cavanaugh, Joan Palmer, Mary and Dallas Clark, Marie and Dean Dunphy, Dianne and Patrick Goddard, Carol and Mark Yorston, Rachel and Jud Grosvenor, Yvonne and Dan Larson, Athena and Charles May, Gail and Bob Lichter, Mary Lou and Francis Radford, Kay and David Porter, and Marian and Wally Trevor.