AMERICA’S CUP : Losing Getting Very Old Fast for Young America

What ails Dorothy?

The aloof and sensuous mermaid from Maine that decorates the hull of PACT 95’s boat Young America had her upturned chin in front in 21 of 28 races through the four round-robins and semifinals of the defender trials for the America’s Cup.

While Dennis Conner’s Stars & Stripes and Bill Koch’s America 3struggled below .500, Dorothy--named for the tornado that damaged the boat in its compound in January--looked like the San Diego Yacht Club’s only hope to keep the Cup from going Down Under for the second time in two decades.

But she has suddenly lost her way. In the first two days of the defender finals, she couldn’t beat either of her rivals, losing to Mighty Mary by 48 seconds and Stars & Stripes by 1:15.

Boat speed was not Young America’s biggest problem in the loss to Mighty Mary on Monday. Brain fade and breakdowns did in the boys from Bangor.

For three months, with tactician John Kostecki, an Olympic silver medalist and multi-world champion, calling the shots for skipper Kevin Mahaney, they set the standard for classic, tactical, conservative match racing.

But against Mighty Mary, they got careless. Or cocky.

With a two-boat length lead and starboard tack right-of-way the first time they converged, instead of tacking on Mighty Mary’s wind, Young America kept going left and let the women and tactician Dave Dellenbaugh go off alone to the right.

By the next time they met, the women, with a favorable wind shift, had taken the lead to stay.

“We made a mistake,” Mahaney said. “We should have covered.”

Young America might have recovered but subsequently suffered a torn-out headsail attachment, a broken spinnaker pole fitting and a temporary steering system failure.

It was different against Conner. In the light wind and smooth seas it prefers, Stars & Stripes was simply faster.

Mahaney said, “With the sails we had up today, we didn’t have the fastest boat out there.”

He added, “We thought the wind was going to go left and full. Instead, it went right and got lighter.”

Conner went right, where he thought the wind was shifting, and took charge.

One problem PACT 95 has is that it is based in Mission Bay. Often the surf rolling into the channel is so heavy that the boats can’t get out to the ocean. One day, Young America fell off a 12-foot wave while under tow and suffered severe damage, costing important practice and testing time.

Stars & Stripes, Mighty Mary and Team New Zealand are all in San Diego Bay.

Also, unlike its rivals, Young America has no backup boat to practice close-quarter maneuvers against.

The team didn’t make major changes to the boat between rounds but was breaking in a new mast that possibly isn’t set up quite right.

So Young America sailed alone Wednesday, in what little wind there was before the scheduled races were abandoned, and will test again today when Stars & Stripes and Mighty Mary try to resail.

Right now, thanks to the two bonus wins they got for agreeing to the three-way finals, the Downeasters are still in control of their destiny. By Friday, when they are scheduled to race Mighty Mary, they hope to have their problems sorted out.