Word: valiante
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Dates: during 1970-1979
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...three U.S. boats will defend the cup do not begin until Aug. 18, the Observation races suggested that Picker and Intrepid are ready to sail off to one of the greatest upsets in America's Cup history. When the U.S. contenders hit the water this spring, Valiant was the heavy favorite simply because she was the latest creation of Olin Stephens, the 62-year-old designer of four of the last five cup champions. In fact, Stephens' winning design for the last America's Cup in 1967 was Intrepid. Now, radically revamped by 29-year-old Designer...
Consistent Superiority. The changes that Chance made on Intrepid-shorter keel, rounder bow, fuller afterbody -have obviously made the white-hulled sloop swifter than ever. What is astonishing is that she may actually be a faster boat than Stephens' brand-new Valiant. Her first two races around the triangular 24.3-mile course set the pattern for the trials. With Picker at the helm, Intrepid handily defeated the trial horse Weatherly by 3 min. 55 sec., and then trounced Heritage by the embarrassing margin...
...Valiant, under Skipper Bob McCullough, was the next victim. In their first match, McCullough sloppily cut off Picker's boat in the preliminary maneuvering and was disqualified. Next time out, Valiant took the lead but was soon overhauled by Intrepid in a furious tacking duel; from then on, Intrepid was never headed, as she repeatedly outfooted Valiant on the windward legs of the course to win by 2 min. 14 sec. Two more times Intrepid and Picker proved quicker-by the combined times of 4 min. 20 sec. Only in the last race was McCullough able to salvage something...
...tall, totally bald man, he resembles the thin man's Mr. Clean only in looks. Unlike some skippers, he does not impose a curfew on his young crew, nor does he lead them in calisthenics. Even so, he had his charges outhustling the more experienced Valiant hands on nearly every tack. "Though we aren't No. 2 any more," says Picker, "we still have to try harder to uphold the tradition of Intrepid...
...Over on Valiant, Bob McCullough is desperately trying to build a tradition from scratch. His boat is plagued by steering problems and a tendency to surge erratically in heavy seas. "We seem to be moving in spurts, and we don't yet know the reason for it," he says. Though he and Stephens modified Valiant before and during the trials, the 49-year-old skipper allows that more "substantial changes" still have to be made on the sails, the rigging and the hull. A seasoned competitor, McCullough is still very much in the race even though he no longer...