Losers in Cup Challenge Not Getting Discouraged

The races dubbed a “warmup” to next year’s America Cup Challenger trials did little more than give bad cramps and offer a cold shoulder to an unfortunate few.

Nippon Challenge, Desafio Espana Copa America and France America were among nine entries that represented seven syndicates from six countries and competed in the International America’s Cup Class World Championships.

They came, they saw, and for the most part, they sputtered.

The Spanish syndicate finished last, the French contingent tied America-3’s USA-2 for seventh, and the Japanese, immersed in high expectations from all sides, were fifth. Only the four lowest scoring boats advanced to Friday’s semifinal match races.

Not all, however, go back to the drawing board--here or abroad--with their rudders between their legs to prepare for 1992. In fact, most everyone acted like the championships were the best thing next to sliced bread.

Besides, Nippon’s fate won’t be known until this morning. Third-place Team Dennis Conner has until 9 a.m. to decide whether it will use the semifinal berth it earned or forgo the competition to spare what’s left of its sail supply.

At Wednesday’s press conference, Conner indicated they would concede his team’s spot to Japan.

“I’d say at this time we’re leaning to give up our spot,” Conner said. “If we had to make a decision right now, we’d pass and wish the Japanese good luck in our spot.”

Nippon skipper Chris Dickson said he would welcome the opportunity to redeem his team from its less-than-spectacular display of sailing savvy.

“We realize that we’re not expected to be in the standings,” he said, “but if something happened and there was a place, we’d certainly look forward to doing some more racing.”

More racing isn’t the most immediate need facing these three syndicates. Ground crews and skippers agree the priority is to implement into their program what they learned from two days of Pre-Worlds Regatta and five days of World Championship sailing.

Certainly they are ahead of the game in one major respect--they’ve at least had the experience of racing the new class boats in their first formal racing format. As many as five syndicates expected to sail in the trials haven’t.

According to Kaoru Ogimi, vice commodore of Nippon Challenge, nothing can duplicate the sailing conditions--from no wind, to strong wind to shifty wind--seen off Point Loma the past week.

“The learning curve is fantastic,” Ogimi said. “Testing facilities, wind tunnels, computers. Nothing can supplement the competitive edge you get from racing situations.”

Spain’s general director, Gerardo Seeliger said: “If you aren’t participating in this championship, you don’t know exactly what’s going on in the America’s Cup championships.”

In explaining away Nippon’s performance--the Japanese syndicate had what many thought was the fastest boat but a crew with limited sailing experience--Dickson pleased lack of experience as his defense.

“This is the first time the Nippon Challenge or any Japanese team has experienced the America’s Cup,” he said. “The opportunity of the World Championships is to expose the organization and the sail loft and the sailing team to top-level racing. We obviously would have liked to do a bit better, but in the same breath, we’ve gained a lot of information and experience that will be useful through the rest of the program.”