Grand Prix Sailing Starts Today

Formula One Grand Prix sailing returns to the United States this weekend, with a five-boat fleet including Dennis Conner and other America’s Cup skippers, plus Olympic bronze medalist J.J. Isler.

It isn’t the America’s Cup, but in some ways it’s better. The races will be visible, and so, if anyone is interested, will the keels. The 52-foot boats--about two-thirds the size of a Cup boat--will race as a fleet today, Saturday and Sunday at 1:30, six times around a course between Seaport Village and Coronado Island.

The $90,000 in prize money for the weekend series includes $40,000 to the winner. There also will be shorter warm-up races at 11 a.m., with each daily winner receiving a case of a sponsor’s champagne.

The boats, especially designed for the international series, are sailed with crews of 10. Conner will have several of his Cup hands aboard, as will France’s Marc Pajot.

But the all-star crew belongs to Conner’s Cup sidekick-turned-rival, John Bertrand, who has recruited six of the winning Cup crew from Bill Koch’s America 3, including bowman Jerry Kirby. Bertrand won three of four events last year.

Harold Cudmore skippers a British entry with Chris Law at the helm. They won this year’s first event at Kiel, Germany. Conner won at Scotland in August.

Isler, 29, has never sailed a boat this large. The 470 dinghy she and Pam Healy sailed at Barcelona was about 37 feet shorter. Isler won a practice race Thursday but was involved in a collision with Pajot, whose bow was damaged. Pajot was disqualified.