Dennis Conner's newest America's Cup yacht sank Tuesday off Long Beach

[Jeff]

All sailors rescued from scene off Long Beach
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Associated Press

SAN DIEGO -- Dennis Conner's newest America's Cup yacht sank Tuesday in the Pacific Ocean about a mile off Long Beach, just before it was to pick up a group of sponsors for an afternoon sail. Everyone aboard the 80-foot Stars & Stripes was rescued and salvage efforts began immediately. The boat was raised at about 7:30 p.m., a little more than six hours after it sank. It was taken by barge to Conner's compound on Terminal Island. A salvage crew works to recover one of Dennis Conner's America's Cup racing yachts that sank while training in the Pacific Ocean. Conner said he's confident the high-tech, $5 million sloop can be repaired in time for the start of the America's Cup trials Oct. 1 off Auckland, New Zealand.

"The good news is no one was hurt,'' he said by phone from his team's compound. "The crew hardly got wet.''

Conner, who was not on the boat, said it sank in 55 feet of water in about four minutes after the rudder shaft broke and tore a hole in the carbon-fiber hull. "If you want to talk about luck, we're normally sailing where it's 2,000-feet deep,'' he said. The keel bulb settled into 2½ feet of mud, which acted like a shock absorber, Conner said. While some of the crew tried to stop the flow of water, others were able to take down the mainsail and jib before jumping on tenders that are always nearby. All that was visible afterward was about 60 feet of the 110-foot carbon-fiber mast sticking straight out of the water.

Stars & Stripes, sail number USA-77, had 15 crew aboard and had completed a morning testing sail with its stablemate, USA-66, also named Stars & Stripes. "No question it's repairable,'' he said, adding that the crew got a good look at the damage before the boat sank. "We'll be sailing again before the trials and everything will be fine. We're extremely fortunate.'' Conner rarely sails on his America's Cup boats anymore, instead spending time raising money for his $40 million America's Cup budget. The 59-year-old yachtsman, arguably the world's best known sailor, has won the 151-year-old America's Cup four times, but not since 1988. USA-77 was christened in Long Beach, joining USA-66, which was launched in February. This is the first time since the 1986-87 America's Cup that Conner has been able to afford two new boats. His crew has been training off Long Beach for the competition since February. The team will miss just two days of testing, Conner said. Their two-boat testing program in Long Beach was to conclude Thursday and one of the yachts is scheduled to be shipped to New Zealand next week.

America's Cup contenders can race only one yacht at a time, but it helps to have a backup boat, just in case. The only other America's Cup yacht to sink was oneAustralia, which cracked in two and sank in 950 feet of water about five miles off San Diego during a challenger series race on March 5, 1995. All 16 sailors were rescued. That yacht was never recovered, but oneAustralia had a backup boat. Three weeks later, Conner's yacht took on water due to keel damage and had to be towed back into its San Diego Bay compound with pumps on board and flotation buoys attached to the hull and the top of the mast.

In 1999, the hull of one of Young America's two boats buckled in a race off Auckland and nearly sank. America's Cup yachts weigh about 25 tons, with the bulk of the weight in the 20-ton lead keel bulb that hangs about 14 feet beneath the water line, giving them stability when sailing upwind. The America's Cup match will begin in February between two-time winner Team New Zealand and the winner of the Louis Vuitton Cup for challengers.

[sharpii2]

Hi Jeff.

Enjoyed reading your peice about the latest AC mishap. Howard Chapelle had the best discription yet of the modern AC class: decadent. Its interesting to note that the original winner of the America's Cup had to sail accross an ocean just for the right to compete. Though that was never in the rules, perhaps it should be. These boats are so beyond the pale, when it comes to sensible design, that they are simply ridiculous. A $100,000 scow made of plywood and with no ballast could probably out sail one of these monstrousities at one fiftieth of the cost. Not only that, but it would probably be better able to survive an ocean crossing as well. With bad luck, bad weather, or both (they usually come together) It may well end up sunny side down. But atleast it would be salvageable.
These super expensive sailing apparatuses (I hesitate to call them boats) are nothing but eggshells with lead mines attached. It seems that the rules of this newer class compell them to be such. If the evil communists were still around, one may think this was another one of their sinnister plots.

As such, it would be most effective. First, get everyone used to these these things as boats. Second, somehow scheme to get the rules changed, down the road, so that these things would have to make an offshore passage. Third, also tweak the rules again so that the owners would have to be on them during this passage. Four, show film clips of the inevitable sinkings to all of their citizens from the ages of six and up. Then there you have it. A way of, first, killing off the captains of free enterprize, and second, showing their citizens what would most likely happen to THEM if THEY tried to leave the 'workers paradise'.

