‘There is no second’

Press, 26 December 1986, Page 12

‘There is no second’

The New Zealand challenge for the America’s Cup, yachting’s most prestigious trophy, moves into another phase this weekend with the start of the semi-finals of the challenger elimination series. The competition has engendered intense interest, to a degree remarkable even in this nation of sports-minded people. The contest will continue to hold the country in thrall until KZ7 bows out — or wins the cup. The events off Fremantle are commanding the attention of a great many New Zealanders whose knowledge of, and interest in yachting are otherwise negligible.

Questions about the fibreglass construction of the New Zealand entry, the subject of thinly-veiled allegations of cheating, should have been laid to rest by the results of the latest inspection by measurers and surveyors from Lloyds of London, the famed ship surveying and insurance organisation.Nothing should stand in the way now of good sport, unsullied by slurs and innuendo. Some of the aggravation in the contest stems from the high stakes. Other considerations, commercial and chauvinistic, overshadow the competition and distort the nature of what should be simply a yacht race; but it is the sporting contest that attracts the interest and the big money. The New Zealand effort, which has

managed to capture — and capitalise on — something of the national fervour usually reserved for telethons, has done remarkably well already. The world’s experts in 12-metre yachting have been obliged to sit up and take notice of the new boys on the block and their “plastic fantastic.” Every success for KZ7 from now on is a success very few New Zealanders would have been bold enough to predict a year ago. The team in Fremantle certainly aspires to more success, and it will not lack for encouragement from those back home.

There is also another force driving the KZ7 crew. It drives all of the aspiring challengers, but perhaps none more than Dennis Conner, the chief rival of KZ7 and the unfortunate who wears the label of being the only person to have lost the cup. The force is the compulsion to win. It is summed up best in a story from the first contest for the cup, when the schooner America beat the best yachts England could muster in a race around the Isle of Wight 135 years ago. Queen Victoria was in Cowes at the time. Inquiring about the race, Her Majesty was informed that the American yacht had just crossed the finish line first. Her next question, so the story goes, brought a long pause then the grave response: “Ma’am, there is no second.”