"Dirty and Short" Down Under

By Philip Elmer-DeWitt.

It was bad enough for New York Yacht Club members when they lost the America's Cup in 1983 on Rhode Island Sound. The longest winning streak in sport history--132 years--was ended, and with Australia II's secret keel, the victors from down under had audaciously out-teched the Yanks. But what really steamed some of the bluer-blooded Newport yachting crowd was when the winning skipper, John Bertrand, taunted during the races that the next Cup competition would be sailed out of the mostly working-class port of Fremantle in the sun- drenched Indian Ocean. "It's absolutely glorious," he told anybody who cared to listen. "It is probably the most perfect 12-meter sailing ground in the world."

Right, mate.

Having traveled halfway around the globe to race on Bertrand's home turf, the better part of the world sailing establishment is now prepared to dispute his claim. For seven days ending last week, 14 brightly colored 12-meter yachts, representing eleven America's Cup syndicates from six countries, plowed the boisterous waters off Western Australia in a pre-Cup sparring match called the 12-Meter World Championship. When the last sails were furled, the visitors had taken a belting, both from the sea and from the home team. A 20- knot wind, known locally as the Fremantle Doctor, frequently frosted the 6- ft. ocean swells with a 3-ft. chop described by one Australian sailor as "dirty and short." In all the rough slogging, the assembled regatta lost four 90-ft. masts, a dozen booms and hundreds of square yards of Kevlar sailcloth. In the turmoil, five crewmen were washed overboard and had to be saved. Gary Jobson, of the Chicago-based Heart of America syndicate, declared the roiled-up waters off Fremantle "unsuitable for racing."

The seas did not seem to bother the Cup's defenders, however. When the breezes were lightest, in the fourth race, the winning boat was Australia II, the winged-keel victor at Newport. When the Doctor was in, the honors went to Australia III, a boat specifically designed for Fremantle's heavy weather by Ben Lexcen (who also designed Australia II). Skippered by Colin Beashel, Australia III finished ahead of the pack in three of the first six races, building such a lead that the championship was won even before it was over. For the seventh and final race, the Australian tacticians were content to assess their competitors from the comfort of dry dock.

The biggest surprise came from New Zealand, which entered two innovative boats built not of wood or aluminum like traditional twelves but of fiber glass, prompting an instant nickname: plastic fantastics. One of the pair, the New Zealand II, performed remarkably, coming almost directly from the boat shed to finish second in the series. An entry sponsored by the French photo processing company Kis also broke new ground of a sort, winning special permission from rule-makers to hoist a spinnaker emblazoned with its lead entry's racy name: French Kiss. She came in fifth.

The best the Americans could do was a third, turned in by America II, the New York Yacht Club contender. This year every twelve sports some variation of Lexcen's winged keel; America II boasts not one but seven sets of wings that can be snapped on and off at will. Not that anyone outside the heavily guarded American camp has seen them. The America II crew members made themselves widely unpopular in Fremantle by jostling docksiders and forming a human barricade when cameramen ventured too close. Said an N.Y.Y.C. spokeswoman: "Underbodies are private parts."

Even more secretive was the Sail America syndicate of Dennis Conner, the skipper who lost the Cup in 1983. Trying to raise a reported $18 million to win it back next February, he decided not to show up in Fremantle at all, sending instead a pair of camera-equipped spies. Meanwhile, two of his three new boats, designed by NASA and Boeing engineers, were sailing in strict security off Hawaii. Confident about his crew, Conner crows, "If we have as good a boat as the opposition going in, we'll win it. If we have a better boat, it will be boring." Back in Western Australia they pay no mind to such talk. In these summer months, in fact, they look forward to the Fremantle Doctor when it comes in every afternoon--cutting through the hot air.

With reporting by John Dunn/Perth