Too bad the commies are no longer with us; now who do we blame.

sharpii2

[SailDesign]

sharpii, I'm going to take issue with a couple of thoughts of yours.

Howard Chapelle died in 1975, and never saw one of the current boats.

The challenger had to sail his own boat to the races up until WWII, whcih explains why no-one ever won it but the holders. The US never had to sail further than "up the coast a bit". Yes, Even "Endeavour" sailed across, with much reduced ketch rig.

If you think the commies are no longer with us, please think again. China? Korea?

Apart from the above, though, I have to agree with your thoughts. The current boats, although they do provide us designers with an income, are a sorry excuse for a boat. They DO, however, provide a valid "thing" to race. The fact that they break a lot is due to the fact that the rule allows you to build them light enough. It is one of those design trade-offs you have to make. Too heavy, won't go fast enough to win, too light, won't go FAR enough to win.

Steve

[astevo]

whilst they are a valid thing to race so too is any other kind of boat. For the cup i think that you want boats which reward design advances but not design funds and excess ive budgets. one design is also not the way but the current state of affairs with a 4 year space race. neither is totally unrestriceted like in 91 with the USA cat and kiwi super maxis. whilst he iaac is a valid boat to race its weight means it is slow off the mark and turns baddly. Somethig light and fast would be a better spectale, attract better sponsors and make the cup open to more nations.

Bring back the days where a dodgy fraudster property develper australians paying untrained boat designers geniusses, to win the cup.
but being australian my opinions are clouded since the last decent aus challenger sank somewhere off san diego in 1995. personally i like the idea of the end of red pants and straw hats.

[sharpii2]

Hi.

Sorry, Steve. I guess I kind of pulled my post out of the stamp sand without bothering to knock the edges off. What I said should have started with "If Howard Chapelle were alive today..."
And I stand corrected on the matter of cup racers not having to cross the ocean. Perhaps an interesting reform of the rules would state that after the boats have been built, a coin toss would determin in who's waters the race would be sailed in. The loser of the toss would have to sail to those waters. I know this would make the proccess of sorting out the challenger somewhat difficult. Perhaps this could always be done in the cup holders waters. The point is, with this reform, The boats would have to be seaworthy.
Maybe there is a simpler way of doing this. Perhaps requiring that the boats all meet ABS standards might do the trick. Ahh. You can probably already see draw backs with that idea. I can. Just who would be doing the inspecting, for example. So I guess any real reform will have to come out of tragedy. One of these days someone is going to lose his/her life on one of these contraptions.
Maybe a whole lot of someones. I can see it now. The wailing. The knashing of teath. Then the quite shift to a somewhat sounder concept. I guess the new boats would be called examples of the ISLC; the International Sea Lawyer Class.
As for the bit about the communists still being with us: I pretty much stand by my words. There are, of course, at least two communist countries left. Cuba and North Korea. So technicly you are right. What I meant was the communists I grew up with. The ones with the bristling millitarys generously stocked with cruder, scarier, and sometimes more effective weapons, who threatened to stomp us out or destroy the planet while trying. I no longer consider China Communist. I now consider it fascist. The distinction I make is that communism is tolalitarianism WITHOUT capitalist markets whereas fascism is totalitarianism WITH capitalist markets.

P.S.-I have been to your web sight and I think you design really cool boats. In fact, a few years back, I watched "Winds Of Change " race around the world in some of the awfulest nastiest conditons imaginable and come out smiling. How come the IACC boats can't do that?

Bob

[SailDesign]

sharpii,
If Howard Chapelle were alive today, it'd kill him
While I dislike the IACC boats, I think they have the right idea. I have always maintained two things that get me in trouble:
1) Anyone who WANTS to be President is the wrong man for the job
2) The America's Cup races would be just as tactically interesting, and much cheaper, and much more televisable (?) if they were raced in Optimists on a large swimming pool with lots of fans. And 360-degree grand-stands.

