AMERICA’S CUP AT A GLANCE : DEFENDERS (Starting Thursday) For the Citizen Cup
THE FAVORITE
Team Dennis Conner
* Boat name: Stars & Stripes.
* Skipper/Helmsman: Dennis Conner.
* Comment: With a single, slower boat and a shoestring budget in ‘92, Conner lost the defender trials to America 3but never let Bill Koch’s tag-team colossus relax. This time Conner starts no worse than even, with an experienced crew, and at 52 he’s still at the top of his game. Conner won the Cup in 1980, ’87 and ’88.
THE CONTENDER
PACT 95
* Boat name: Young America.
* Skipper/Helmsman: Kevin Mahaney.
* Comment: The team’s talent has been worth 40 world titles and a handful of Olympic medals, and has solid big-boat and match-racing background but is short on America’s Cup time. On shore, John Marshall brings in considerable Cup savvy, but another unproven factor is the boat, which was created mostly on a computer. Can you really trust a computer to get it right the first time?
THE LONGSHOT
America 3
* Boat name: America 3.
* Skipper/Helmswoman: Five rotating in three-women afterguard.
* Comment: Bill Koch’s scaled-back reincarnation of his ’92 juggernaut has the best female sailors ever assembled for any campaign. But they are generally new to match racing and big boats, let alone the pressures of the America’s Cup. Another handicap: They won’t get their new boat until the third round.
THE FORMAT
* Round robins: Four rounds (each boat vs. each other boat three times). Victories in first round worth one point, in second round worth two points, in third round four points and in fourth round seven points. First-place boat carries two points into semifinals, second-place boat one point, third-place boat zero; each boat vs. each other boat four times. Top two boats advance to best-of-11 challenger finals.
CHALLENGERS (Starting Saturday) For the Louis Vuitton Cup
THE FAVORITE
oneAustralia
* Boat name: oneAustralia.
* Skipper: John Bertrand.
* Helmsman: Rod Davis.
* Comment: A well-funded, tough-minded and talented team with a mission: to repeat 1983. Has already shown it will play the game to the limit, and against old boats ran away with the tune-up IACC World Championship in November.
THE CONTENDERS
Team New Zealand
* Boat name: NZL 32 or NZL II (also, Black Magic).
* Skipper/Helmsman: Russell Coutts.
* Comment: Self-destructed in ’92 crunch time. Internationally acclaimed sailor Peter Blake still heads Sir Michael Fay’s old team, and it remains to be seen how much he learned about keeping too tight a ship. Also first long-term test at this level for Coutts, the world’s top-ranked match racer.
TAG Heuer Challenge
* Boat name: Win New Zealand.
* Skipper/Helmsman: Chris Dickson.
* Comment: Dickson and designer Bruce Farr are arguably the best sailor and sailboat designer in the world, and they each twice have been within shouting distance of the Cup and fallen short. Teamed up in a lean but adequately funded effort, if Dickson’s luck holds out they may be due.
Le Defi Francais
* Boat name: France 2.
* Skipper/Helmsman: Marc Pajot.
* Comment: All of France will be watching. After reaching semifinals in ’87 and ‘92, this is Pajot’s third major effort in what has become a personal obsession. He could ease the do-it-all pressure on himself by switching roles with his faithful tactician, Bertrand Pace, who is a better match racer, but that isn’t likely.
THE LONGSHOTS
Sydney 95
* Boat name: Sydney 95.
* Skipper: Not designated.
* Helmsman: Probably Chris Law.
* Comment: Given a boat from oneAustralia’s mold, this is the best shot for the persistent but parsimonious 67-year-old Syd Fischer, if he can keep his team on an even keel through the campaign. That will be a challenge unless Law’s notorious volatility has mellowed, but Law does know match racing.
Nippon Challenge
* Boat name: Nippon.
* Skipper: Not designated.
* Helmsman: Probably John Cutler.
* Comment: The well-funded, high-tech Japanese decided they still weren’t ready to do it themselves, despite a good showing (first in round robins) in ’92. New Zealanders probably will continue to run the boat, with John Cutler at the helm. But they may miss Dickson’s hard-driving demeanor, and their confidence may have been shaken by oneAustralia’s rout of their first new boat in the IACC Worlds. Coach Peter Gilmour of Australia, an America’s Cup veteran, is petitioning to sail on boat.
Copa America Desafio Espana 95
* Boat name: Rioja de Espana.
* Helmsman/Skipper: Pedro Campos.
* Comment: As they promised in ‘92, the Spanish have returned, with strong support from the royal family. It remains to be seen if Campos and his crew have improved their match-racing skills over the past three years. But merely beating the French would make their day.
THE FORMAT
* Round robins: Four rounds (each boat vs. each other boat once). Victories in first round worth one point, in second round worth two points, in third round four points, in fourth round worth five points. No points carried into semifinals.