Word: yachting
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...Aussies win this week, the Auld Mug will be ensconced in the Observation Room of the Royal Perth Yacht Club in the state capital of Western Australia. Racing conditions in the Indian Ocean will undoubtedly be far different from those on Rhode Island Sound. Nor is it likely that the hearty and hail fellow atmosphere of Perth will lure the well-heeled international crowds that Newport has attracted. This year's epic contest has already irrevocably changed America's Cup racing. Clearly, future challengers will concentrate on technology as they have not done in the past. While...
Even before Australia II arrived at Newport, its white hull swathed in a modest blue-green canvas skirt, word had spread of the challenger's hidden, revolutionary keel design. The New York Yacht Club tried mightily, ignobly, and in vain to have the foreign boat disqualified. Meanwhile, the wonder from Down Under and its gritty crew blitzed the largest foreign field ever assembled in Newport-six other boats, from France, Italy, Britain, Canada and Australia. In two months the Australians won 48 of the 54 times they set sail. And yet, pitted against the New York Yacht Club...
...again around 20 knots for the 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...
...again uncovered by Conner, who said later, "We missed it." As Liberty rounded the first mark 2 min. 29 sec. behind Australia II, Gary Jobson, a winning crew member in Ted Turner's 1977 defense, exclaimed, "This is a disaster!" The flying bridge of the New York Yacht Club boat emptied as its nine straw-hatted, red-trousered committee members went below for a stiff belt...
...Though yacht racing, and the America's Cup in particular, is usually as exciting to the average layman as a tennis match without a net, millions of ordinary citizens were caught up in the drama being played off Newport. The Boston Globe reported receiving more telephone calls about the series during each of the first two racing days than it had for baseball scores any day this season. Where nine television crews appeared for the 1980 races, there were 22 this time. More than 1,300 media credentials were issued, 200 of them to Australians...