After more than two years of research, development and crew training, 10 sailing teams are making final preparations for the start of the America's Cup trials this week in the Pacific Ocean off San Diego -- fine-tuning rigs, fairing hull surfaces and pumping themselves up for a winter and spring of what promises to be hard-knuckle competition.
On Thursday, the Citizen's Cup Defender Selection Series will open for the three U.S. teams, with Team Dennis Conner matched against America3, the first all-woman crew to sail in the 144-year history of the event.
The Louis Vuitton Cup Challenger Selection Series will begin Saturday, with seven teams from five foreign nations competing.
After two years of preparation, one might expect that the teams know where they stand -- and probably they do.
"But no one out here is going to come out and say they are the fastest," said Jim Brady, a former Annapolis sailor who now is the navigator aboard Conner's Stars and Stripes. "You let your performance on the race course do the talking for you."
America3 will sail the first round of the trials in a boat built for the 1992 America's Cup. The group's new boat is scheduled for delivery in February.
PACT '95's Young America, delivered to the team only a few weeks ago, was damaged during a freak windstorm Wednesday and might not be ready for its first race of the trials on Friday.
And Team Dennis Conner, with a new boat in the water since mid-November, has mostly declined to sail in close quarters with other defense or challenger teams.
"The boat is ready. The crews are ready," said Dawn Riley, one of five skippers who will rotate for America3 through at least the first round. "But the situation is that no one knows how they really will do until the first gun."
But each team has had a yardstick of some sort by which to measure their improvement. In the case of Team Dennis Conner, Brady said, the potential of the new Stars and Stripes first was measured against the boat that was sailed in the 1992 trials.
"We know where the old boat was in relation to the better boats in 1992, and in relation to the newer boats that were in the world championships here last fall -- most notably oneAustralia," Brady said. "Now we can sail the new boat against the old one and see where we line up that way."
Kevin Mahaney, skipper for PACT '95, said the setup of the first round of the trials will be beneficial to his group, especially since the syndicate will be forced to scramble to get Young America ready to race.
"There is no lack of confidence here," Mahaney said the morning after Young America had been damaged by the windstorm. "We are young and new to the America's Cup, but we didn't come here to compete. We came here with one purpose: to win."
America3 and PACT '95 will enter the first round with only a slight disadvantage because victories in this six-race series are worth only one point. In succeeding rounds, victories will be worth two, four and seven points, and then all three boats will enter the semifinals, with points scored earlier determining seedings.
The defender finals are scheduled to start April 10 and the America's Cup series will begin May 6.
"In this first round, I don't think that anyone is going to be extremely upset if they don't do well," Brady said. "This first series simply isn't the end-all to having a fast or slow boat."
But it is, skippers agree, a time to improve boat handling, hone tactics and judge the mettle of the competition.
"No one wants to go out and wreck their newest boat before the fun really gets going," Brady said. "The first round is more a warm-up to find where everyone stands."
Among the challengers, a lot of attention is being given to John Bertrand and oneAustralia, the boat that easily won the International America's Cup Class world championships last fall.
Bertrand is the skipper who sailed the boat that won the match that started to turn the America's Cup upside down.
A dozen years ago, Bertrand waltzed into Newport, R.I., with a boat named Australia II and danced away Down Under several months later with the Cup, a prized possession of U.S. yacht racers since 1851.
In the years since 1983, the America's Cup has changed -- some of the changes brought on by guile and legal force, others based as much on common sense as common consent.
Bertrand and the late designer Ben Lexcen started the revolution with Australia II, the 12-meter class, winged-keel wonder that beat the New York Yacht Club and skipper Conner.
Four years later in Fremantle, Australia, Conner and his Stars and Stripes regained the Cup, blowing away a record field of 13 challengers, trouncing the Australian defender and giving the San Diego Yacht Club control of the Cup.
In 1988, New Zealand made a rogue challenge in a 132-foot monohull and, after a lengthy court battle, Conner successfully defended in a 65-foot catamaran.
Now, the 12-meter class -- the mainstay of Cup competition from the 1950s through 1987 -- is gone and the monster monohull and catamaran have been excluded.
The International America's Cup Class has taken their place. The IACC boats are 75-footers that carry 16-person crews, handle like planing dinghies and accelerate like powerboats.
And Bertrand is back with oneAustralia, which Mahaney said had "blazing speed" during the worlds.
But during the world championships, Bertrand was up against mostly first-generation, 1992 IACC boats. When the challenger trials begin, the top boats will be second-generation designs, and two of them belong to top-flight New Zealand syndicates that did not compete in the championships -- Team New Zealand with skipper Russell Coutts and the IAG Heuer Challenge skippered by Chris Dickson and designed by Bruce Farr of Annapolis.
