Nippon Gets Reprieve, Will Race Again : America’s Cup: International jury gives Japanese benefit of the doubt after loss to Il Moro di Venezia.
There is Ryujian, the Japanese dragon God of the sea, and Bishamon, a sea Goddess of happiness, and near his helm skipper Chris Dickson carries an omamori, a good luck charm, or ofuda, blessed by a Shinto priest.
Who needs Godzilla?
Four times misfortune has befallen boats that led Nippon in the first two rounds of the Louis Vuitton challenger trials for the America’s Cup, allowing the Japanese (11-2) to come from behind and win.
Then, in Sunday’s 11-second loss to Il Moro di Venezia that concluded the second round, there was the mysterious meandering mark that gave the Japanese yet another chance to undo a defeat.
This time Nippon and the sea gods placed it in the hands of the challengers’ international jury, which determined late Sunday night to re-run the race at 12:20 p.m. today.
Nippon was trailing Il Moro, skippered by Paul Cayard, by about four boat lengths at the end of the second leg when observers noticed the 10-foot-diameter yellow inflatable mark was drifting with the 12-knot wind, like a big balloon, nearly into the spectator fleet.
Normally, they remain anchored to the bottom, which is a problem off Point Loma where the water is so deep. This mark was set in about 800 feet and broke loose when a knot came undone 130 feet down.
Il Moro rounded it in one position and turned back upwind, but by the time Nippon got there it had drifted farther, forcing the Japanese to chase it twice that additional distance to get back to the point where Il Moro had rounded.
After studying a videotape, Nippon tactician Erle Williams estimated the difference in drift at “two to four boat lengths,” or 150 to 300 feet, which would compute to 30 to 60 seconds.
Il Moro spokesman Stefano Roberti, observing from a tender, said it was only “15 to 20 feet.”
Williams said, “We didn’t realize it was drifting until we got around it and we’d had a significant loss on Il Moro.”
Others reasoned the winning margin was irrelevant because that came 15 miles later with a lot of tactics and other variables along the way.
Nevertheless, Nippon filed a protest with the race committee under International Yacht Racing Rule 69 (a): “A yacht that alleges that her finishing position has been materially prejudiced through no fault of her own by . . . an action or omission of the race committee . . . may request redress.”
The challengers’ international jury had unlimited options, guided primarily by Rule 74.2 (c) requiring it to “make as equitable arrangement as possible for all yachts concerned.”
All things considered, Williams said, “I’d like to see a re-race.”
Stan Reid, chairman of the Challenger of Record Committee, said, “I guess it was inevitable that we’d get in trouble laying marks in more than 100 fathoms.”
The replacement mark also came untied and blew away.
“We found that 10 miles downwind to the south,” Reid said.
In other races, New Zealand tactician David Barnes stood in for skipper Rod Davis, who took the day off, and the Kiwis toyed with winless Challenge Australia before running away by 6:46; Sweden’s improving Tre Kronor pressed Ville de Paris to a 2:02 victory, and Espana ’92 held off Spirit of Australia by 1:25 in a battle of second-division boats.
Il Moro and Nippon sparred aggressively before the start and were over the line early, head to wind. But Cayard was able to fall back and start at the gun, while Dickson had to dip the line and start two lengths behind Il Moro, with Cayard luffing his headsail until Dickson committed himself to go left or right. Then Cayard fell on top of him and maintained close control throughout the race.
America’s Cup Notes
Il Moro didn’t use any of its new carbon-fiber sails Sunday, although its trial horse warm-up boat wore a carbon genoa and main before the races started. . . . New Zealand, winner of 13 of 14 races through two rounds, has 34 points; Nippon 26; Il Moro di Venezia, 25; Ville de Paris, 21; Espana ‘92, 14; Spirit of Australia, 11, and Sweden’s Tre Kronor, 5. But those positions could shuffle quickly in the third round which begins March 8. Victories were worth only one point in the first round and four in the second, but will count eight points in the third.
Even the Swedes could leap into a fourth-place tie with Ville de Paris and a possible semifinal berth by winning two more races than the French and Spaniards--but don’t bet on it. That’s just the way the Challenger of Record Committee set it up to assure that the four boats that did the best job of peaking would be in the semifinals, eliminating boats that won early races but faded. New Zealand learned a bitter lesson after winning 33 of 34 round-robin races at Fremantle, only to stand pat on boat development and lose to Dennis Conner’s Stars & Stripes in the challenger finals, 4-1. After all, the America’s Cup is as much a design contest as a sailing contest, and the designers don’t quit when when the racing starts.
Espana ’92 skipper Pedro Campos indicated his team would try to lighten the boat to be faster in San Diego’s generally light winds in the third round. Spirit of Australia’s Iain Murray said he’d probably keep his boat on the heavy side, anticipating stronger winds in March. . . . Murray, struggling with a one-boat campaign, is a realist. “The people that are winning races are the people that deserve to win the races,” he said.