AMERICA’S CUP UPDATE : NOTEBOOK : It’s a Meticulous Job, but Somebody Has to Do It
Who are Ken McAlpine, Nick Nicholson and John Warren, and why do they make the America’s Cup syndicates nervous?
They are the Measurement Committee assigned to determine if each of the boats is legal under the new International America’s Cup Class design rule--not too long, not too short, not too big around, et cetera.
It’s kind of like having the IRS call on you.
McAlpine, the chairman, is a naval architect from Perth. His name might be more familiar to Cup followers because, as chief measurer for the old 12-meters in ‘86-87, he was in the middle of the “glassgate” controversy involving New Zealand’s fiberglass entries.
Nicholson, a former boating magazine editor from Newport, R.I., is the IACC’s North American measurer. Warren, a property surveyor from Lymington, England, is the European measurer.
All three have been busy this week certifying the challengers’ boats, which were supposed to be ready for measurement by last Wednesday.
Their task is straightforward. They literally crawl all over and through the boats with tape measures, checking the rigs, keels and anything else concerned with the rule. Very carefully.
The job takes about 30 hours. The tolerance, Nicholson said, is “plus or minus half a millimeter.”
“This is not a game,” Nicholson said.
They are coldly objective. Nobody gets a break, despite circumstances.
“They all look alike to us,” Nicholson said.
“I’m not a politician,” Warren said. “I’m a simple measurer.”
They also are totally circumspect.
Asked what kind of lumber Slovenia used in its wooden boat (since withdrawn), McAlpine confided, “It came from a tree.”
McAlpine said, “We’re technically accountable to nobody. But we are ultimately responsible to (America’s Cup Organizing Committee general manager) Tom Ehman and (Challenger of Record Committee chairman) Stan Reid in that they write the checks.”
The measurers drill eight 2-inch-diameter holes in each boat as core samples.
They’ll be at work right through the Cup. Every time somebody makes a significant change, the boat must be checked again. The Cup finalists will be thoroughly re-checked in May.
A measurer’s work is never done.
With the rule allowing a 17th, non-working passenger besides the 16-man crew limit, why couldn’t John Kolius ride on the Il Moro di Venezia boat?
Kolius is the Il Moro trial horse skipper and an expert match racer who drove the America II boat at Fremantle five years ago.
He has extensive America’s Cup background and is at least as American as Il Moro skipper Paul Cayard. He just hasn’t lived in Italy for two years--a requirement to qualify as crew for the boat.
But does the rule apply to No. 17?
The only problem is that Kolius might have to bump syndicate owner Raul Gardini, who likes to ride on his boats.
Lloyd Bridges revisited:
Reminiscent of the old “Sea Hunt” TV series--that was before color, kids--was the report that two scuba divers were camped at the windward mark of the challengers’ practice races to photograph keels as they went by.
Probably the same two guys that invaded Dennis Conner’s compound last month.
Stan Reid, chairman of the Challenger of Record Committee, said, “Two divers were seen coming up from under the bouy at the top mark with camera equipment. Several people saw them.”
The reports said a speedboat named “Gypsy II” picked them up and made a clean getaway. Apparently, they had used up all their film and couldn’t wait to get to Fotomat.
“They may have just been getting pictures for publicity purposes,” Reid said. “If it was a prank, it was stupid.
“I don’t think any of the defenders or challengers were involved.”
Reid noted that Conner, in discussing Reid’s objections to Stars & Stripes’ intrusion into the challengers’ practice races, referred to him in The Times as “just an employee” of the challengers.
“First of all, I’m not ‘employed,’ ” Reid said, “I’m a volunteer. Next time they couldn’t pay me enough.
“Second, I do speak for the challengers.”
Reid, an Australian obstetrician, was commodore of the Royal Perth Yacht Club during the ‘86-87 defense at Fremantle. He said he has been given authority to speak and act unilaterally for the challengers, although he does seek to consult them on more important matters--such as extending the measurement deadline for the Russians until noon today.
Breakthough boats, breakthrough keels . . . breakthrough sails?
Skipper Peter Gilmour will have a new light-air mainsail for Spirit of Australia when the Louis Vuitton Cup challenger trials start next Saturday.
After sailing and watching rivals sail off San Diego for a few weeks, syndicate chief Iain Murray ordered the sail only two weeks ago, and Murray used his salesmanship to persuade DHL Worldwide Express to air-freight it Saturday from Sydney.
That probably means another decal on the boat, already the most decorated hull in San Diego.
Conner said he didn’t plan to waste money buying a lot of sails until he’s sure what is going to work. Murray has a similar philosophy. As Conner expressed it, they are letting their rivals do a lot of sail testing for them.
But Murray must have felt sure about the value of a lighter main. It cost $40,000.
Challenge Australia trained with two slightly-less-than-half-size models of its IACC boat until the real thing was completed last year, and syndicate chief Syd Fischer brought the models to San Diego, where they have been sailing around the bay.
“We call ‘em Minacs--mini America’s Cup boats,” Fischer said. “We’re actually producing them in Australia now.
“They’re bloody good little boats. Quick . . . blew an Etchells to death.”