AMERICA’S SCHOONER CUP : Astor’s Crew Picks Up Where Wind Left Off

In Saturday’s fleet race of the America’s Schooner Cup, Astor skipper Richard Stramar left the sailing up to the wind. That was good enough for a two-minute victory over Dauntless.

But in Sunday’s match race with Dauntless for the Schooner Cup, there was no wind in sight--so little, in fact, that the start had to be delayed an hour.

So without his schooner’s best friend alongside, Straman was forced to turn to another trusty companion, his 12-member crew.

It did not let him down.

Although it trailed for more than half the 10-mile match race, Astor wound up beating Dauntless by a bigger margin than Saturday, three minutes, 48 seconds, corrected time.

Astor was given a three-minute handicap because of its larger dimensions. Stramar’s schooner, built in 1924 by William Fife, is 15 feet longer than Dauntless, built in 1930 by John Alden.

“This crew was great today,” Straman said. “We had to make a lot of sail changes.”

After getting off to a great start Saturday on San Diego Bay, Astor almost didn’t get started at all Sunday--missing the buoy at the starting line by inches. If Astor had hit the marker, it would have had to start over.

“That was a little too close,” Straman said.

Dauntless, skippered by Paul Plotts, took advantage of Astor’s start to gain the early lead.

“The first weather leg didn’t go as well as we’d have liked, and we figured it would only get worse,” Straman said.

Instead, it only got better.

Just before the halfway mark, Astor put up a fisherman’s sail and began to take control.

It led by 30 seconds at the mark and stretched that out considerably as the wind began to pick up.

The Schooner Cup was Straman’s first in three attempts. Last year he lost to Kelpie in the finals. Dauntless won the initial Schooner Cup in 1987.

The Bagheera, Saturday’s third-place finisher, won the consolation title by 29 minutes over Volunteer.