Italians Avoid the Breaks of the Game

Bill Koch says the new International America’s Cup Class boats are “incredibly dangerous” and the men who designed them are “idiots.”

Chris Dickson disagrees. He says maybe his mast fell down Saturday because it was Butsu Metsu Day--the one day a year Buddha takes off, depriving followers of his protection.

Koch was serious. Dickson? It depends how far the New Zealand citizen is into the culture of the Japanese, for whom he sails.

Winds up to 20 knots swept in the new era of high-tech boats in the Cup with the first race of the IACC World Championship on Saturday. Boats from Italy’s Il Moro di Venezia syndicate finished 1-2, but the toll on the others was terrific:

- Three spinnakers (Dennis Conner’s Stars & Stripes, two, and Koch’s America-3 (USA-9);

- Three spinnaker poles (Conner, Koch and Ville de Paris);

- One steering pedestal (Spain ‘92);

- One boom (Conner);

- One boom vang (Koch);

- One mast (Dickson);

- And one soggy bowman.

Americans Paul Cayard and John Kolius sailed Italy’s two red boats to a solid 1-2 finish, but three of the nine starters were knocked out, and Conner limped through most of the 21.2-nautical mile race without a mainsail, finishing sixth--but finishing.

The question for months has been whether the new, high-tech boats built with lightweight, space-age materials could withstand the battering of strong winds and heavy seas.

Nobody expected much of that off Point Loma, which is notorious for mild sailing conditions. But before this event, which runs through next Saturday, two boats--New Zealand and Il Moro--had been dismasted in practice, and Dickson predicted there would be more.

There was.

His.

Dickson had stopped to retrieve a man overboard at one mark, and his mast fell down at the next. He planned to return today.

Spain and Koch also dropped out, but Conner, after his boom cracked midway through the race, dropped his mainsail and completed the race with only a headsail--although he did raise two spinnakers that blew out.

Before all those little things started going wrong, Conner’s midnight blue Stars & Stripes was magnificent. While the rest of the fleet sailed to the right side of the course after the start, Conner went left and arrived at the windward mark with a substantial 39-second lead over Cayard.

After that, a series of mishaps dropped him farther and farther back, but it was a sign that his boat is fast.

Dickson had just passed Conner in pursuit of Cayard near the end of the zig-zag leg when his spinnaker halyard broke and the sail fell, dragging a bowman overboard.

The man asked that his identity not be disclosed, but Dickson said, “He held onto a spinnaker sheet very gallantly for five or six boat lengths. It was quite exciting to see one of our crew surfing along the side of the boat at 12 or 13 knots, bouncing on top and then submarining and coming back up.”

Conner had to swerve to avoid running over the crewman.

Dickson dropped to last place, and after rounding the next mark his mast fell down.

Tom Whidden, Conner’s tactician just ahead on Stars & Stripes, said the crack of the mast breaking “was the loudest noise I’d ever heard a mast make.”

Koch thinks it could get worse--much worse.

“I think the guys that made up the rules to design these boats are idiots,” Koch said. “I think these boats are incredibly dangerous.

“I’d rather see these races in maxis. The maxi is a lot more seaworthy. We design the boats for what we think is the prevailing wind strength, and when you get five knots above it you’re in for a disaster. I think someone’s gonna get hurt out here.”

Dickson said, “These boats are the Formula Ones of the yacht racing world. We find them a great challenge . . . exactly what the America’s Cup is all about. These are not boats that an average sailor is gonna feel happy with.”

Whether Koch, a multi-millionaire industrialist, is an average sailor, his concerns are genuine.

“What worries us is that the structure of the deck may fall apart or give way,” Koch said. “That could cause the mast and boom to come down, and then someone could really get hurt. The hulls would probably shatter like glass if a couple of boats ran into one another.”

Dickson conceded, “These boats are on the edge. I’d like to say it’s the last mast we’ll break, but on these boats it’s like blowing out gear boxes on F-1 racing cars.”

Cayard certainly had no complaints.

“I enjoy sailing these boats,” he said. “I’ve sailed maxi boats myself. I find these boats to be substantially more interesting to sail than a maxi.”

The fleet racing continues for the next four days. Then there will be a day off followed by two days of match racing among the four top boats.