Cup defenders in dire straits

Press, 24 September 1983, Page 72

Cup defenders in dire straits

NZPA Newport, Rhode Island

The America’s Cup defenders were last night pondering probtems they have never had to deal with before.

How could they stop a yacht that not only refused to be beaten, but kept humiliating their yacht when it got up — the latest being yesterday when Australia II again came back from a losing start to roundly defeat Liberty by 3min 25s and draw the series level at 3-3.

And having overcome two losses while handicapped by gear failures, a lost protest, and the abyss of a 1-3 deficit, how could they prevent Australia II from winning the cup? How to deal with a challenging syndicate head who, having readied 3-3, calmly says: “The most exciting thing about today is that we get to race another day?”

The immediate answer from Liberty’s skipper, Dennis Conner, gave no solid reassurance to the Americans: “We’re hoping that well find a way to nail them, like we have for the last 132 years. “We have an awful lot of tradition going for us, we have a very courageons crew and somehow I think we’ll pull it off,” Conner said.

In practical terms, one of the methods being considered was the removal of

some of Liberty’s lead ballast to make up some of the 1.8 tonne difference believed to exist between it and Australia H. “We haven’t made a decision on that,” said Conner. “That’s one of the things we’ll consider in the next 24 hours.”

Liberty has the 24 hours because Australia II called a lay day, but the difference is that the challengers believe they hold the momentum.

On their lay day the boat will be checked for possible weak spots, and the crew will have the rest that the syndicate head, Alan Bond, says all athletes need. The placid skipper, John Bertrand, gave a clinical analysis of his crew’s position: “I think we’ve developed a lot of confidence in the way we’re sailing Australia 11, and we can improve. “I also believe that we’ve learned how to sail against Liberty. As a result I’m confident we can continue the success rate we’ve had over the last two days.” Mr Bond went further, saying that the crew would sail just as calmly for the cup as they had for any of the 51 other races they had won to get the chance. “This ‘grand final’ has been very much in the minds of all of them ever since they came to Newport,” he said. “We have a pretty mature group of guys and I feel that their dedication in coming this far

would not be set aside by the prospect of winning all this.

“And I think they’ve shown themselves to be fantastic athletes whatever the outcome.”

Factual support for Mr Bond’s assessment of the crew was thrust before the defenders in yesterday’s race.

With a defence win riding on its outcome — as it was yesterday — Australia Il’s crew again lost the starting advantage, and once more fought back into the race. Connor took Liberty across Australia H’s bow with what Bertrand acknowledged was superior timing, and tacked in front several times up the first leg. Then he let Bertrand out, and the Australians slipped into a heaven-sent windshift on the opposite side of the course.

When they crossed again, Conner was behind. As he said later, trying to tack back into a race from behind Australia II was not possible. Normally, if one yacht is ahead, it tries to stay in phase with a yacht close behind, turning fast to get over and maintain the cover, Conner explained.

“However Australia II is different from any other 12 metre. It has got this ability to tack very quickly. “They tacked, we tacked on them, and then they got in front. They were in the driver’s seat.”