AMERICA’S CUP : Camera’s Close-Up Gets Too Personal

A man in the water made America’s Cup news here Tuesday.

Not a buoy in the water.

A man.

No, it wasn’t Mike Dunleavy.

(Although he did jump ship.)

No, it wasn’t Dennis Conner.

(Although if the Lakers need a skipper. . . .)

No, it wasn’t Bill Koch.

(Although he has done everything so far but be knocked overboard.)

It was Bob Sloan, 36, of San Diego, professional deep-sea diver, professional photographer.

Alias Scuba Cam Man.

For the first time in 141 years of America’s Cup racing, I believe, a man got flagged for boat interference.

That man was Scuba Cam Man, who no longer will be taking pictures for ESPN from his position in the Pacific.

Too bad, because they were pretty cool pictures.

Sort of the fish’s-eye view of the America’s Cup.

Unfortunately, when a heavy current dragged Scuba Cam Man onto the race course and into the paths of the boats, he nearly got turned into Cam chowder.

Had Il Moro di Venezia’s skipper not diverted in time, in fact, Paul Cayard believed he could have killed Sloan.

“He would have been slammed against our keel at 12 knots,” Cayard said.

ESPN dashed off a letter of apology and reeled in Scuba Cam Man for the duration of the competition.

“He must have good insurance, that guy,” Cayard said.

For those of us who have had our fill of blimp shots, here was a chance to see what TV could do if there was a Goodyear submarine.

ESPN has used Bob Sloan before. On synchronized swimming, on 10-meter diving, on other yacht races. Coordinating producer Jed Drake enjoys searching for something innovative, which is partly why the 1987 footage ESPN aired from Australia was so awesome.

So, why not have a guy do a wave?

With the approval of the America’s Cup Organizing Committee and the competing boats, ESPN elected to cover the Cup really up-close and personal. Sloan manned a buoyant camera with a waterproof housing. The idea was for Bob to, uh, bob in the ocean while the boats sailed by, midway through the race.

Good angle. Most photographers have to elbow other photographers out of the way for their newspapers and magazines. But the nearest thing to Sloan in an ink-related capacity was a squid.

“Bob went into the water about 10 minutes prior to the boats’ arrival at the fourth mark,” Drake explained. “He assessed the current and his relative position.”

Which was precisely the problem--current events.

When America 3 got to the mark first, tactician Dave Dellenbaugh noticed something--someone--about a boat length inside the buoy.

“A floating yellow head,” Dellenbaugh said.

Not knowing for certain what the penalty would be for running into a floating yellow head, Dellenbaugh maneuvered, taking the Yankee clipper a little wider than he ordinarily might.

Said skipper Bill Koch: “I don’t want to kill this guy, so we got to go around him.”

Always a good plan.

Then along came Il Moro di Venezia, more than a minute behind, the Italians doing their best to catch up.

The last thing they expected was paparazzi.

“The poor guy had drifted onto the race course, maybe 30 meters into the course” Cayard said. “My first instinct was, ‘Damn it, I’ll go inside him,’ but then (another crewman) saw that the guy was connected to a long cord and said, ‘If we do that, we’re gonna kill the guy.’ ”

Drake said Sloan later told him the current carried him “like a river’s.”

He took off like a raft.

There was almost nothing Scuba Cam Man could do, short of singing: “Hello muddah, hello faddah. What am I doing in this regatta?”

The Italians immediately hoisted a red flag of protest, having lost some valuable time, but after losing the race by nearly two minutes, their skipper said it was forgiven and forgotten.

“He needs a navigator or a computer, that poor guy,” Cayard said.

ESPN will experiment with Scuba Cam again, but not during this America’s Cup.

“Our objective of an unusual angle was put aside by Mother Nature,” Drake said.

Too bad, because Scuba Cam was a mother of an invention.