AMERICA’S CUP / RICH ROBERTS : Drama, Tears, Laughs Mark Opening Races

Among the flags of six nations flying in front of the America’s Cup challenger media center, the rising sun of Japan flew at half-staff.

In the nearby Nippon Challenge office, a Japanese television channel displayed the tragedy of Kobe. As the death toll climbed, syndicate members feared watching but could not turn away. Japanese newspapers with full front-page color photographs were strewn about the room.

But the Japanese raced, and the Japanese won on that Tuesday. Makoto Namba, the Nippon skipper, is from Kansai, near Kobe in the earthquake zone. He said later, “We are very worried about our mother country . . . but we have to see to our business.”

Crewman Junji Izuka lives in Kobe. His family home was destroyed, but his sister escaped harm and his parents were in Tokyo.

In another race Tuesday, Steve Cotton, a 27-year-old member of Chris Dickson’s TAG Heuer crew, lost the tip of his left pinky finger and the ring finger to the first knuckle.

Cotton’s hand was caught in a spinnaker sheet turning block--the pulley for the rope that controls the thousands of pounds of load on the huge parachute-like sail used downwind. The incident was captured for TV by an on-board camera. Cotton is seen reacting, then chasing his lost finger across the deck. Another crewman picks it up.

Dickson said later, “It’s something that happens on these boats, (with the) very big loads. There’s a lot of crew members walking around this world without fingertips or thumb tips.”

That’s how the first round-robin match races of the defender and challenger trials have gone: some drama, some tears, some laughs.

Murray Jones spent most of one race 100 feet up the mast of Team New Zealand’s boat Black Magic, sitting on the top spreader to look for puffs of wind on the horizon. Oddly, the Kiwis were reluctant to talk about it and tried to pass it off with jokes, as if they were trying to hide something. Black Magic appears to be the fastest boat so far.

Skipper Russell Coutts said, “Murray talks too much, so we sent him up there.”

TV showed him eating a sandwich.

Jones: “Well, there’s a lot of things I’m looking for up there. Sometimes I’m pointing toward where there’s a little puff.”

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America’s Cup firsts:

--PACT 95’s compound was dubbed “Oz” after the mini-tornado blew through, damaging the boat in its cradle. Dusty, the mermaid painted on the boat, was renamed Dorothy.

--A husband and wife sailed as rivals. The Nelson family became opponents when PACT 95 designer Bruce Nelson filled in for ailing strategist Kenny Read, pitting him against wife Annie Nelson, navigator on America 3. The race, won by PACT 95, was dubbed “The Ozzie and Harriett Show.”

--Dennis Conner gave up the steering wheel when he was aboard for a race. He wanted to give Paul Cayard some driving time before he left town for a sponsorship commitment that became a conflict with Saturday’s race when two days’ races were postponed. Cayard is the American who led Italy’s Il Moro di Venezia campaign to the final match in 1992.

“If he’s not the best sailor in the world, I don’t know who’s better,” Conner said.

Is Conner, 52, worried about his slow start? Not yet.

--And the America 3women’s team’s smash debut against Conner has been followed by a string of losses, which means what? Until next month, they’re the only crew sailing a ’92 boat, and tactical situations requiring snap decisions have found them a little lacking. Otherwise, their crew work hasn’t been perfect, but it hasn’t been the worst.

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The 17th man seems destined to become an issue soon.

With the new International America’s Cup Class boats in 1992, the crew limit was set at 16, with an allowance for a non-contributing passenger--presumably, a syndicate executive, VIP or sponsor who is less than a world-class sailor.

But Peter Gilmour, Nippon’s Australian crew coach, has been sailing as the 17th man since being denied crew status because he failed to meet the two-year residency requirement. Dave Dellenbaugh, America 3’s starting helmsman and tactician in ‘92, and coach Kimo Worthington have sailed aboard the women’s boat, and Steve Flam of Long Beach, Chris Law’s tactician in winning the 1994 Congressional Cup, has been with Law on Sydney 95.

Rivals--and the umpires--are watching closely to see if their lips are moving.

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If you think NFL officiating has been bad, the on-water umpires have been known to blow calls, too.

The worst was a penalty called on Conner that contributed to his opening loss to America 3. Video replays indicated that America 3had turned far enough to surrender its right of way when Conner’s Stars & Stripes made its threatening move.

Unfortunately, like the NFL, there’s no instant replay and no appeal.

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The public can watch the challengers’ races on big-screen, closed-circuit TV at the PACT 95 compound on Mission Bay.

The defenders’ races on an adjacent course aren’t on TV because there is no funding to do it, and complaints are building.

Conner was irate about it during a news conference, but event organizers are passing the buck among themselves. It would cost from $200,000 to $400,000, they say, and the foreign countries aren’t interested in seeing the defenders’ races, and not enough American viewers care about seeing any of the races until they go live on ESPN for the defender finals in April.