Pressure on N.Z. yachtsmen

Press, 14 October 1986, Page 1

Pressure on N.Z. yachtsmen

By

CHRIS PETERS,

NZPA staff correspondent Fremantle

The psychological pressure is being cranked up on the New Zealanders, new boys at the America’s Cup. First, it was the protest by Dennis Conner’s syndicate against the New Zealand boat, then on Saturday came the claim that an unnamed United States syndicate had got hold of a piece of the deck of KZ7 and was saying it contained a black substance that appeared to be banned carbon fibre.

A fortnight ago, before the first challenger eliminaition round began, there were whispers that some of the rival syndicates were out to “get” New Zealand.

The suggestion was backed by a yachting writer of many years experience and has since gained growing credence that the Americans at least were out to put the New Zealanders off their game.

The basis of that argument seems to be that the nation that has put men

on the Moon has already been given one yachting black eye by a bunch of colonials with a boat sporting a winged keel, and now another bunch of colonials with a plastic boat are shaping up to give them a second — and they resent it.

But before that line of thought can be taken from the realms of speculation — the New Zealand challengers themselves are officially having none of it — the pressure has mounted on the New Zealanders in the last week.

Dennis Conner’s syndicate has known for the last three years, like all the other challengers, the new rules governing the building of fibreglass 12metre yachts. It knew, again like all the others, for the last year that New Zealand’s challenger would be “plastic.” It knew, once more like all the others, that Lloyd’s Register had not only given the New Zealand boat a certificate but had had a surveyor from England supervise the boat’s construction.

Yet it was not until just before the series began

that the syndicate wrote to the challenge organisers suggesting the New Zealand boat be tested for light construction at each end.

Then another, unnamed United States syndicate, presumably not Conner’s or it would have been stated, claimed late on Friday that it had a piece of the deck from KZ7 and that the piece contained a black substance which appeared to be carbon fibre sandwiched between the layers of fibreglass.

Whether the pressure is orchestrated or not, it appears the various syndicates are letting it run to see how the Kiwis react. The New Zealanders so far seem totally unfazed. The experienced yachting writers here who spend their year flying from one regatta to another, believe that if there is a plan to psyche-out the New Zealanders, it will back-fire. While most of them are aware of the New Zealanders’ own penchant to harden up and fight back twice as hard when attacked, the reason they give is different. They say that when the

whole fibreglass row falls flat round Conner’s ears, it will be his syndicate, and the others on the sidelines, which will have been psyched out, and not the New Zealanders. “What basis will he have to protest against the New Zealanders on Thursday?” asked one observer. “Lloyd’s has gone to extraordinary lengths to make sure the New Zealand boat is legal; they have come out during the week-end and backed that again, and if the legality is challenged by one of the syndicates, they will tell the syndicate concerned to ‘get stuffed’.”

The other school of thought here is that Conner in his request is simply being thorough, in the belief that every little advantage adds up. The suggestion is that once he realises the extent that Lloyd’s went to to ensure the legality of KZ7, he will be satisfied.

That will be seen on Thursday after Stars And Stripes meets New Zealand off Fremantle. But the claim that a piece of the deck is in the hands of a rival syndicate has raised the pressure

one more notch and given the New Zealanders one more thing to have to deny.

In 1983 the New York Yacht Club produced a former employee of the Dutch testing facility where the Australian, Ben Lexcen, designed his keel, to say the design was in fact Dutch.

Observers here say it is not beyond the realms of possibility for one of the American syndicates to be hunting out former employees of the New Zealand yacht’s builders to say the Kiwi boat is not legal. Where the alleged deck piece came from is a mystery, although there would have been discards where holes were cut for deck fittings such as winches.

“But the New Zealanders wouldn’t be so stupid as to put something like carbon fibre in their deck or anywhere else,” said one English writer. “They have simply got new technology, and when this claim, too, blows up in the Americans’ faces it will make - the New Zealanders stronger still.” Race report, back page.