At the erstwhile windward mark, Dickson led by eight seconds in spite of having blown out two spinnakers getting there. Soon after the start the wind backed 100 degrees to the southwest, turning a beat into a spinnaker reach. The weather, which should have been a gift from heaven for Conner and his heavy-weather Stars & Stripes, was instead a 25th birthday present for New Zealand's Dickson. The second day of racing began in 25 knots of wind from the northwest that drove squall after squall across the course. They are supposed to be awed by veterans like Dennis Conner of Stars & Stripes and John Kolius of America II, and when they beat those veterans they are supposed to say things like "It could have gone either way," or "This is a learning experience for us." Neophyte 12-meter sailors, even boy wonders like Dickson, are not supposed to mouth off. This month was quite typical and next month, we believe, will be quite typical as well." Those who haven't spent the time and effort sorting it out will be paying the price for it. To which Chris Dickson, the cocky 25-year-old skipper of Kiwi Magic, replied, "For those of us who have been here quite some time the weather is doing exactly what it should be doing. "If you'd told me that we would be sailing 5 races out of 11 in November with our number one jibs up, I would have said you were crazy." "We designed our boat for what we felt to be the average wind here-16 or 17 knots true," said Tom Whidden, the tactician on Stars & Stripes and a veteran of three Cup campaigns. She beat USA and America II in fluky four-to 10-knot airs, and Stars & Stripes in a 25-knot nor'wester that blew out two spinnakers, incapacitated a mainsail and washed a jib overboard. In the wildly varied weather and sea conditions that prevailed during the first half of November in Western Australia, New Zealand was the only boat that performed equally well in drifters and gear-busters. America II, with nine wins and two losses in November, is now second with 56 points, while Stars & Stripes, a boat designed for the high winds and heavy seas typical of the waters off Fremantle during the summer months (December, January and February), lost four races and dropped to third place with 46 points.
Under the graduated point system that governs the challenger trials-I point for a win in October, 5 in November and 12 in December-the Kiwis lead the challenger fleet with 66 points. At the end of the October series, New Zealand, America II and Stars & Stripes had been tied for first at 11-1.
giants-America II from the New York Yacht Club and Stars & Stripes from the San Diego Yacht Club-as well as nine other also-rans. New Zealand's fiberglass 12-meter, known informally as Kiwi Magic, emerged last week from the second round-robin with a perfect record, having beaten the two U.S.
Black christmas crosstown cyndicate series#
At the end of the second series of races to determine which boat will challenge the Australians for possession of the America's Cup, New Zealand, the poorest and most technologically backward of the six challenging countries, is at the top of the scoreboard, and the gruesome prospect of an all-antipodean America's Cup is beginning to haunt the nightmares of entrepreneurs from California to the Costa Smeralda. Lately someone's been mucking about with the script.
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