City Gets Attitude Adjustment for the America’s Cup Finals
America 3 may have to hang a sign outside its compound on Harbor Drive.
“Wanted: A few good hecklers.”
Now that Stars & Stripes is out and A3 is in, San Diegans with an ounce of patriotism are caught in an uncomfortable embrace with Bill Koch, whose East Coast-based syndicate is defending the America’s Cup on behalf of a nation, and the San Diego Yacht Club.
During the defender selection series, Koch and his infiltrators thrived on the nasty comments that Dennis Conner fans made to Koch’s crew on the tow out to Point Loma, an example of what A3 perceived as Koch bashing and Conner backing.
Things have changed.
“Overnight it’s like a different town,” said A3 bowman Jerry Kirby of Newport, R.I. “Just a while ago we were the bad guys. There were San Diegans, Americans and Dennis Conner fans. Now there are just San Diegans and Americans. But we loved that stuff. So what do we do now? I guess we need to find someone to hurl insults at us.”
No one would lambaste the style in which America 3 raced its way to a 30-second victory over Il Moro di Venezia to open the America’s Cup final Saturday. Through good crew work, good confidence and good Karma, team members said, the Cubens sailed a sound enough race to give them a 1-0 advantage in this best-of-seven series.
A television broadcast reported that A3 helmsman Buddy Melges was so nervous Saturday morning that he called home to Wisconsin to ask his sons how his boat businesses were going.
“Maybe he wanted to know if they were selling any boats,” said grinder Rick Brent of East Lyme, Conn., who described the atmosphere on the white boat as anything but tense. “On the tow out, some guys slept, some talked strategy, some talked about what they had for dinner the night before. It was a nice and relaxed mode.”
Kirby said he’s not sure Melges gets nervous.
“He was laughing and joking and talking to spectators,” Kirby said. “You’d think he was out for a day of sailing in Lake Geneva. ‘Hey, I know that guy back in Wisconsin,’ not that it was the first day of the America’s Cup.”
But the first day also allowed both sides the first shot at fighting it out on a race course, not in the video room or on a chalkboard, where they’ve acquainted themselves with the habits and tactics of the opposition since January. This first meeting dispelled some of the myths America 3 had about the Il Moro.
“I think the biggest thing we learned today was that the Italians aren’t perfect,” navigator By Baldridge said. “We’re not either, but for last six months we’ve seen them from a distance, and they’re doing a great job, every sail change is just right. Then you go out there like today and you see they’re not infallible. You realize that if you do your job, play your own game, you all don’t have to hit home runs.”
Yet there starting helmsman Dave Dellenbaugh was, coming up with sailing’s equivalent in Saturday’s race. The Italians had to do a penalty turn after crossing the start line early, but A3 wasn’t all that far from a similar fate.
Kirby, who as bowman warned the afterguard of their position at the start and told them to hold back a notch, said it was a confident Dellenbaugh who wasn’t going to back away from Il Moro skipper Paul Cayard at the start.
“Cayard’s a great match racer, and Dave wasn’t going to play possum. He went out to rumble. You’re not going to beat a guy like Paul by backing down. Dave just stayed cool, we pushed hard, and squeezed it in.”
Kirby said in a shorter series like this final is, a victory the first day out means more than in rounds with more races, but not much.
“We have a long way to go. They are hairy times for us ahead,” he said.
Said Brent: “There’s definitely a positive mood around here, but there’s no celebrating early. The more Paul Cayard loses, the angrier he gets.”
