Word: upwind
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Dates: during 1980-1989
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...Aussies had consoled themselves that the first two losses in the best- of-seven series might have been inconclusive. Shifting winds made the first something of a lottery, and the second was waged in the heavier breezes that Stars & Stripes candidly preferred. But in the third race, just one upwind leg in moderate Kookaburra weather told Murray his fate. Near the dismal end of that afternoon, a rubber speedboat pulled up alongside the Kook captain. " 'You've got a bomb on board,' they said. 'What do you want to do?' Our immediate response was, 'What's the bad news?' Then...
...southwesterly breeze notching a tender eight knots, the duel was on. Liberty, the defending twelve-meter yacht, took yet another start from the Aussies. Midway up the first leg, however, the Americans' 8-sec. lead turned into a deficit of three or four lengths as Australia II streaked upwind on a starboard tack and Liberty went to port. After the first crossover, Aussie Skipper John Bertrand committed the cardinal sin of leaving his opponent uncovered. Liberty Helmsman Dennis Conner took the left side of the course for his own and by the first mark had opened...
...Conner moved to the left and sailed into a patch of dead air. With sails almost slack, Liberty jibed back, but the Aussie superboat picked up two shifts of friendly wind and rounded the fifth mark with a 21-sec. lead. Conner battled desperately to recover on the last, upwind leg, going through 47 grueling tacks. Said the American skipper: "We kept the pressure on them, but there was no point on that last weather leg that we thought their victory was in jeopardy...
...second race. Just before the start, as Australia II jibed to block Liberty, a 24.6-knot gust smacked the challenger, snapping a pin that holds the mainsail to the halyard and dropping the sail 18 in. Despite this handicap, Bertrand beat the U.S. yacht on the first upwind leg by 50 sec., a remarkable margin that displayed his boat's inherent speed. Unable to match his opponent in tacking duels, Bertrand decided to go off in search of a breeze. Left alone, it was Conner who found the wind-and won, by 1 min. 33 sec. "God smiled...
Supported by Herreshoff's argument that the Aussie keel fins give the boat added draft, or depth, upwind, thus making it a 12.5-meter or 12.8-meter yacht in those conditions, the N.Y.Y.C. asked the Measurement (TM) Committee to reconsider its earlier O.K. Last week the I.Y.R.U. officials responded with a unanimous no. But that did not end the matter...