Cup-king takes e-mail mate aboard

By SUZANNE MCFADDEN

Nick Dana is one of the shortest, and youngest, 17th men in America's Cup history.

Dennis Conner's 13-year-old e-mail buddy from Newport, Rhode Island, was only half the size of the other crew on board Stars & Stripes yesterday.

Auckland's brutal winds conspired against his chance to race in the Louis Vuitton Cup, but he was still overawed by his stint on board the boat which leads the semifinal series.

His place on Stars & Stripes may have been seen as a little contentious - Nick is the son of New York Yacht Club vice-commodore, Charlie Dana.

Conner, sailing for the Cortez Racing Club, probably isn't on New York's Christmas card list these days, but he has known Dana junior since he was born, in the days when the America's Cup king sailed out of Newport.

"He's quite a cool kid - we e-mail each other," Conner said. "And he has a pet llama.

"He had no idea that he was going sailing today. He thought he was going out on the Daintry II [Conner's tender].

"I wouldn't have sent him out there, though, if I had known it was going to be so rough. But it looks like he handled it fine."

Decked out in wet-weather gear belonging to Conner's wife, Daintry, Nick said he had no problem staying on his feet, rocked by the 30-knot winds and messy seas.

"It was fun - but it was extremely wet," he said.

Nick has never sailed in an America's Cup race before, but he has been sailing on cup boats since he was a toddler. Once a year, he crews on old cup defenders from the 1960s and 70s - boats like American Eagle, Weatherley and Intrepid.

The Dana family had planned a holiday in New Zealand to cheer on their syndicate, Young America. But they arrived too late.

Nick hopes one day to sail in an America's Cup where he can work and talk on the boat. His 18-year-old brother, Eli, will probably beat him to it - he has plans to be part of the next Young America campaign.