From: wwalker@qualcomm.com (Bill Walker)
Newsgroups: rec.boats
Subject: America's Cup results for April 5, 1992
Date: 6 Apr 92 17:27:21 GMT
Organization: Qualcomm, Inc

America's Cup results for Sunday, April 5, 1992, from the San Diego 
Union-Tribune.

CHALLENGERS

Conditions:  Winds:  10-12 knots at start, fading to 9.  Direction:  
South, shifting 20 degrees to west late in race.  Seas:  moderately rough, 
4- to 5-foot swell with light chop.

New Zealand defeated Ville de Paris by 3:11.  The Kiwis led throughout and 
pulled away steadily, dropping Marc Pajot's Ville de Paris out of a 
three-way tie for first.  NZ cut through the tall swell on the first beat 
while VdeP labored and lost 66 seconds.  The Kiwis gained on seven of the 
eight legs to win the most lopsided race of the semifinals.  Ville de 
Paris had won last two races against New Zealand.

Il Moro di Venezia defeated Nippon by 1:53.  Considering the 
circumstances, the most amazing aspect of this match was Nippon's ability 
to complete the race.  Early in the prestart maneuvers, Nippon's boom 
broke when the boat slammed through two swells [it broke 8 feet behind the 
mast, where the boom vang attaches.  They say the vang applies two tons of 
down pressure].  Knowing another loss would virtually eliminate Nippon, 
Chris Dickson's crew tried to jury-rig the boom.  but the boom, which 
supports the bottom half of the mainsail and gives the sail form, snapped 
in two during the first weather leg [up till then it had remained 
semi-attached but quite flexible].  The Japanese crew jettisoned the 
largest piece overboard and continued on, latching [sic.  I think he meant 
"lashing"] the trailing corner of the mainsail to the deck with a series 
of lins and blocks that proved remarkably efficient.  Nippon not only 
finished the race, it gained a little ground on the first run and the last 
two reaches, hoping a bigger disaster would knock the Italians out of the 
race.  But Paul Cayard's crew played it conservatively.  Althought not 
eliminated, Nippon has only one scenario for reaching the finals.  It 
would have to win of its three remaining races, New Zealand would have to 
beat both Il Moro di Venezia and Ville de Paris and Ville de Paris would 
have to defeat Il Moro.  Whether they advance or not, the Japanese will be 
remembered for their great seamanship in [Sunday's] race.  [Cayard said 
one of Il Moro's crew questioned the legality of Nippon jettisoning their 
boom and wondered if they should protest.  Cayard said he responded that 
"if we couldn't beat Nippon without a boom, we didn't deserve to be in the 
finals."  No protest was lodged.  Of course, if Nippon had won... :-) ].

Standings:
              Overall record
              |    Il Moro di Venezia
              |    |    New Zealand
              |    |    |    Ville de Paris
              |    |    |    |    Nippon
              |    |    |    |    |
Il Moro      4-2       1-1  1-1  2-0
New Zealand  4-2  1-1       1-1  2-0
Ville de P.  3-3  1-1  1-1       1-1
Nippon       1-5  0-2  0-2  1-1


DEFENDERS

Conditions:  Wind:  13-14 knots early, dying slowly to 8 on last leg.  
Direction:  Southerly with 25-degree shift to west.  Seas:  Moderately 
steep with 5- to 6- foot swell and light chop.

America^3 defeated Kanza by 0:34.  Bill Koch shook up his crews yet again 
for his team's second intramural this round.  A day after he was appointed 
skipper of Kanza, Buddy Melges was back on A^3, counseling helmsman Kimo 
Worthington with By Baldridge as navigator.  Koch was on Kanza with Dave 
Dellenbaugh as tactician and Bill Campbell as navigator.  Kanza was 
designed to be the better heavy-weather boat, and [Sunday's] conditions 
favored Kanza.  After losing the start, Koch's team pushed Kanza into the 
lead in a long drag race to the first weather mark.  But Kanza's spinnaker 
pole broke on the first run.  A^3 gained 79 seconds on the leg, led by 56 
seconds and was never headed, although Kanza gained on three of the next 
four legs.  A^3 needed the victory to keep alive Koch's dream of an 
all-America^3 defense final.  And America^3 had the Melges-Worthing 
combination...and won in the other boat's favored conditions.  Makes one 
wonder if it makes Dennis Conner wonder what is going on.

Schedule:
April 6:  lay day.
April 7:  Stars & Stripes vs. America^3, 12:15 PM.
April 8:  Stars & Stripes vs. America^3.
April 9:  America^3 vs. Kanza.

Standings:
              
                  Scored wins (includes bonus wins)
                  |    Stars & Stripes
                  |    |    Kanza
                  |    |    |    America^3
                  |    |    |    |
Stars & Stripes   4        1-1  2-0
Kanza             4   1-1       1-1
America^3.        1   0-2  1-1     

Kanza entered this round with two bonus wins based on points acquired by 
Defiant and America^3 in first three rounds.  Stars & Stripes received one 
bonus win for second-most points.  America^3 was placed in slot with zero 
wins.

----------
Bill Walker - WWalker@qualcomm.com - QUALCOMM, Inc., San Diego, CA
All opinions expressed are mine, and do not reflect those of my employer.
"First thing we do, we kill all the lawyers." - Shakespeare