Yachting: Oh, for another sinking to give the public something to read

By ANGUS PHILLIPS

I hate to wish bad luck on anyone, but the folks back home sure could use another near-sinking.

Not since Young America cracked like a biscuit and threatened to swim with the fishes has the American audience shown keen interest in this America's Cup, at least as far as I can tell from 10,000 miles away.

Young America's disaster struck a nerve. The photos and story had folks buzzing at the barbershop.

Since then there's been no shortage of drama on the Louis Vuitton front, what with Dennis Conner's troubles with the crooked rudder, the dismasting and quick revival of Prada, the downwind wizardry of Le Defi, Dawn Riley's remarkable last day and the relentless press of Cayard and Co.

And that's not to mention the secretive Kiwis, who if they could would probably only come out at night like the flightless birds for which they're nicknamed.

But none of it, none of it, has the appeal of seasoned sailors diving off a sinking craft in whitecapped seas. Ed Baird played it cool when he said, "I've been on a lot of boats that broke, but this is the first time I ever had to jump off one." The readers back home ate it up.

So forgive me if I incline an ear a bit too eagerly from my perch on the press boat, listening for that rending "CRACK!" that shouts: Page One! Page One!

I've covered every America's Cup since 1980, but the two times anything really spectacular happened, the sinking of OneAustralia and the near-sinking of Young America, I was home, recreating the scene through the magic of the telephone.

It's terrible when the best stories you write, you have to fake.

My prediction: AmericaOne 5-2.

* Angus Phillips is the sailing writer for the Washington Post. He has covered seven America's Cups.