Abject Failure Of Challenge For The Americas Cup

Press, Volume CIII, Issue 30553, 23 September 1964, Page 15

Abject Failure Of Challenge For The Americas Cup

'THE 1964 America’s Cup challenge will go down in the record books as another fiasco. This was an incompetent and unworthy challenge for the consistently skilful defenders to face. How the British could spend so much time and money and yet get absolutely nowhere was something to astound the average New Zealand yachtsman. The writing was on the wall some months ago. When Sovereign was tuning up against a rejuvenated Sceptre before the launching of Kurrewa as a trial horse, and Sceptre won a few races, it was the time to wonder. After all, Sceptre had been beaten by some colossal margins in her challenge and surely if the new challenger could not beat what amounted to a distinct failure, what would be its own chances? But the British pressed on regardless. They did not build just one craft to the designs, of the naval architect who was responsible for the previous failure; they built two. . Once again, this Boyd design was a failure. In comparing vital statistics of the defender Constellation with the challenger Sovereign, one noticeable point stands out. Sovereign displaces some 40001 b (about If tons) more than Constellation but has only 42 square feet more sail area as compensation. In simpler words, the boat waT'too big and heavy. Then there were the crew problems. Peter Scott, the skipper, is well-known and was an excellent yachtsman,

but for a challenge of this sort, would have been out of touch of first-class racing too long to be able to regain all the knowledge required in a few short months. The article by the former international Rugby player, David Marques, about how to become a crack yachtsman in three months, by means of physical fitness only, gave many a senior Canterbury yachtsman mild hysterics. A man trained to perform a specified task on a big yacht, might be capable of successfully doing this, but he could never hope to absorb the technical and scientific background that is required of a world-class crew. Reports indicate that the rigging and tuning of Sovereign left much to be desired. Perhaps the sails .were not as bad as the reports stated, after all, there were some large and reputable English sailmakers involved in this venture. The mast, on the other hand, seems not to have been the subject of much thought or time. A recent report from Newport stated that the English mast was a thick telegraph pole, untapered, and that the rigging was tatty. The defender, ' Constellation, was designed by Stephens, who has designed many successful defenders. With immaculate sails, gear and fittings, this craft was brilliantly sailed by two of the best skippers in Bob Bavier and Eric Ridder. To wrest the America’s Cups from the defenders, a challenging nation needs to be equipped, not with a craft as good as Constellation, but one that is better. That is all that is needed.