Word: keel
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After the New York Yacht Club's (NYYC) shameless attempt to get the newfangled keel disqualified, and the American defender's subaquatic efforts to photograph it, justice was finally done on the Rhode Island Sound Monday...
Because 12-meter boats are not all the same, as the new keel so grandly proved, Cup racing is a technical and tactical challenge. Australia II was definitely a faster boat than the American defender Liberty, but her crew had to sail it better than the home team did its own craft. The Australians came from behind Monday, frustrating all of Liberty's final attempts to keep the Cup bolted to a table in New York for another three years. So the Americans should accept the defeat and get ready for a visit to the Southern Hemisphere. But there...
...York Yacht Club, custodian of the Cup and grand panjandrum of its defense, has howled that the radical keel is an infraction of the 12-meter rule, even though it passed muster earlier this year before keen-eyed measurers, including the club's own tape man. With its lowered ballast and jetlike wings, the innovative yacht can slice through the water with less turbulence, turn virtually on a dime, and stand much more erect than its rivals when they beat into the wind, thereby drawing more power from its sails. Remarkably, all this seems perfectly within the rules. Even...
...finally did manage to beat Australia II in one race last week by a surprising 2 min. 50 sec., provoking an outburst from Dennis Conner, skipper of Liberty, the leading American boat. He charged that the Aussies were "sandbagging" (deliberately losing) to take the limelight off their disputed keel...
...such superior model racing sailboats that he had to give some away to keep his friends interested in competing. He gives nothing away now. Lexcen spent months in The Netherlands tank-testing eight different 25-ft. model hulls in secrecy to prevent the Americans from learning about his new keel. Indeed, reports surfaced last week that the Americans tried unsuccessfully to get the Dutch to reveal details of the design. Lexcen snaps: "They would flash it on their boats in a minute if they could get their hands on it." Nonetheless, he disclaims having produced a revolutionary product. Says...