An Intrepid Approach

"You have to say she's kind of radical," confided Emil ("Bus") Mosbacher, as he watched the slim, white hull slide down the ways of City Island, N.Y. Along with 500 well-wishers, Mosbacher was on hand last week for the launching of Intrepid, the 12-meter yacht he will skipper against Australia in the America's Cup this fall. It took only half an eye to see that she was a far cry from the old Weatherly Bus sailed to victory against the Aussies' Gretel in 1962--or for that matter, from any other 12-meter ever put together.

Designed by Olin Stephens, the man responsible for three of the last four cup winners,* Intrepid is not a particularly graceful-looking boat. With a bobbed bow and a truncated stern, she is only 64 ft. long overall, 45 ft. at the waterline, compared with 68 ft. and 46 ft. for Columbia and Constellation. An obvious advantage is weight; Stephens figures that he saved more than 60 Ibs. on the shorter bow alone. What's more, says Stephens, without the usual heavy fore and aft overhang, the short-ended Intrepid will be less prone to lose speed by hobbyhorsing in rough seas around the Cup course off Newport, R.I. To keep the boat's center of gravity low and thus increase her stability in a breeze, Stephens prescribed lightweight titanium for the top third of Intrepid's 90-ft. mast, even went so far as to set the heavy sheet winches below decks rather than topside--which brought cracks that he ought to install sun lamps for the winch tenders.

Intrepid is most far-out way down under. Instead of a single rudder set on the keel, she has two--a main steering rudder set well aft on a long stabilizing skeg, plus a narrow "tab rudder" mounted on the unusually short keel. Controlled with its own wheel in the helmsman's cockpit, the tab will perform something like the trim tabs on aircraft ailerons, which balance planes for level, effortless flight. When beating to windward, the tab should offset the boat's natural tendency to round up into the wind. On reaches and spinnaker runs, the two rudders can be linked together for maximum steering control.

Rum Go. For all Stephens' daring with the new $350,000 boat, he admits that "I have my fingers crossed. We'll just have to see how it works." If it doesn't, the seven-member Intrepid syndicate has Constellation in reserve. Mosbacher has already been putting Constellation to use on weekend sail-handling drills, looking over a 27-man crew for the ten who will eventually make up his first team. Whatever boat Mosbacher sails, he expects a rum go from at least two other U.S. hopefuls: a rebuilt Columbia, which is being run by a West Coast syndicate, and American Eagle, which gave Constellation a pretty good battle in the 1964 trials.

Then there are the Australians. Mosbacher rated Gretel an "awfully good boat" when Jock Sturrock sailed her in 1962. Sturrock now has the new Dame Pattie, and that boat, as Mosbacher says, "has been beating Gretel to death" in trial races Down Under. Though Gretel's owner, Sir Frank Packer, has altered his boat for the third time, and won himself another series of trials, Sturrock & Co. will almost certainly be at Newport in September.

*Ranger in 1937, Columbia in 1958, Constellation in 1964.

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