Error In Judgment Gives Kiwis Opener Team New Zealand Beneficiary Of Wrong Guess By Americans

On a day with high clouds and a brisk breeze brushing the course, the two yachts in the America’s Cup match paced each other like two heavyweights in the ring together for the first time.

It was New Zealand’s Black Magic 1 that prevailed, using an edge in boat speed and a better eye on the wind shifts to defeat Dennis Conner and his Stars & Stripes team on Young America by 2 minutes 45 seconds. The victory gives the challengers a 1-0 record in the five-of-nine America’s Cup series. It also gives New Zealand, which has tried and failed three times before to get past the challengers’ trials, its first victory in the history of the America’s Cup.

The team has a slogan, “This time,” and according to Black Magic’s crew, winning has become almost an obsession in New Zealand. The country of 3.5 million people, which has made heroes of its national rugby team, the All Blacks, is setting its highly competent cup sailors on the same pedestal.

“They were relieved that they were at least competitive with Young America,” Alan Sefton, a Team New Zealand manager, said after the race.

Conner said after the race on Saturday that his boat’s electronics went out right after the start. His crew was “flustered,” he said, that they couldn’t sail Young America to its potential. But he also gave credit to the New Zealanders.

“Our guys sailed the boat pretty darn well today,” Conner said. “The reason we lost was not because we didn’t know the boat. The better boat won today. They sailed a little better, and had a little better speed upwind.”

Still, the Conner crew wasn’t at its tactical best when it needed it most - in the first leg. The wind was coming in from the west at about 14 knots at the start. In classic matchracing form, the two yachts - the jetblack Kiwi challenger and the mermaid-splashed American defender - circled each other aggressively.

With less than a minute before the start gun, the opponents broke off, both on starboard tack and headed up to the mark. The seas, which were slopping at the boats’ topsides in 6-foot swells and chop, didn’t help with timing. But both teams, which had been using three months of trial racing to get to that single moment, crossed the line with only a second difference between them.

Black Magic 1 went to the right side of the course and Young America to the left. The crew on Young America could be overheard on microphones talking about how the wind looked as if it might go left. But the opposite proved to be the case. Within 7 minutes of the start, Young America tacked to check in with its New Zealand adversary, and found that the news wasn’t good.

Black Magic 1 was about two boatlengths ahead. Several times after that, Young America came back, having been forced each time by Russell Coutts, skipper of Black Magic 1, to tack back to the left for clear air.

But the key maneuver came about three-quarters of the way into that first leg. Having gained some on the left, Paul Cayard, who was steering Young America for Conner, dipped under Black Magic 1’s stern. Cayard headed off to the right, where he ended up having to sail past the lay line, which meant sailing more distance than he had to. Apparently happy to accommodate, Black Magic scooted off to the left, where there appeared to be more wind.