Yachting: Veteran's dreams blown off water

By SUZANNE McFADDEN

Mike Drummond had waited 13 years to sail in a real America's Cup race - but he will have to wait another day.

Drummond, who has helped to design New Zealand boats in every Cup since 1987, finally made it into the sailing crew yesterday, replacing Tom Schnackenberg as navigator on board NZL60.

He sailed on the big boat in the 1988 fiasco against Dennis Conner - but his job was simply sitting on the side.

"That doesn't even count," 37-year-old Drummond said. "I sailed one race in the 1995 Louis Vuitton Cup against Syd Fischer, but that wasn't very exciting.

"But I was excited about this. I woke up this morning - it was still dark - and I started thinking about it."

It turned out to be a frustrating day for Drummond, structural designer for the black boats and an accomplished all-round sailor.

"It would have been a pretty fitful race. When it wasn't shifty, it would have been puffy," he said.

"Today's wind direction was the worst possible for a sea breeze.

"At one stage we got quite excited - we woke everyone up, got the bags off the boat, and thought we were going to have a race. But it didn't happen, so I'll just have to wait another day."

Drummond was the first crew change on the 16-man Black Magic crew in three races. Schnackenberg, the wise man of New Zealand yachting, sailed the first two as navigator, but decided to step off the race boat yesterday.

Team New Zealand tactician Brad Butterworth said Drummond was likely to stay on the boat for tomorrow's rerun of race three.

"Tom felt happy for someone else - well, Mike - to do it. It's part of the squad concept we've got," he said.

"We've got five or six people who we can exchange on the boat. It's a strength we have in this team."