Discounting "1" as being waaaaaay OT, we are left with the fact that a "successful" campaign these days relies on getting to the race, not breaking (before the end of the last race), having as many people see the sponsors' logos as possible (or if not sponsored, hear the Owner's name as often....), and keep the breweries struggling to provide the venue with BEvERages.
That done, you have been successful. Winning dioesn't hurt, either
So, the current boats are fit for the purpose. There is enough leeway within the rules to allow for experiments and different hullforms, while the boats are still closely-enough matched that the cameras can usually keep both boats in shot.
There is also enough expense involved to sort out the Men from the Boys. If the boats are too cheap, EVERYONE will challenge. Takes too long to sort all that out. Steve

PS - Thanks for the kind remarks on the site and the WOC boats. PLEASE don't try tactical racing in something like that, though. It takes about 2 or 3 minutes to tack, even with a full crew. First, let the keel swing over as far as it can, then pump it the rest of the way while on deck, the old windward board is lowered to become the new leeward board, someone stands by to pull the old leeward board up when the pressure is off (for about 0.01 second during the tack).
You get the picture.

[sorenfdk]

All yachts are designed to a purpose. The IACC yachts are not designed for offshore racing and why should they be? The Americas Cup is boring enough as it is already (except for fans, friends and relatives), and making the yachts heavier is not the way to go!

I would instead suggest the use of smaller and faster yachts. This would also make it possible for smaller countries/club to participate. The yachts would have to meet the new/coming ISO Standards that lead to lighter structures than the ABS Guide, or so I'm told.

And one last thing: Please leave politics out of these pages!

Best regards,
Søren

[SeaDrive]

The boats could be a quicker and cheaper to build with a few changes in the rules, for example, if the scantlings were changed so that aluminium were competitive. However the boats would be a couple of knots slower, and the participants in the cup won't have that. Perhaps the comment about using the price of entry to keep the participation down is on the money.

On the other hand, if speed is the issue, multihulls.....

[sorenfdk]

Slower boats = (even more) boring races = less media coverage = no sponsors = no Americas Cup!

[SeaDrive]

Originally Posted by sorenfdk

Slower boats = (even more) boring races = less media coverage = no sponsors = no Americas Cup!

Can you tell the difference between running at 16 kts and 14kts? Is the difference between a 2 hr race and 2 hr 5 min race important? is it worth $4,000,000 a boat?

IMHO, the lack of interest is due to the fact that all the teams are professionals of mixed nationality. Why should I care who wins? The Swiss boat is nearly as American as the American boat, and more Kiwi than American.

I agree that the nationality thing is the biggest negative about the current state of the America's Cup.I mean, who gives a damn if one big corporation beats another sailing antiquated lead bellies? Who, in their right mind, would want to watch the races?
I guess I would but I'm ticked off at myself for not organizing a boycott....

[stew fl]

Perhaps a new rule, if it breaks after such and such a
date you can't fix it.

[bjl_sailor]

If I remember correctly the magnificent J boats were also extremely fragile. I can recall reading somewhere that the paid working class crews would all duck under cover when the wind was over 10 knots and they heard something creak in the rigging above them... And also wasn't there a compromise reached with sir Thomas Lipton that his challenger yachts could be towed accross the Atlantic rather than sailed? Overall though I do find the "new" America's Cup class to be rather freakish and bizarre. In newport RI a whole fleet of 12 meters (some of them 50's 60's era woodies) are still plying the Narragansset as day charters and corporate retreat centers. You won't see that with this class...

While America's cup is alot like car racing where safety and performance enhancements are often pioneered there perhaps the exotic nature of the boats could be dialed back a bit so that rel sailing skill instead of mega bucks corporate sposorship is the true determiner of the winner.

AC boats breaking up and/or sinking in the heat of the moment attracts more main stream media attention than any "cliff hanger" race ever does.

Unfortunatley they don't tend to break with any great fanfare as bits fly off in all directions. a-la motor racing.
If we could get the boats going fast enough that they spun out on the corners or nudged each other off the course then we would get the attention and associated funding for yacht racing in general. Note Sydney flying 18's, now there's entertainment non-sailing Joe gets excited about.

Closer (and faster) racing with more crashes and good looking girls will do wonders for the general public's sailing interest. Did I mention girls?
Racing also needs to be regular; ie yearly, not every now and then. Then, with the same teams competing every year people would become loyal to a teams colours.
Ah yes, then we could have team championships, builders championships, and drivers -Ahh, ummm, I mean Crew championships.
So long as there was lots of crashes, (visible) carbon fibre, titanium, racing stripes and girls it couldn't fail.
Actual sailing competitiveness? HA!
Don't you know thats not the point, old boy?
Sorry, I'm just rambling...

Rob

86' Moth like monohull hydrofoils! With wings ,canting keels and multiple crew on trapezes.
Can't you just picture it!? Man, what a rush.....