Aussie sinking an acceptable risk, maintains PACT 95 chief

SAN DIEGO – The sinking of oneAustralia Sunday has adjusted some thinking at the America’s Cup, but not about sailing fragile boats in stormy conditions.

“The contribution to the sport as a whole would never be made if we weren’t taking these risks,” John Marshall, president of Maine’s PACT 95 syndicate, said Monday.

But it was questionable whether oneAustralia could resurrect its older boat, AUS 31, and get it up to the speed of AUS 35, which had seemed almost the equal of Team New Zealand’s unbeatable Black Magic before it became the first boat to be lost in the 144 years of the event. All 17 crew members were plucked out of the water within minutes.

“Our plan has gone from winning the semifinals to being in the top two (with Team New Zealand) in the semis and then making the next adjustment after that to go ahead and win,” said helmsman Rod Davis.

The incident also revived France’s fading hopes of beating out Nippon for the last spot in the semifinals. Because the Australians couldn’t get their boat ready in time to race Monday, the French merely had to sail the course to collect the win in a race they probably would have lost.

PACT’s Young America wasn’t scheduled to race on Sinking, Stinking Sunday, when the combination of 20-knot winds and seven-foot seas in steady rain not only sent John Bertrand’s $3 million boat to the bottom but tore off the top of France 3’s mast and caused other problems aboard Dennis Conner’s Stars and Stripes and the America3 women’s new Mighty Mary.

But Kevin Mahaney and his crew went sailing, anyway.

“We wanted to practice in heavy wind conditions to give us confidence in our boat, and so any problems would reveal themselves and not happen during a race,” Marshall said. “We didn’t break a batten or anything, and the boat seemed to go fast.

“A lot of the competitors yesterday used (larger) No. 2 genoas, not No. 3s. They weren’t even down to their smallest jibs.”

Young America defeated the America3 syndicate’s Mighty Mary by 4:35 Monday. Young America took the early lead and gained on all six legs. The wind reached 10 knots, about half the velocity that it reached Sunday.

The victory gives Young America sole possession of first place in the defender trials with 39 points. Stars & Stripes is in second with 32 points. Young America and Stars & Stripes race Tuesday.

Marshall, president of Hinckley Yachts, has been deep into America’s Cup boat design since he headed Conner’s design team for the 1986-87 event when Conner reclaimed the Cup from Australia. It was Marshall who convinced Conner he needed to build the third boat that made the difference. In 1992 Marshall founded Partnership for America’s Cup Technology that became the acronym for PACT 95 He concedes that Sunday’s conditions probably wouldn’t have bothered one of the old 12-Meters, which raced in far stronger winds at Fremantle in ’86-87.

“An aluminum boat, you would probably have plates bending or welds breaking, but the boat wouldn’t break,” Marshall said.

The International America’s Cup Class boats are built of carbon-fiber and other composite materials, always with an eye toward minimum weight for maximum speed.

Where the 12-meters had strict construction rules, Marshall said, “In the IACC boats, the interior structure that ties everything together – the mast, the keel, the rigging – is totally open, completely unrestricted. It’s changing fast-the materials, the resins, the abandoning of metal in favor of plastics-and it’s exactly what the America’s Cup should do: give design freedom in the areas where new things are happening.”

If the rules were stricter for safety, Marshall said, “No boats would sink, but also there would be no progress. You wouldn’t be learning what the limitations are.

“And your sponsors wouldn’t support it as well. Ford is a huge sponsor of ours because we’re doing absolutely leading-edge structural design. They love it. It’s cheap for them compared to how expensive it is in the automotive industry to do this stuff.”

For example, Marshall said, Ford has built an experimental car almost totally of composites. It isn’t likely to sink, but Young America’s success could influence how future cars are built.

Marshall also said that danger to the crews sailing the IACC boats is overstated.

“There isn’t any room inside the boats for flotation stuff,” he said. “The cockpit is deep and there’s a mountain of sails down there. There are life jackets aboard and they’re resonably handy where they’re stowed.

“But, in a practical sense, you have rescue boats right handy, and the crews on these boats are really good athletes. No one is intimidated to hop in the water and swim around for two or three minutes.”