Both New Zealand teams are expected to give Bertrand a run for his money.
In the last America's Cup in 1992, the first in which the IACC racers were used, Kansas oilman Bill Koch paid most of at least $65 million to win the right to defend against Italy's $60 million-plus challenge in Il Moro II, and he defended convincingly.
But afterward, even though he held the technological edge in IACC design, Koch was instrumental in getting cup organizers to bring down the costs of competition.
The challenge of the America's Cup, Koch said at the time, was meant to be met by sailors, designers and slippery boats rather than by the slickest fund-raisers and the largest personal fortune.
Whereas Koch had five boats constructed for his 1992 campaign, syndicates campaigning in San Diego this winter and spring will be allowed to build no more than two IACC boats.
Where Koch's America3 and Il Moro II syndicates spent almost enough to buy half of a top-flight NFL team in 1992, Team Dennis Conner has budgeted a mere $15 million to run its current campaign -- and there are syndicates that will spend only two-thirds of that amount.
The race course has been changed to eliminate legs across the wind and to emphasize upwind and downwind performance. The course change eliminates the need for reaching sails, and sail inventories have been limited to 15 in the first round robin. In each subsequent round, the rules permit five new sails to be added.
Perhaps most importantly, both the defenders and challengers are free to wait until April 9 to name the boat that will race in the America's Cup. In past competitions, the challengers had to declare their boat of choice before the start of the trials and stick with it.
DEFENDERS
America3
Club: San Diego Yacht Club
Boat name: America 3
Designer: Dr. Jerry Milgram, design director
Skippers: J.J. Isler, Dawn Riley, Courtenay Becker-Dey, Leslie Egnot Annie Nelson.
Outlook: Bill Koch, a Kansas oilman with big-boat racing experience, was scoffed at when he put together a last-minute defense syndicate before the 1992 America's Cup. But over a relatively short period of time, Koch put together a winning combination and beat Il Moro II of Italy. This time around, Koch is supporting an all-woman defense team, the first in Cup history. A new boat in on the way and is expected to be delivered to San Diego next month. In the first round robin the team will sail America3 (nee Kanza), the fastest boat Koch had built for the last Cup series. Hallmark of the syndicate is teamwork, and five women will alternate as skippers. Isler, Riley, Becker-Dey, Egnot and Nelson have extensive racing experience, but the new boat might have to be up and running fast and efficiently if alterations to Kanza haven't brought the old boat up on par with the new generation of International America's Cup Class yachts. Koch has proved that he can get it done, and the women's team has a chance to make history.
PACT '95
Club: San Diego Yacht Club
Boat name: Young America
Designer: Bruce Nelson and PACT '95 Design Team
Skipper: Kevin Mahaney
Outlook: The new kids on the block, PACT '95 is called the Crayons by the America3 team, 'because they are all so young and squeaky clean,' according to a PACT '95 spokesperson. However, PACT '95's afterguard of Mahaney, John Kostecki and Ken Read have won more than 40 sailing championships. And while the afterguard may be short on America's Cup experience, the syndicate leadership -- especially John Marshall -- has tons of Cup experience. Marshall, in fact, was a key player in Dennis Conner's winning the Cup from Australia in 1987. Plans call for only one new boat, Young America, which was christened in San Diego yesterday (Saturday), but the group's training boat has been Il Moro II (renamed Spirit of Unum), which challenged Koch in the 1992 Cup series. Young America has been sailing for only 3 weeks, but organizers said that it is performing close to expectations and has done very well in informal match racing against the French team.
Team Dennis Conner
Club: San Diego Yacht Club
Boat name: Stars and Stripes
Designer: Team Dennis Conner Design Team
Skipper: Dennis Conner
Outlook: The new Stars and Stripes was christened in November, giving TDC almost two months more on-the-water training than Pact '95, and Conner, after 20 years of America's Cup Racing, probably has made good use of the time. Sailing again with Conner is tactician Tom Whidden, who has been a crucial component in Conner's Cup victories. Paul Cayard, who skippered Il Moro II against Koch in 1992, has been added as tactical strategist along with Olympic medalist Jim Brady, so the afterguard is strong. How far has TDC progressed? Typically, Conner isn't saying. 'Dennis likes to keep his cards close to the vest at times like these,' a TDC spokesperson said. 'He likes to lay low and work over the boat without a lot of people watching or distracting him.' After losing the America's Cup match to Australia II in 1983, Conner trained in Hawaii rather than with most of the other challengers in Fremantle, Australia, and then came in shortly before the trials began and blew away the challenge field and the Australian defender to regain the Cup. It wouldn't be surpising to see Conner rise from the ashes of 1992 and blow away Pact '95 and America3.
