For Country & for Mug

Monopolies tend to dull with age, and sporting monopolies are hardly sport at all. The Yankees, for all their skills, team" are with the now fans. New But York's there is "second one ancient monopoly that only grows more exciting with the years. That is the U.S. hold on the America's Cup -- symbol of international supremacy in yachting. By the end of this summer, a doughty group of British yachtsmen will have spent close to $600,000 in an attempt to remove the ungainly, Victorian cup from its accustomed place of honor in the New York Yacht Club.

And an equally determined and even more affluent collection of U.S. yachtsmen will have spent at least twice as much to keep the coveted trophy right where it is.

All told, foreign sailors have traveled across the oceans to compete 18 times since 1851, when the schooner America started it all by trouncing a fleet of the fastest boats Britain could muster. Every challenger has returned home emptyhanded. In 1958 Britain's Sceptre went down to a humiliating four straight defeats by the U.S.'s Columbia; two years ago, Australia's Gretel lost 4-1 to Weatherly and its master tactician Bus Mosbacher. Now it is Britain's turn again, and the Royal Thames Yacht Club means to make a sterner test of it. Off Newport, R.I., this summer, two new British twelves will fight it out for the right to challenge the U.S. in the best-of-seven series. They are Sovereign, owned by London Financier Anthony Boy den, 36, and Kurrewa V (pronounced Coo-roo-aa),* jointly financed by British and Australian money and skippered by British Yachtsman Owen Parker, 31.

Made-in-U.S. Look. Both boats were designed by Britain's David Boyd, whose first twelve was Sceptre. But Boyd thinks he has learned about blue-water sailing since then. Gone are Sceptre's tubby lines; the new boats have a swift, made-in-U.S. look with sharp, clean bows, narrow hulls and wide sterns. They could be twins except for the keels: Sovereign's is V-shaped and knife sharp, while Kurrewa's is heavier and rounded.

The two met for the first time three weeks ago off the Isle of Wight, and have been going at it in all weather ever since. So far there is little to choose between them. In eight races, Sovereign has won five times, Kurrewa three. Old Sceptre was there too--as a trial horse, and a mighty worrisome one at that. One day she beat Sovereign, and on another day showed her stern to Kurrewa, leading the Times of London to grumble: "We have heard a great deal about experimenting with different sails and techniques, but the awful suspicion grows that neither Sovereign nor her sister, Kurrewa, may be as good as people hoped." But the Royal Thames sailors put it all down to green crews and believe that the new boats will be far superior to Sceptre after the shakedown sessions are over.

Says Kenneth Poland, vice commodore of the Royal Thames: "We are already talking about where we will defend the Cup after we've won it."

Two Plus Three. That may take some doing. Weatherly is resting peacefully in a Connecticut boatyard, and Bus Mosbacher is busy in Manhattan minding his oil investment business. "I've had it," he says. "Never again--though I might buy a powerboat to watch the races." But the U.S. is hardly begging for Cup defenders. Last week a spanking new U.S. twelve went down the ways; a second new twelve was launched the week before, and three veteran boats were fitting out to compete for the honor of defending the "auld mug."

American Eagle, which hit the water at Stamford, Conn, last week, is Boatbuilder A. E. ("Bill") Luders' first Cup yacht and the most daring twelve ever designed. Other twelves have slightly crowned decks to add strength to the hull; Eagle's is pancake flat to give the crew better footing and to lower the center of gravity so the boat will stand up straighter in strong winds. Most modern twelves have a reverse-sloping transom--an ugly but useful device to save weight--but Luders achieves the same end by tapering deck and hull to a pointed stern.

To lessen drag, Eagle's new tab-shaped rudder is much smaller than usual and is tucked farther forward than in most twelves. And for a jib, she will carry a huge new cross-cut genoa that is supposed to hold its shape better than old jibs. Eagle's 36-man syndicate is headed by Pierre du Pont and New York Yacht Club Commodore H. Irving Pratt and includes the recently divorced Mrs. Briggs Cunningham who donated the same silver dollar to place under Eagle's mast that rode under Columbia's when Cunningham captained it in the 1958 defense. Eagle's skipper: William S. Cox, 51, an international champion in small boats, whose lack of extensive big-boat experience is offset by a crew full of Cup veterans.

Constellation, the other new twelve, comes from Olin Stephens, 56, who has already designed two of the world's fastest twelves, Vim and Columbia. She is, he says, "a lot like Columbia, with some tendency to fill out the bow more." But he does have a few new tricks: a scimitar-shaped rudder something like Eagle's and a radical new mast whose top third is made out of titanium, and can be bent back by guy wires without danger of snapping, to give the sails the best possible set. Under Constellation's mast is a spike from its Revolutionary War forebearer. Constellation's owners:

Manhattan Real Estate Man Walter S. Gubelmann, Commodore Harold Vanderbilt, Briggs Cunningham and 28 top-notch yachtsmen. Skipper: Eric Ridder, 45, who has raced to more than a dozen ocean victories as captain of Gubel-mann's famed yawl Windigo and has chosen a crew seasoned with Windigo sailors. They have already been training for six weeks on an old twelve rebuilt to match Constellation's deck layout.

Veterans & Families. Then there is Nefertiti, which narrowly lost out to Weatherly last time and has undergone extensive face lifting. "Among other things, we've made the keel finer to offer less resistance," says Skipper Ted Hood, 37. "She ought to be as effective in heavy air as she was in '62 and a good deal better in light air." Columbia, the 1958 victor, will be on hand with the first West Coast crew ever to take a crack at Cup competition. Cornelius Shields has sold her to California Yachtsman Thomas Patrick Dougan, and her new skipper will be Walter Podolak, 50, whose 10-meter yacht Coquille dominates racing in its class along the West Coast, has won 14 of its last 15 races. And finally Easterner, Boston Banker Chandler Hovey's "family boat," will be back for one last try at yachting's Holy Grail. "We have changed the rigging," says Skipper Charles Hovey, 55, the owner's son, "the spreader has been narrowed, and also we'll use new sails."

This week Eagle, Constellation and Columbia will tack out into Long Island Sound for the first shakedown cruises. Next week comes the initial "command performance" at the New York Yacht Club's spring regatta. All through the long summer the club's selection committee will hold preliminary trials leading up to the finals beginning Aug. 17. It is far too early for yachtsmen to talk about a favorite for the Cup defense off Newport on Sept. 15. But the odds favor the new boats. Only once in the past has an older boat won out. And that was Weatherly, with Bus Mosbacher doing the sailing.

* Maori word for fast swimming fish.

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