Yachting: First of Cup challengers in America on the way

By Suzanne McFadden

The first of the new America's Cup challenge yachts is on its way to Auckland, sent off with a bucket of San Francisco seawater yesterday.

America True's bright yellow boat was christened America True yesterday but she will not be truly launched until she arrives in New Zealand in a month's time.

True is the first new generation cup boat to roll out of the shed in the United States.

A dedication ceremony, complete with a Maori welcome, was held for Dawn Riley's one and only raceboat at Pier 17 in San Francisco.

Buddy Melges, winner of the cup with America3 in 1992, doused the yacht's deck with a pail of local seawater - "so she knows where to bring the cup home to," said Riley.

The plan has always been to keep the boat out of American waters until after her cup campaign.

"It doesn't make sense to set up a base anywhere else but in Auckland," Riley said. "It's more cost effective this way, and we'll get more time on the race track."

America True will be the first challengers to set up fulltime in the cup village. The huge shed on their base in the Viaduct was completed yesterday.

Next come the crew, who will start trialing the boat against the former NZL39, the True training boat, on the Hauraki Gulf in July.

"The most important thing people are forgetting is that it's not going to be windy in Auckland every day this winter," Riley said. "In fact, this is a very good time to be sailing there."

Five of the sailing crew are Kiwis - helmsman John Cutler, tacticians Leslie Egnot and Kelvin Harrap, trimmer David Armitage and midbowman David Stevenson. Five other locals will be brought in to help sail the boats before the Louis Vuitton series begins in October.

America True, or USA51, was designed by Phil Kaiko, who helped draw up the winning America3 boats in 1992 and the legendary OneAustralia (now at the bottom of the Pacific) in 1995.

Her shape was kept under wraps yesterday - she remains shrouded in plastic ready for the next part of her journey. The boat was built in Truckee, near the skifields of Tahoe, to get the best effects from the low humidity.

Riley explains: "The low humidity helps the integrity of structure of the boat. When you cook it, the boat comes out stiffer.

"That's why Boeing build their planes in the desert. It's best to keep your boat away from moisture. I think we now have a very good boat."

America True had a long haul before she was unveiled, travelling by truck across the Sierra Mountains and through the Californian goldfields.

Today she will go back on the truck and move to Los Angeles, to catch a ship leaving this weekend for Auckland.

Riley wanted to keep the boat's name the same as the syndicate to avoid the confusion the 1995 women's America3 campaign went through.

"I got tired of the public thinking Mighty Mary was the name of the team, and that we sailed the boat with the mermaid on it."

Two new generation boats have now been completed - America True joining Prada's Luna Rossa. Aloha Racing's first boat Abracadabra 2000 will hit the water on June 12.