KEY POINTS:
My first cup was in 1967
'It was the year I'd just finished the Little America's Cup against Australia (which we won) and my sponsor said would you like me to give you a present? I said "I'd like to go the America's Cup". He said fine. I went and caught the final two races. It was the year that Intrepid defeated Dame Pattie. What a pity that was. Intrepid was a bit of a wonder boat - the first 12m that had a separate rudder from a keel. It was one of Olin Stephens' masterpieces. I enjoyed it and I think I have been enjoying it ever since'.
I went to interview a computer in 1974.
'Courageous was the first yacht to have a multi-functional computer on board. It was in a grey box. The team referred to it as "Sydney Grey Box." I was determined to see it, I really wanted to see it and get a photograph. Back then the boats didn't come out of the water much but I noticed that Courageous was out of the water in Newport one day and I thought this is my opportunity. So I got up at 3am, put on black jeans and a black sweater, drove down to the yard, which was surrounded by a fence topped with barbed wire. I parked the car, climbed onto the roof and over the fence. I found a ladder and put it alongside Courageous, climbed up, and went below. I saw the box and, beside it, there was a list of the 32 functions the computer would do. So I sat there and wrote them down. I took a photo. The next day I went to a little breakfast bar. Already there was Rich McCurdy, the guy who installed the computer. I said to him I understood he had put a computer on Courageous. "Yeah," he said. "What are you doing this morning - why don't you come over and have a look? Bring your camera"'.
Every syndicate had a picture of Australia's wing keel in their office.
'I know the British team had been under that boat the first night it arrived. They swam underneath it, took pictures and measured it. Everybody knew what that keel looked like apart from the Americans. The Americans came up with wings. God they were daft, silly wings. It has always been a technological race.It was from the first America that was sent over to the Old World to prove that New World technology and ship-building was better than Old World'.
How could one ever forget the penultimate leg of the final race in 1983.
'Australia II came from behind and overtook Dennis Conner's Liberty. I was doing a radio show with Stan Zemanek in Sydney. Stan was saying what a wonderful challenge Australia had mounted and that she would be back in three years' time. "That's right isn't it Bob?". "No" I replied. I told everyone it looked as though Australia II was passing Liberty. That was unforgettable. Right to the finish; they won by 41 seconds - which changed the face of the America's Cup. Last December I was talking to Australia's skipper John Bertrand. He told me there were three things in their favour. "Dennis was sailing too low and slow; our spinnaker technology was better; and, finally, we had a 20-degree shift on our side of the course." So I said, "What you are telling me is that the first two didn't matter a lot". He said, "Well not much"'.
Russell Coutts is one of the most outstanding sailors.
'Nobody has won as many races in the America's Cup as him. To take a new team and still come out on top - that is huge talent. Conner was Mr America's Cup for years. I was there when he first did it in '74. He probably wasn't everyone's favourite at times but you have to hand it to him. Ted Turner said of him: "He spent 300 days in a sail boat last year - and him a grown man". It used to be a summer-long affair - suddenly it became a two- three- or four-year campaign'.
You have to hand it to Sir Thomas Lipton, who kept on going. I have a great deal of respect for him.
'I thought Sir Michael Fay was great. Bill Koch was good. He had a love for his event. Not just to sail it and win it. He has a collection of models of all the yachts that have sailed in the cup match. He is a lover of the game. I thought Ernesto Bertarelli might be a good billionaire but he is not proving that now'.
1958 was pretty bad - but 1964 was even worse.
'In 1964 the Brits got a hiding you wouldn't believe. Everyone still talks about Sceptre getting done over in 1958 by Columbia but Sovereign - oh god, that was really disgusting [Sovereign was thrashed by Constellation]. They were pretty ordinary. They got hammered by 20 minutes. They were poor boats, under-funded. Three things undo teams in the America's Cup: Inadequate funds, time or management. Get those in place and you can win'.
"There have been 78 twelve metres all in aluminium, why would you want to build one in glass unless you wanted to cheat," Dennis Conner asked.
'Tom Blackaller, the other American helmsman sitting alongside replied: "I don't think you can say that, Dennis."
"I take it all back," Conner said.
"I don't think you can," Blackaller replied.
I remember that as though it was yesterday. Then there was the debacle in San Diego: "Get off the stage, Farr - you're a loser," Conner told Bruce Farr.
It was black ugly. I wouldn't have missed it for the world'.
Fremantle was wonderful.
'It was friendly, it was all close, it was a small place. And the wind blew. Every day'.
Steak 'n' Kidney would have beaten Conner in Fremantle I am sure of it.
'Steak 'n' Kidney was Syd Fischer's boat which competed in the defender series in Australia. It was a bit short on brass. It started to go when he put a new keel on it. It was a good heavy weather boat. If they had put a good crew on it, a good rig in it, it would have beaten Dennis I am sure of it. Dennis Conner beat Kookaburra to win back the Cup'.
There is nothing I could say wrong about Team New Zealand until 2003.
'When you look at Sir Michael's early bids, the one in Fremantle was great, perhaps they didn't know enough then to know that you had to keep improving all the way through. They had a boat that went fast. They thought if it ain't broke don't fix it. That is not the America's Cup - you have to try and improve it. In 1992 it was a bit designer driven and not management driven. I think you have to management drive things and that's where it all changed in 1995. The management of Team NZ was tremendous. Then to take it to Auckland and defend it. Then once again when certain people left it became a designer driven affair and then look what happened in 2003. The reconstructed Team NZ is doing a great job. I think [Grant] Dalton has grabbed it by its gonads and really shaken it. There is talent. New Zealand's sailing talent is undisputed. All the teams are run by bloody Kiwis - all the good ones anyway'.
I would be very surprised if Alinghi doesn't defend it. Very surprised indeed.
'Unless the guys at BMW Oracle Racing have been sandbagging as I believe they have. If they have a boat that is quick enough then the boys at Alinghi might find it difficult. But I do think the Alinghi sailing package is just so good. It is almost like they do it one-handed. The boat has become extensions of their arms and legs. That is what winning a cup is all about'.
* An Absorbing Interest: The America's Cup. A History 1851-2003 by Bob Fisher was published last month on a limited-edition basis. £200 ($540)
