AMERICA’S CUP UPDATE : NOTEBOOK : Conner’s Shore Crew Works Until It Almost Keels Over

If Stars & Stripes’ victory Thursday over Defiant had been a football game, Murray (Murph) McDonnell and Dory Vogel would have been awarded game balls.

They weren’t on the boat, but without them and a couple of dozen others whose names may never be more than footnotes in Cup lore, there might not have been a boat.

The keel is McDonnell’s baby, and when Dennis Conner said last Tuesday night, after lopsided losses to Defiant and America 3, that he wanted to change it, McDonnell prepared for two days of labor. He would do it over Thursday and Friday, when Stripes had no races. No problem.

Then at 11 a.m. Wednesday, when the race was postponed because of high winds, McDonnell’s schedule was suddenly compressed into less than 24 hours.

He and his crew, ignoring the rain, went to work unbolting the radical, 15-ton gizmo. They took it off, slapped the old one back on, then proceeded to fill the holes with epoxy resin.

The rain poured down. The resin wouldn’t dry. They brought in heaters and blow dryers.

Dory Vogel, wife of bowman Scott Vogel, oversaw the wives and girlfriends who kept food coming to the crew, around the clock. She whipped up a tub of spaghetti on the tender Betsy. Meals on keels.

Still, the rain poured down. They tried to paint the keel. The paint wouldn’t dry.

More heaters. More blow dryers.

The sailing crew went home at about 10 p.m. McDonnell and his shore crew worked on.

It poured. Ramon Hernandez, a veteran of four Cup campaigns with Conner, complained frequently, “Mucho agua!” It became the theme of the night.

Still, it rained. Mucho mas agua.

McDonnell finished at 7 a.m. The sailing crew returned at 7:30. McDonnell grabbed a drink, passed out sandpaper and sat back to supervise the smoothing of the keel.

“A fun night,” he said afterward. “We were really pumped. We had to make it. Without the rain, it would have been a piece of cake. The win made it all worthwhile.”

Iain Murray’s crew also put in considerable unpaid overtime in the two weeks since Spirit of Australia last raced.

Murray fulfilled his vow to squeeze as much blood as he could out of his lads. Working around the clock, they virtually rebuilt the deck and underbody from stem to stern.

Skipper Peter Gilmour explained that because they wanted to move the mast considerably forward, to keep the boat balanced they had to reposition the new keel aft.

Then the new position of the mast meant that almost everything else on deck had to be moved, as well--winches, the steering wheels, hatches.

Gilmour, appearing weary Friday, estimated that the 35 team members, including the sailing crew, put in about 5,500 man-hours on the project. But it was worth it.

Test sails this week have been “very encouraging,” he said. “It steers like a yacht, performs like a yacht.”

And it races New Zealand in the first match today.

The 24-hour forecast was for winds up to 25 knots today--about the limit of when the fragile IACC boats should be raced, some people think.

Stan Reid, chairman of the Challenger of Record Committee, said there is no official limit.

“It’s not dependent on the wind speed,” he said. “The criteria for whether or not the race will start depends exclusively on whether the race committee can set a course to fairly test the relative speeds of these boats.

“These yachts are not out there to see if they can survive. These are not ocean-racing yachts in the sense . . . that they do not have any accommodations downstairs. They do not have any guard rails.

“So when we look at the weather conditions we take all these factors into account. We also take into account whether we can actually set a course and the buoys will stay in their proper positions.”

What are the odds?

When the challengers drew for first-round pairings last month, Il Moro di Venezia skipper Paul Cayard drew No. 1 for the chance to draw first, then drew his code letter A.

When the challengers drew for the second round Friday, Ville de Paris skipper Marc Pajot drew 1 and A.

Closed-circuit TV at the International Centre on Pacific Highway, between Broadway and Ash, will feature what appears to be the best match each day and will have the two available onboard cameras on those boats.

Today it will be Ville de Paris vs. Nippon, Sunday Ville de Paris vs. Il Moro and Tuesday Nippon vs. New Zealand.

Say Cheese. The public is encouraged to bring a camera and pose with the America’s Cup trophy, which will be on display at the America’s Cup Museum on select days throughout the races.

Dates the Cup will be available for viewing are: Feb. 29, 10 a.m. to 2 p.m.; March 6, 2 to 5:30 p.m.; March 7, 10 a.m. to 6 p.m.; March 13, 2 to 6 p.m.; and March 14, 10 a.m. to 6 p.m.

The museum, located at the Cruise Ship Terminal on 1150 North Harbor Drive, is open daily 10 a.m. to 6 p.m. It features a comprehensive collection of memorabilia dating from the first historical race in 1851 to today’s high-tech International America’s Cup Class boats.