Knives in the Water (Cont.)

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Outside Magaine November 2002

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Knives in the Water (Cont.)

DAY AFTER DAY in the coming months, the nine challengers will submit themselves to the grueling test of the Louis Vuitton Cup. In an endless series of cliffhangers, every boat and crew will be probed for weakness. Did Oracle BMW Racing spend Ellison's millions wisely, or did GBR Challenge, Team Dennis Conner, or Victory Challenge somehow find more boat speed at half the cost? Will Prada come back stronger after its meltdown in the 2000 America's Cup final, or is the team still singed? Will Coutts and Butterworth have enough pure talent to lead a first-time Swiss syndicate to victory?

Regardless of the answers, every challenger is united in a single goal: to beat Team New Zealand. "They have had the Cup for too long," read a memo posted at Team Dennis Conner's California training base. "It costs the taxpayer too much to stage it, all the good guys left the home team...all the locals do is complain about having it. We will be doing them a favor if we take it with us when we leave."

As the challengers jockey for a place, Team New Zealand will be lying in wait, carefully observing, refining its boats based on what they see. Not that New Zealand needs much of an edge. The little island nation produces elite sailors like East Africa produces long-distance runners, and has transformed itself from a first-time challenger in 1987 to an America's Cup powerhouse. Team New Zealand won a staggering 41 of 43 races to take the challenger series in 1995, and blanked Dennis Conner 5Ð0 in the America's Cup final to bring the trophy to Auckland. In 2000, Coutts and company also dismantled Prada 5Ð0, leading at every mark of every race.

Despite the talent drain and Team New Zealand's relative poverty—its $40 million budget is less than Larry Ellison dropped on Katana—most of the sailors along Syndicate Row expect a real dogfight in the final. Team New Zealand's supporters say it has been reborn, led by Dean Barker, Coutts's heir apparent, and the young guns who stayed loyal. Barker, 29, is a natural and gifted sailor who seems at ease with his new superstar role as he tools around Auckland in a Lexus coupe—a loaner from team sponsor Toyota. He was Coutts's sparring partner for the 2000 Cup, and he beat the master in roughly half their practice races. Opponents describe Barker as being a magical sailor. "Sometimes he is simply unbeatable," says Victory Challenge's Jesper Bank. "When he is at his best, he'll always come out of tight situations on top."

If Barker has a weakness, though, it is his inconsistency. The job of keeping him focused falls to Team New Zealand syndicate chief Tom Schnackenberg. A former nuclear physicist, Schnackenberg, 57, has been involved in the America's Cup since 1977 and is now in his eighth campaign. Dennis Conner calls him "the best brain in sailing." Laid-back and cerebral, he mixes sailors, designers, and inspiration together like an alchemist, and always seems to come up with superior boat speed.

Sitting in a meeting room at Team New Zealand's base, Schnackenberg puts his feet up on the table and talks modestly about his chances. But you can tell he is relishing the idea of beating the odds once again, of working his magic to outsail the most determined big-money assault the Cup has ever seen. He just doesn't think it will be as easy.

"In 1995 no one saw us coming. No one rated us," he says. "In 2000, people took aim at us but missed completely by aiming at where we were in '95. This time around I can't fault what anyone has done at all."

No one knows what Schnackenberg and Team New Zealand have come up with, and no one will see it until February, when the yachts are unveiled just prior to the Cup finals. Does Schnackenberg have some critical innovation up his sleeve?

"If you can make just a bit of effort and create a reaction, then you make a gain," he says with a grin. "But when it comes to boat speed, the truth will always out."

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