AMERICA’S CUP ’92 : SYNDICATES AT A GLANCE : A MONTHLY PROGRESS REPORT
DEFENDERS
Team Dennis Conner * Yacht club: San Diego * Syndicate head: Dennis Conner * Skipper: Dennis Conner * Budget: $20 million * Boats: First one completed and left by truck from Bristol, R.I., Tuesday. Christening scheduled April 7. Will build second if funding permits. * Designers: Bruce Nelson, David Pedrick, Alberto Calderon, Chris Todter (coordinator). * IACC Worlds: One boat. * Comment: Look for Cup fever to accelerate a notch when Conner gets his team assembled and his boat in the water. But don’t expect anything dramatic to happen for a while. Conner, lacking a second trial boat for tuning, might enter the IACC world championships with a boat that’s a mystery even to himself.
America-3 * Yacht club: San Diego * Syndicate head: Bill Koch * Skipper-helmsmen: Bill Koch, Gary Jobson, Buddy Melges, John Kostecki * Budget: $30 million * Boats: Bought boat from French for training. Own first boat due in April--but not the one everybody expected. ESPN Tuesday night revealed that another boat was being built at the Hercules Aerospace plant at Magna, Utah, where it makes rocket boosters for NASA. The one being built at Bristol, R.I., is to be delivered in June. A third also is probable. * Designers: Doug Peterson, Jim Reichel, Jim Pugh, Heiner Meldner. * IACC Worlds: Two boats. * Comment: Kostecki, an Olympic silver medalist and two-time world champion in Solings, joined the team this month. Last week he placed fourth in the 50-Foot World Cup at Miami. Kostecki and Melges will serve as tacticians and alternate helmsmen on opposite boats.
CHALLENGERS
Spirit of Australia * Yacht club: Darling Harbour * Syndicate head: Iain Murray * Skipper: Peter Gilmour * Boats: One, hoping to start construction this fall. * Designer: Iain Murray * Budget: Sparse. Have support from Qantas and Australia’s three TV networks. * IACC Worlds: No. * Comment: Talented effort without much money, now campaigning as “the people’s challenge,” soliciting contributions from the public.
Australian Challenge * Yacht club: Royal Sydney Yacht Squadron * Syndicate head: Syd Fischer * Skipper: Colin Beashal (Hugh Treharne tactician) * Boat: One under construction. * Designer: Peter van Oossanen * Budget: $10 million. * IACC Worlds: No. * Comment: Practicing with two half-scale “lego” boats with interchangeable components. Could be interesting.
Port Pendennis YC (Great Britain) * Yacht club: Port Pendennis * Syndicate head: Peter John de Savary * Skipper: Lawrie Smith * Boat: Not yet under construction. * Designers: Derek Clark (coordinator) and Ian Howlett. * Budget: $14 million. * IACC Worlds: No. * Comment: This is one effort that may never reach San Diego--so far behind already that it’s hardly worth trying to catch up.
Ass’n Pour L’America’s Cup en France * Yacht club: Yacht Club de France-Sete * Syndicate head: Eric A. Ogden * Skipper: Marc Pajot. * Boat: Sold first to America-3. Building second, due to arrive April 15. Third possible. * Designer: Phillippe Briand. * Budget: $16 million. * IACC Worlds: One boat. * Comment: Pajot’s tactician, Marc Bouet, placed fifth (5-4) in the tough Congressional Cup at Long Beach last week. The French lack the deep pockets of Il Moro, Nippon and Mercury Bay, but they were in a similar position at Fremantle in ’87 and reached the challenger semifinals. Will be based on Mission Bay.
Il Moro di Venezia (Italy) * Yacht club: Compagnia Della Vela * Syndicate head: Raul Gardini * Skipper: Paul Cayard * Boats: Two sailing, third due in mid-April, plan to build a fourth. * Designer: German Frers * Budget: $40 million-plus. * IACC Worlds: Two boats entered, may sail only one. * Comment: American skipper Paul Cayard last week passed up the Congressional Cup match-racing event at Long Beach and handily won the 50-Foot World Cup event at Miami, with an all-Italian crew. It wasn’t match racing, but it was impressive.
