Your Blogster Drives America's Cupper

It’s like no sailing I’d ever done before, sailing aboard America II last week, one of Dennis Connor’s “12 meter” yachts built in the 1980s. Obviously, it’s fast, long, low, can be wet and powerful. Less obvious: It’s also extremely sensitive to tiny changes in steering from one of the two wheels and just a blast to sail. I was sailing with Michael Fortenbaugh, head of the Manhattan Sailing Club and School in New York Harbor as part of the first Classic Sailboat Race around the bay in front of the Statue of Liberty.

It was awesome in speed (we topped 9 knots in modest winds), leaving vintage schooners in the dust. A couple of brand new, custom 76-footers (Wild Horses and White Horses), flying spinnakers, actually beat us across the finish line, but we didn’t really care. Just sailing an an America’s Cup boat is its own reward!

Down below on this America’s Cupper, there’s literally nothing at all. Nothing: No head, no seats, no stove, no bulkheads, no windows, no floor. And it's dark down there. There's nothing, just ribs and ugly industrial stuff. There aren’t even steps to drop down into this “aluminum hell hole” filled with sailbags and loose extra gear. You hop down onto a pipe step, of sorts, to gain access to this private hell. Spending any time down here would be both claustrophobic and irrational.

Most exciting, when you sail these boats, EVERYONE IS YOUR FRIEND: Even those oblivious Staten Island ferry captains, water taxi drivers and other mega yachts. All try to come alongside to wave and go ooh-ah. Photo-op! Kodak Moment! These sailboats sail impressively, with their massive sails and sleek lines. There’s no mistaking their uniqueness. No thinking they might be private yachts. These beasts are a whole different thing.

The enormous “barrel winches” seem like overkill - - giant drums linked to one- or two-man grinding stations, that operate with a smoothness reserved for only the finest mechanisms. Pulling in and easing out the sheets takes some planning and thought, since it involves EVERYONE. You just don’t want to get any of your clothing or fingers into any of these devices. Picture extreme pain, lopped out appendages, lots of blood and screaming….

Right at the dock we identified “safety zones” where you could sit and be relatively safe, away from these massively powerful lines and fittings. For example, the vang on this particular boat is attached to a semi-circular track, onto which a car travels to its own tune. Getting a hand, foot or clothing trapped under this car could prove immediately debilitating!

I hovered around the little pit next to the mast where the halyards end up in little net bags, though I also steered and handled most every other job, now and then. All the while, your heart pumps, your smile lingers, you stand taller and feel like king of the hill and everything else in view.

There actually are THREE of these America II “Challenger” yachts (a.k.a., Stars & Stripes): US-42, US-44 and US-46. This final one was the one that Dennis Connor raced in the Challenger series, then he switched to US-55 and won the Cup in Fremantle, against Australia, in 1987. (Some of the exact history here is imprecise. Further research is necessary before quoting me.) The other two America II’s still sail and are birthed in Greenwich, CT, US-42, and in Maui, Hawaii, US-44, where the public also may also take thrilling sails.

The decks are abrasive non-skid, so it’s pretty easy to get scraped knees if you kneel down. The lifelines don’t continue all the way to the bow, so the last 15 feet or so you’re on your own, balancing on an increasingly narrow, pitching deck if you choose to “go forward,” stand by the headstay,and see around the giant genoa. These boats shout practicality and functionality, not creature comfort, sort of like a stock car versus a regular car you or I might drive on public streets.

Raising the main first involves removing the sail cover, a major operation - - you literally have to climb up onto the boom, well above eye level (no I didn’t volunteer for this), to unzip the thing. Falling off the boom at the dock would get your day off to a lousy start, and maybe involve a trip to the local hospital. Again, most every operation involves group discussion and participation to avoid breaking or tearing sails and ruining expensive gear – not to forget bruising or breaking parts of your body. Carrying the genoa from below and unfolding it involves at least three strong people. The fabric feels like it could repel bullets.

The boat’s forward momentum is impressive. Its turning radius and sensitivity to minor changes just amazing. (You wouldn’t think that one person moving from one side to the other would make that big a different. Change in the boat’s sailing characteristics were actually dramatic, if you did so, though unless everyone hiked out, there wasn’t much difference in healing. The sails are that powerful. It took all hands on the rail to make modest healing corrections.)

