Sun, Surf and Software

By SOPHFRONIA SCOTT GREGORY

THE SCENE LOOKS AS TIMELESS as one from the Odyssey: billowing sails, hulls slicing through salt spray, sunburned crewmen pulling at ropes and squinting into wind. But if the image is classic, the men competing in the America's Cup final this week know victory will owe more to expensive high-tech wizardry than to the art of ancient mariners. "National technology is at the heart of the competition," says John Marshall, boatbuilder and head of the Partnership for America's Cup Technology. "It's been a technology contest since 1851." That year a newly designed schooner called America launched the quadrennial challenge by trouncing an entire fleet of 16 British racing yachts in a course around the Isle of Wight.

But when the International America's Cup Class Technical Committee approved a completely new set of specifications for contending vessels in 1989, technology became more important than ever as teams scrambled to build a qualifying boat that would respect the rules and still win races. New technology doesn't come cheap. The two boats competing in the finals -- America 3 from the U.S. and Il Moro di Venezia from Italy -- have together devoured $160 million in development costs. The millionaires funding these efforts, American energy entrepreneur William Koch and Italian businessman Raul Gardini, are hoping their largesse will pay off in the best-of-seven finals that began last weekend.

Under the new guidelines, boats must be 30% lighter and have 40% more sail ) area and hulls 20% longer than the former 12-m (13.1-yd.) boats. The boats may mix sail size, hull size and weight in any way they choose so long as, according to a complicated mathematical formula, the numbers add up to 42,000 m (45,900 yds.). From an infinite number of combinations, the boat designers try to find the best mix -- with the help of computers, water tanks and wind tunnels. Their efforts focus on three key areas:

SAILS

Special computer programs can identify stress points in the sail. "We can actually fly a sail in the computer in a scenario comparable to the winds off San Diego," says Tom Whidden, a longtime Stars & Stripes crew member who runs North Sail, one of the world's largest sailmaking firms. Space-age materials developed in the 1980s have replaced canvas because they are much lighter and allow the sail to stretch less with the wind. The latest sails include laminated polymers and woven fibers that offer greater strength and can maintain sail shape better in all directions, making the sail more able to adjust to wind changes. America 3's technical director, Heiner Meldner, a physicist who once designed nuclear weapons, says his sails are a composite of fibers, including carbon and liquid-crystal polymers. The Italians use a woven carbon-and-Kevlar fiber glued to a Mylar backing.

HULLS

Much of the research on hull design is done with model boats in water tanks. Computers can monitor the various ways in which the boat interacts with the water and help designers build prototypes based on the results. The Italians ran scores of tests in a 400-m (437-yd.) tank to fashion the Venezia's hull. America 3's designers did their research at the Massachusetts Institute of Technology and Stanford University to come up with a longer, narrow-bowed hull, meant to slice through the choppy seas expected at San Diego.

APPENDAGES

Keels, fins and rudders require more complicated tests. With the help of companies such as Boeing and Digital, designers perform wind-tunnel experiments using special computer codes that help show lift and drag forces on the keel. Shapes of keels now vary widely, from the basic lead-filled bulb at the end of a fin to the hydrodynamic "winged" keel, a Y-shaped structure that has less underwater drag and more lift. The latest design: a tandem keel that combines the rudder and keel fin and eliminates the need for a separate rudder. Developed in shipyards with great secrecy, new keels are covered by underwater shields and guarded from the incursions of enemy frogmen.

Once all these features come together in the form of a full-size boat, the designer's job is just beginning. Prototypes are built, tested, stripped down and used to build better prototypes. Even the finished model is never left alone. Both the Venezia and the America 3 were overhauled yet again before the finals began. The U.S. boat's keel, fin and rudder were removed and adjusted for the calmer weather that has been prevailing around San Diego. "We recognized that we were a bit susceptible in those conditions," says Phil Kaiko, one of the boat's designers. "We've decided to slant ourselves in that direction."

Even after the boats are rebuilt and on the water, technology remains the key to victory. Once the race is under way, the sailors will use global position systems to help track their course, and sensors to measure velocity. Onboard computers will supply a steady stream of data on boat performance, wind and sea conditions and other information to aid the crew in trimming, tacking and changing sail directions.

Some saltwater romantics complain that all the emphasis on technology has diminished the role of good old-fashioned seamanship. To which America 3's skipper Koch replies, "Sailing skill is fine, but you can't do something with a boat that won't do it." In the world of America's Cup racing, it seems, you get what you pay for.

With reporting by James Willwerth/San Diego