AMERICA’S CUP UPDATE : NOTEBOOK : Cubens Who Made the ‘A’ Team Still Feel for Those Who Didn’t

Talent. Chemistry. Timing. Height. Weight. Strength. Luck.

All these factors played into the naming of Bill Koch’s “A” and “B” teams, one that is sailing in the America’s Cup, the other that is left on the dock each day.

Almost six weeks after the crew selections, the 16 men who made the cut still feel for those who didn’t.

“It’s a hurting feeling,” said starting grinder Rick Brent, who is roommates with Art Price, a non-starting grinder. As much as Brent felt he earned his position, “my heart went out for him.”

Pitman Wally Henry said he was lucky to be one of the chosen few and glad he wasn’t a part of the selection process.

“That had to be a tough decision,” he said. “They were both ‘A’ teams as far as we were concerned, but there were still 16 guys that didn’t get to go on. It was hard on them and us.”

The “B” team, according to the “A” team, is as much a part of the sailing team as they are. And some of the top crew feel for those left behind every day, it’s one more reason to win the Cup.

“I wouldn’t say it’s more pressure, but it is a responsibility,” said grinder John Hufnagel, who was part of Dennis Conner’s losing effort in 1983 on Liberty. “You know those guys are supporting you, but you also know that if you make a mistake, they have to be (mad).”

Henry was among several who said the attitude of the second team has been super, even when tension at the compound was the highest.

“I can’t compliment them enough on how they’ve handled it,” he said. “In some cases, the guys who weren’t sailing were the ones who did the most to smooth it out with the guys who were.”

From Day 1 of this campaign, everyone knew only one crew would eventually make it to the final.

“We knew from the beginning that 16 guys would end up racing,” Hufnagel said. “And reality dictated that there had to be continuity, and very few would rotate in.”

With the two teams, Hufnagel said it allows the “A” crew more time to mentally prepare for the race.

“They’ll tell us, ‘we’ll prepare the boat, you prepare yourself,’ ” he said. “Being able to take a breath once in a while is a great relief. Instead of a 16-hour day, sometimes it will only be from 6 in the morning to 5 at night.”

America 3 bowman Jerry Kirby knows exactly what he’ll be doing when the America’s Cup is over.

“I’ll be home in two weeks, back on the construction site,” Kirby said.

Kirby has his own contracting company at Newport, R.I. His current project is building a duplex mansion for a lawyer and an insurance agent from Providence, R.I., along Newport’s famous Bellevue Avenue on the Ocean Drive--”one of the last prime spots,” Kirby said.

His brother-in-law, Tom Perkins, runs the business when Kirby is gone.

“I was on the phone three times with him this morning,” Kirby said. “When it’s finished it’ll be worth your average Cup boat.”

Translation: About $5 million.

The Cubens were one of the few teams with two full crews.

“It’s always hard on all the guys that aren’t on the boat,” said Kimo Worthington, an all-round alternate. “But it wasn’t like the Kiwis or the Italians. Those (backup) guys hardly sailed at all. We raced and raced right up until the very end.”

America 3 ran two boats until Stars & Stripes eliminated Kanza in the defender semifinals and Koch settled on a starting lineup. The others settled into a routine of maintaining the boats and taking Kanza out to tune up the boat America 3 before each race.

“It’s starting to wind down,” Worthington said. “For the guys that aren’t sailing it’s getting a little on the boring side. It is hard to watch, but it’s fine as long as they do a nice job.”

Koch has been given a Chargers football helmet and a crash helmet since he got hit in the head twice in the past week.

Showing them off Friday, he told again how “I was lying there, staggering, trying to get up and (navigator) By Baldridge came back to help me, with the winch handle in his hand.

“His comment later was that ‘I came back to finish him off.’ ”

To acknowledge a commitment to outstanding attendance at school and to demonstrate their support for the successful defense of the America’s Cup, a 4,500-square-foot spinnaker with more than 300,000 San Diego County students’ signatures will be raised on America 3’s Kanza before the start of Race 5 today on the race course, according to A3 alternate helmsman Bill Campbell.

Pieces of the spinnaker, made by North Sails, were distributed to 500 schools in San Diego and Imperial counties for students, teachers, parents, and principals to sign. The signing of the sail is part of the “Believe, Achieve, Succeed,” Youth Education Program, funded by the San Diego Port District and sponsored by the America’s Cup Organizing Committee and the San Diego County Office of Education.