Upwind, we literally could steer right at a mark, even if it were directly upwind. The boat could easily “coast” around it with its momentum. Coming about, you could sit a few moments head-to-wind while sails are adjusted (pulled in mostly) before heading out onto the new tack. Doing this in most other boats would mean sitting helplessly in irons the no-sail zone.

The masthead fly (Windex) is way, way up there, mostly superfluous, since the winds up there could prove to be somewhat different that what you were feeling on your face. The gigantic, flat main did show some artificial luff or backwinding, caused by the huge genoa, but it was easily removed with sail adjustments. We didn’t crank on most of the minor sail controls (outhaul, Cunningham, etc.) in this relatively easy race, since we definitely did NOT want to break anything, draining the maintenance budget.

All in all, it was a revealing, humbling sail. Sailing one of the proposed 90-footers in 2009's mastch race is most unimaginable. It’s going to be beyond human experience, at least those of the typical sailor. These guys will have to be tough, focused, STRONG, BRUISERS. Best of luck - - you heard it here first!

Sailor, Businessman, Philanthropist

Few have clue one about the background of the current America’s Cup holder (not Alinghi, the boat, but Ernesto Bertarelli, the Swiss billionaire). He’s actually an avid sailor, businessman, philanthropist and family man. He himself served as navigator aboard Alinghi during his first America’s Cup win in 2003, then as afterguard runner and grinder - - GRINDER (!) - - aboard Alinghi in 2007, when they again won the Cup. (Two cents says he steered now and then, but that’s probably just a guess….)

First, despite his name, Mr. Bertarelli actually spent the bulk of his life in Switzerland. He moved there in 1977 from Rome, his birth city, at the age of 12. A graduate of Babson College, just outside of Boston, he went on to earn a coveted Master of Business Administration degree from the Harvard Business School.

In 1966, he was named Chief Executive Officer and Deputy Chairman of Serono, SA, a global biotechnology firm, which he inherited from his father. From 1996 to 2006, revenue skyrocketed from $809 million to $2.8 billion. Sereno had discovered a natural hormone used in the treatment against female infertility. The big payoff came to Mr. Bertarelli in 2006, when he SOLD the company to Merck KGag of Germany for $13.3 billion, which formed a new company called Merck-Serono.

Second, sailor-yachtman Ernesto won some prestigious international sailing competitions before going after the America’s Cup, including the world-class Sardinia Cup in 1998 and the Bol d’Or FIVE times. He also finished third in the grueling Fastnet Race in 1999.

One of the first Alinghi boats was, in fact, his high-performance CATAMARAN, the 12.5 meter Alinghi IV. In it, he won (as a crewmember) the 12m “Worlds,” the Swedish Match Cup in Marstrand. From here, he finished FIRST in the FARR 40 WORLDS - - as helmsman - - certainly among sailing's MOST COMPETITIVE REGATTAS.

Your Blogster estimates that few other America’s Cup winner/director/sponsors have had such illustrious sailboat-racing careers. It seems he didn’t just BUY the cup after all!

Just last month, his Team Alinghi finished first in the Challenge Julius Baer, the multihulls’ season championship on Lake Geneva. And he keeps on racing here and there on a grand scale.

Third, in 2000, he founded the Team Alinghi syndicate, representing the Swiss Society Nautique de Geneve club. Three years later, he was to win the Louis Vuitton Cup, the the Challenger elimination matches leading up to the America’s Cup, then went on to win the Cup, beating Team Zealand in Auckland, their home turf.

He won it on his first attempt and brought it back to Europe. He beat ‘em again in 2007, but it was darned close - - a one-second victory in the final match-up, winning 5 of the 7 races. (Your Blogster: If he'd stop hiring some of their best guys, maybe they could win it back, but just about all's fair in love, war and the America's Cup races!)

Fourth, his two America’s Cup victories garnered for him the Knight of the National Order of Merit and the Legion d’Honneur by France’s President Jacques Chirac, and the Cavaliere di Gran Croce by Carlo Azeglio Ciampi, President of the Italian Republic.