Nippon Challenge (Japan) * Yacht club: Nippon Ocean Racing * Syndicate head: Tatsumitsu Yamasaki * Skipper: Chris Dickson. * Boats: Two sailing, another on the way. A fourth if they need it. * Designer: NCAC Design Team * Budget: $46 million * IACC Worlds: One boat. * Comment: Peers were impressed with the work of Dickson’s six-man crew--three of them Japanese--when he won the Congressional Cup for the second straight year at Long Beach last week. The team’s one perceived weakness--lack of world-class sailors--may no longer be valid.
B.B.C. Challenge (Japan) * Yacht club: Bengal Bay * Syndicate head: Masakazu Kobayashi * Skipper: Undetermined. * Boats: None under construction. * Designer: Osamu Takai * Budget: Unknown. * IACC Worlds: No. * Comment: Still dead in the water. New Zealand’s Rod Davis was training the crew to compete in the IACC Worlds in May on a boat to be purchased from New Zealand, but the latter is now talking to other customers (see Spain and Sweden).
Mercury Bay Club (New Zealand) * Yacht Club: Mercury Bay * Syndicate head: Sir Michael Fay * Skipper: David Barnes (current), Rod Davis or Russell Coutts. * Boats: Three built, two sailing, other for sale or charter. Fourth may be built after Worlds. * Designer: Bruce Farr * Budget: Undisclosed. * IACC Worlds: Undecided on one or two boats. * Comment: Coutts hasn’t officially joined the team but probably will after his strong performance in the Congressional Cup at Long Beach last week. He lost to Dickson in the best-of-three finals, with Davis third. Team has recovered from suffering the first broken mast among IACC boats at San Diego.
Red Star (Soviet Union) * Yacht club: Ocean Racing Club of Leningrad. * Syndicate head: Valentin Stepanov * Skipper: Guram Biganishvili * Boats: First (aluminum) completed and due April 4. One of carbon fiber to be started in June or July, delivered in September. * Designer: Oleg Larionov * Budget: $10 million for San Diego operations; boat costs (rubles) unknown. * IACC Worlds: One boat (unofficial entry because of aluminum construction, no longer allowed in America’s Cup). * Comment: Where they’ll be based is still not resolved. The Navy and Coast Guard don’t want them in San Diego Bay because of security reasons. They’ll probably wind up in Mission Bay, under protest.
Espana 92/Quinto Centenario (Spain) * Yacht club: Monte Real Club de Yates de Bayona * Syndicate head: Pedro Campos Calvo-Sotelo * Skipper: Undetermined. * Boats: One sailing. Trying to buy second from New Zealand for training.
* Designer: Oficina Tecnica de Desafio Espana Copa America * Budget: Unknown. * IACC Worlds: Possibly a late entry. * Comment: The Spaniards, supported by the “Christopher Columbus Committee,” are motivated by the 500-year anniversary of the discovery of America. One leader of the syndicate is Diego Colon, supposedly a direct descendant of the explorer.
New Sweden * Yacht club: Stenungsbaden * Syndicate head: Tomas Wallin * Skipper: Gunnar Krantz (Dan Loven helmsman). * Boat: Scheduled for completion in July. * Designer: New Sweden Design Team. * Budget: Undetermined. * IACC Worlds: Possible late entry if they buy New Zealand’s extra boat. * Comment: Olle Johannson resigned as skipper to pursue private business. The Swedes have been talking to New Zealand since December about buying or chartering its extra third boat for training and possibly the IACC Worlds.
YACOMA d.d. (Yugoslavia) * Yacht club: Galeb * Syndicate head: Bojan Butolen * Skipper: Undetermined. * Boat: One being built of wood for training at home. Building second of carbon fiber, to be completed in October. * Designer: Stanislav Kovacevic Nano * Budget: Unknown. * IACC Worlds: No. * Comment: National political crisis wasn’t a problem, as of last week. The Yugoslavs may share a compound with the Soviets and charter their aluminum boat in July for training at San Diego.