oneAustralia
Club: Southern Cross Yacht Club, Melbourne
Boat name: oneAustralia
Designer: Fluid Thinking
Skipper: John Bertrand/Rod Davis
Outlook: Won the International America's Cup Class World Championships last fall with a second generation boat and speed that was easily better than the competition, which included mostly first generation racers. However, the top
challengers all now have racers that were built and designed for this elimination series. oneAustralia, however, has a second new boat which is due in San Diego Jan. 8 and which could be entered in the second round-robin series next month. Bertrand is the skipper who sailed Australia II in 1983, the only Cup match the United States has lost since 1851. This time around it appears that Bertrand again has good boat speed along with the assistance of Rod Davis, who led a fruitless California campaign to win the Cup in Australia in 1987. The early guess is that one Australia will be one of the two top seeds for the semifinals, which begin in March.
Sydney '95
Club: Australian Yacht Club, New South Wales
Boat name: Sydney '95
Designer: Fluid Thinking
Skipper: Syd Fischer
Outlook: In 1987, Fischer put together the Steak and Kidney defense syndicate while Australia held the America's Cup. It fared poorly, being under funded and perhaps under-skilled. Possibly the 4th semifinalist. Fischer is back with a boat created by the same design team that came up with the racers of the other Australian challegne group, oneAustralia. If Sydney '95 shows some of the speed that oneAustralia did in the IACC worlds last fall, Fischer's group might have a chance of making the semifinals.
FRANCE
Club: Yacht Club de Sete, Mole Saint-Louis
Boat name: France 2-3
Designer: Phillipe Briand
Skipper: Marc Pajot
Outlook: Recently, the syndicate's first 1995 boat was dropped from a travel lift falling 10 feet and cracking its keel and hull and damaging its rudder. Not to worry. Designer Briand said the damage could be repaired in time for the opening of the challenger eliminations on Jan. 14. Besides the French have a second new boat that will be christened in San Diego Jan. 12 and used in the second round robin next month. Briand is a good designer and Pajot is a capable skipper. If the French team can sail hard and fast it might knock Japan out of the semifinals.
Nippon Challenge
Club: Nippon Yacht Club, Tokyo
Boat name: Nippon
Designer: Nippon Challenge Design Team
Skipper: undecided
Outlook: Australian Peter Gilmour is the team's sailing coach, but a skipper for the first round-robin series has not been chosen. Organizers say that skippers might be rotated along with other members of the 27-member saiing team, which includes four afterguards. In the International America's Cup Class World Championships last fall, Nippon entered two boats and finished 3rd (1995 boat) and 6th (1992 boat), behind oneAustralia(cq) and America3. A second new boat is still under construction but can be entered in the round-robin trials when it is completed. Possibly the 4th semifinalist.
Team New Zealand
Club: Royal New Zealand Yacht Squadron, Auckland
Boat name: Team New Zealand
Designers: Laurie Davidson, Doug Peterson, David Alan-Williams
Skipper: Russell Coutts
Outlook: Coutts has been the group's skipper since Day 1 and along with the crew has been continuously involved in the research and development of the syndicate's two new racing yachts NZL 32 and NZL 38. Passed up the worlds last fall in favor of training in Auckland against their 1992 IACC yacht NZL 20. Organizers say they have designed, built and trained as a team and expect to win as one as well. Coutts is a top-notch match-racer, and syndicate members say the two new boats sailing against each other has created a leap frog effect on boat speed and crew work. Perhaps one of the semifinalists.
IAG Heuer Challenge
Club: Tutukaka South Pacific Yacht Club, Whangarei
Boat name: undecided
Designer: Bruce Farr
Skipper: Chris Dickson
Outlook: Although a one-boat challenge and the last group to start sailing its new boat in San Diego, this group should be strong. Farr and his Annapolis design firm have been producing top-flight yachts for all levels of racing, from club series to the Whitbread Round the World Race. Dickson is a superb match-racer with years of world-class experience. The first round robin of the challenger elimination series might serve as a tune-up for their new boat which has sailing in San Diego for two weeks and will not be christened until Jan. 11. Given Farr's expertise and Dickson's sailing skills and experience probably the first or second seed in the semifinals.
Spanish America's Cup Challenge '95
Club: Monte Real Club de Yates de Bayona
Boat name: Rioja de Espana
Designers: SACC technical group
Skipper: Pedro Campos
Outlook: A one-boat campaign hoping to build further on limited success in the 1992 challenger trials. Most of the group's training was on the Mediterranean against the 1992 boat. Organizers said that their first goal is to make the semifinals, but unless there is significant progress from the 1992 effort, reaching the semifinals probably is unlikely.