Fifth, in 1999, Ernesto Bertarelli and his family started a foundation for promoting a better understanding of the cause and cure of infertility. The Foundation FABER, in Lausanne, and the Bertarelli Foundation in Trelex, Switzerland, merged in 2006.

They focus on supporting research and development in the field of MALE and FEMALE infertility, assisted reproduction technologies, andrology, genetics and endocrinology. They also support training, education and international/national information exchanges in these areas via grants. They promote education regarding couples’ infertility and the recognition of the condition as a DISEASE.

In addition, he serves as a director of UBS AG, the global banking empire, and a director of the Harvard Medical School Board of Fellows, having previously served as a member of the PhRMA Board and BIO Board in the United States. He’s also Chairman of Kedge Capital Partners Ltd., an investment management firm specializing in hedge funds and private equity portfolios.

Last but not least, he and his wife have three children, all of whom reside in Switzerland.

Two Class Acts: USA Hosts Alinghi Chief

Without fanfare or public announcement, Ernesto Bertarelli, 42 (!), two-time America’s Cup winner (Alinghi) hopped into his jet this past week and zoomed over to New York and San Francisco to “drop in” on two famous local yacht club venues - - you guessed it - - the New York Yacht Club on Manhattan’s West 44th Street and then the famed St. Francis YC. American-born Ed Baird (Alinghi helmsman and impressive sailor in his own right) joined the parties.

As all sailors know, the New York YC held the America’s Cup in its clutches for 132 years. It was securely housed in a gorgeous glass case (your Blogster saw it there a few years back) virtually in the entranceway of the club, among the stunning scale models of America’s Cup boats of years gone by. The San Francisco club hosted Ernesto, who spoke sans notes for 35 minutes, having sold out the event in 49 minutes. His reception was both upbeat and pleasant.

Anyway, both clubs rolled out the red carpet and, and in one case, lobster and Italian wine, your Blogster has been told, welcoming Mr. Bertarelli seemingly as a long lost relation – with open arms and all the camaraderie and respect that could be garnered from these high-end, global racers. The New York City-based club has already placed a photo of the visit on its web site at http://www.nyyc.org/ .

Of course, it didn’t hurt that Mr. Bertarelli had BROUGHT WITH HIM the ACTUAL America’s Cup for everyone to see (but not touch, without white gloves, and not without permission if its two “body guards”). Needless to say the private dinners at each club were “sold out” and great fun for all. Members lined up outside like it was a Bruce Springsteen concert at the Meadowlands arena in New Jersey.

New York Yacht Club Commodore Charles Townsend hosted an exclusive dinner for about a dozen of yachting’s elite. Startlingly, the Cup was placed more or less in its original place during the visit and, apparently, seemed quite at home (“No hard feelings if we keep it awhile, Ernesto?” someone must have thought to ask…but didn’t.) No insider info available on this confab, sorry.

The next day, Mr. Bertarelli was back at the NYYC in spaces, which they graciously made available (remember, he’s got THE CUP with him), to meet with variety of news media big- and small-fry, while attempting to re-new and expand interest in this august event. Media included radio and print journalists, asking everything from what’s the cup made of, to what did he have for breakfast that morning, it seemed. One "reporter" (Cory Friedman of Sailing Scuttlebutt) pretending to be a public defender, tried to rattle Mr. Bertarelli with convoluted legal questioning, but Defender "defended" himself with credibility and style, it's said.

To one and all, the current cup holder answered with an engaging dignity and the credible humility required of world-record holders, your Blogster has heard.

No TV bothered to show in NYC or in SF. Maybe this visit conflicted with local criminal activity or Hollywood puff pieces from Paris Hilton.

Anyway, what did they serve the Defender while at the New York Yacht Club?

Maine Lobster Salad, Herb Crusted Lamb Boil and Lamb Porterhouse, and Fresh Berries “Napoleon” with Mascarpone Cream and Crème Anglaise. It was all prepared by Executive Chef Antonio Cinicola. They washed it all down with a fitting Montaribaldi Moscato d’Asti (2006). Just thought you’d like to know.