Gretel to the Challenge

As sailboat races go, it was an unmitigated disaster. By the time the two 12-meters rounded the second of six marks in the waters off Newport, Australia's Gretel II was already 5 min. 28 sec. ahead of France, skippered by Baron Marcel Bich. At the fourth mark, the margin was 24 min. 15 sec.--and then the baron had gotten lost in the fog. The race was finally called 43 minutes after Gretel II crossed the finish line. That made it four out of four for the Aussies, who now have the honor of mounting the 21st challenge to the U.S. in the 119-year history of the America's Cup. But if France's Baron Bich was defeated, he was certainly unbowed. He announced: "I will be back in 1973."

No one who knows the baron doubts him for an instant. That he was in Newport at all is testimony enough to his determination--and wealth. Until 1962, the ballpoint-pen magnate had never even heard of the America's Cup. His sailing experience scarcely went beyond weekend cruising. But then he saw a Paris Match story on the 1962 races, was smitten by the majesty of it all, and decided to challenge for France. To learn about 12-meter design, he bought both contenders in the 1964 competition: Britain's Sovereign and the U.S.'s Constellation, Designer Olin Stephens' runaway winner. Next, Bich tried to buy Stephens' Intrepid, which crushed an Australian challenge in 1967. When he was rebuffed, Bich asked a brilliant young American, Britton Chance Jr., to design Chancegger, embodying the latest ideas in 12-meters. When the baron was ready to build his own France, he had taken notes on four boats and two of the best U.S. designers. Even then, there were almost insurmountable barriers. The America's Cup rules specify that most items in a boat's equipage must be produced in the challenging country. Thus the extruded titanium masts and polyester sails that are standard on U.S. boats were ruled out because France does not produce such things. As for the mammoth "coffee grinder" winches vital for racing twelves, no one had seen anything like them in France. Bich had to design and handcraft his from scratch.

Everything but Experience. By the time Bich arrived in Newport last June, he had spent upwards of $2,000,000. The only thing lacking was what money could not buy--experience. That was something the Australians had in abundance. Sir Frank Packer and Designer Alan Payne had been the 1962 challengers and, though they lost, Gretel I did win a race from the Americans. This time they were on hand with an obviously much improved Gretel II and a crew of towering hearties headed by Veteran Blue-water Skipper James Hardy, 37.

Nevertheless, at the start of the best four-out-of-seven series, it seemed as if France might give Gretel II a real run for her money. In the first two races in light, fluky airs, France stood right up to the Australian boat and at times even pointed higher into the wind. Bich's crews were sharp and in both cases challenged closely until the final stages, when the Australians went on to win. But then in the third race, Gretel II's superiority--and that of her crew--became more marked. The Aussies won in a walk, and to all intents and purposes that was it. No one in Newport was really surprised when Bich elected to take the helm himself and go down with his ship in the fourth race.

Tiny Plastic Plugs. For the jubilant Australians, the next two weeks will be spent honing Gretel II for her go at the cup. She seems a fast boat--and quite a radical one. With her broad stern and rounded lines, she is the only twelve in Newport Harbor that really looks different. Designer Payne has incorporated a host of other innovations, including twin wheels for the helmsman, pumps that are run by the winches and "vortex generators"--2,500 tiny plastic plugs in the mast that are supposed to cut down wind turbulence.

But if radical design paid off for the Australians, it may prove the undoing of the U.S. boat that was once thought most likely to be chosen for the defense. In Valiant, Olin Stephens tried to take a major design step beyond any previous 12-meter (TIME, Aug. 3). In the trials thus far, however, the boat has seemed inferior to the three-year-old Intrepid, redesigned by Britton Chance. In the July and August trials at Newport, the two yachts have raced ten times. Intrepid has won all but two of the races.

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