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Cup teams skirt issue of secrecy Posted: Wednesday September 25, 2002 1:41 PM
SYDNEY (Reuters) -- Skirts are all the fashion at the America's Cup in 2002 and not just among the European style houses of backers Prada and Louis Vuitton. "Syndicate Row" in Auckland's Viaduct Harbour is a sea of skirts as six of the nine syndicates in the Louis Vuitton challengers' cup hide their latest keel designs behind shrouds, away from the prying eyes of rivals before racing starts next week. Technology and secrecy have been an integral part of the America's Cup ever since the often theatrical security Australia II used to hide their revolutionary winged keel before their historic 1983 Cup win. Cup holders New Zealand, who will defend the trophy in February against the winners of the challengers' series, have gone one step further and have had their sleek, new, black NZL-81 boat covered from deck to waterline since it was launched last month. The intense secrecy has not stopped many local observers from speculating that the New Zealand design team led by Tom Schnackenberg are hiding a radical new double rudder configuration aimed at improving their boat's handling. But the New Zealanders, who won the Cup from Dennis Conner in 1995 and successfully defended it against Italy's Prada in 2000, are not giving anything away. "We don't want people to see the boat, it's as simple as that," Team New Zealand spokesman Murray Taylor told reporters. "There's no sinister implications in what we're doing. It's just we want to keep whatever it is we've got to ourselves." Twin rudders Boat designers have long theorized that twin rudders, one forward near the bow and the other in its normal position aft, would enable a boat to make extremely tight turns and give it a huge advantage in the all-important pre-start maneuvers. No-one has so far been able to master the technology, though several have tried. In 2000, the Swiss yacht FAST2000 had twin keels, one of which acted as a rudder. But the Swiss crew struggled with its complicated steering gear and the bright yellow boat quickly became known as the lemon of the regatta. In 2000, Team New Zealand held an edge over their rivals in every department from design to crew work and tactics. Rival syndicates quickly grew to envy New Zealand's new "millennium rig" of an ultra-stiff mast which also lowered wind resistance. The fact that six of the challengers have opted for skirts this time indicates that each of the teams believe they have come up with important technology developments, though little will be known until racing begins on October 1. No precautions Not everyone has chosen that course, though. French team Le Defi Areva, Italy's second syndicate Mascalzone Latino and Team Dennis Conner are taking no precautions to protect their hull designs. Team Dennis Conner helmsman Ken Read argues that skirts hide boats from the public as well as from opponents. "The Cup will survive by getting more of the public involved," Read said. "Part of the excitement is seeing the boats. Covering them up just doesn't make any sense." The drive for even the smallest edge in technology has already landed U.S. telecommunications mogul Craig McCaw's OneWorld challenge in hot water. OneWorld were penalized last month for possessing design secrets from three rival syndicates, even though the team argued that the secrets were not used in the design of their two boats. An arbitration panel penalized McCaw's team one point from their total in the coming Louis Vuitton Cup series, a seemingly small penalty but one which could have a telling effect in perhaps the strongest challengers' field ever assembled.
Copyright 2003 Reuters Limited. All rights reserved. |
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