Chalk Goes Up Against Cheese "Mismatched"

By J.D. Reed

A huge white ghost cut swiftly through the gentle seas off San Diego. It was the 132-ft.-long America's Cup challenger New Zealand, the largest boat to vie for the Auld Mug in five decades. A mile away, the smoke-blue catamaran Stars & Stripes, the first twin-hulled vessel to sail for the Cup, hauled closer to the wind and suddenly accelerated like an Indy speedster. The two craft -- as different, in the words of New Zealand's skipper, David Barnes, as "chalk and cheese" -- were practicing for this week's best-of-three-races face-off. And for a change, they were practicing on the water instead of in the headlines or the courts.

Indeed, this 27th contest for the 8.4-lb. bottomless silver jug culminates a 14-month war of words, wits and writs. Both on and off the water, the meeting is sure to go down as one of the oddest and most acrimonious in the Cup's 137- year history, one that may drastically alter the future course of the event. For one thing, most experts view the contest as a glaring mismatch. Yachting wisdom holds that catamarans are faster than monohulls under most conditions. No wonder both competitors, for very different reasons, appeared to agree on which was the likely winner. "Our chances are better than one in a hundred," said Auckland Banker Michael Fay, 39, who built and campaigns New Zealand, "but not much."

Strangely, too, both sides seemed to be looking ahead not so much to the contest as beyond it. The American defenders -- Skipper Dennis Conner; the San Diego Yacht Club, which holds the Cup; and Sail America, a private corporation that manages the event for the club -- were intent on eliminating what they saw as an irritating upstart challenge so that they could get back to planning a traditional Cup defense for 1991, a several-month-long multinational regatta that may be worth more than $1 billion to San Diego in tourist revenues. Fay, on the other hand, appeared to view this week's race merely as a curtain raiser for a court action that he will mount if he loses.

This state of affairs is the result of some gale-force legal tacking. After Conner won the Cup from Australia in Fremantle in February 1987, S.D.Y.C. did not make the customary announcement of a future regatta. Normally, such events are held at approximately four-year intervals. They are open to multiple challengers -- there were 13 in Fremantle -- who race for the right to face the defender. Through the years, the design has been limited by gentlemen's agreement to so-called 12-meter sloops -- a complicated equation involving length, girth and sail area that works out to boats measuring about 45 ft. at the waterline. As S.D.Y.C. and Sail America bickered over details, Fay, whose Cup entry narrowly lost to Conner at Fremantle, seized the initiative. He interpreted the simple, two-page 1857 Cup rules, known as the deed of gift, to say that he could challenge S.D.Y.C. to a one-on-one contest to be held within ten months, and he maintained that he was entitled to name his own weapon. He went to the max: New Zealand is the largest vessel allowed, 90 ft. at the waterline.

When Conner & Co. tried to ignore the challenge, Fay hauled the dispute to court -- another first for the Cup. The New York State Supreme Court, which is the trustee of the deed, backed Fay. Conner then announced that he would defend in a catamaran. After all, Conner argued, Fay had come on like a corporate raider. "This is no different from an unfriendly takeover," Conner said. "We took our poison pill in the form of a catamaran." Fay went back to court to protest that Conner should compete in a boat similar to New Zealand, but Justice Carmen Ciparick told him to belay the wind. Race first, she instructed, then protest if you want to.

Since arriving in San Diego some three months ago with his crew of 40 and dockside help numbering an additional 24, Fay has mounted a campaign worthy of P.T. Barnum to publicize the alleged inequity of the boats. He commissioned an $11,300 Gallup poll, which found that 53% of Americans feel it is not fair for sailboats of radically different designs to race against one other. "Polls can get any answer you want," shrugged Conner. Last month the Kiwis rented a 35-ft. catamaran called Invictus to test against New Zealand. The Kiwis reported that the cat "blitzed" their big boat. But last week New Zealand's Barnes admitted that the Kiwi boat had in fact beaten Invictus in the trial's more moderate winds. Conner went even further. Said he: "Invictus is a dog."

What really are New Zealand's chances this week? The big boat was expected to have some advantage in Races 1 and 3, which are sailed directly into and with the wind on 40-mile courses. With its 20,000-sq.-ft. total sail area to catch a following breeze, the Kiwi craft is figured as the fastest monohull in the world, capable of speeds approaching 20 knots. On the triangular second course, however, the lightweight, even speedier cat (top speed: above 20 knots) should be able to outsail New Zealand across the wind. New Zealand can tack more tightly and quickly than Stars & Stripes, an advantage in sudden wind shifts and puffs of breeze. But as Kiwi Skipper Barnes noted, "If it's a straight race, it'll be a horizon job" -- meaning that the cat will be so far out in front, it will disappear over the horizon.

Whichever boat wins, yachting enthusiasts are agog about the futuristic designs of both. For instance, they each have hulls of strong, ultralight carbon fiber. New Zealand employs unique onboard computers. One system uses TV cameras mounted atop the 150-ft. mast to "read" the positions of the sails and then compares them with ideal models for the given wind, speed and direction. That allows the sail trimmers to fine-tune for speed. Stars & Stripes sports a radically new, 108-ft.-tall wing sail, a vertical version of an airplane wing that is larger than the one on a Boeing 747. The design uses wind to create "lift," which in this case produces horizontal thrust.

Last week both sides worked feverishly to guard against breakdowns. The Kiwis spent most of their waking hours "bulletproofing" New Zealand -- double-checking every screw and shroud for reliability. The process, said Fay, is "one of the things that might win this race for us." Conner, meanwhile, worried about the wind stress that Stars & Stripes' design imposes on its gear, which could break or become fouled. Also, catamarans are notorious for tipping over easily.

What will happen after the races? If New Zealand wins, the Cup will go to the Mercury Bay Boating Club near Auckland, where Fay insists he will seriously consider every challenger and race every ten months if necessary. If Stars & Stripes prevails, Fay will most likely go back to court, charging that the catamaran was illegal under the deed. If Justice Ciparick agrees, Conner will be disqualified. If not, San Diego will play host to a saltwater hoedown in '91. In any event, one thing remains clear: this is no Cup of kindness.

With reporting by James Willwerth/San Diego