By Jere Dennison

Last month, the History column spotlighted club member Rives Potts and his involvement in the America’s Cup campaigns beginning in 1980 with the NYYC’s last successful defense of the Cup. At our urging, Rives has jotted down a delightful synopsis of all of his campaign experiences to share with us.

Personal Recollections of the America’s Cup 1980 – 1996

By Rives Potts

One of the things that made the 1980 campaign particularly important, as AC historians look back on it today (the last great defense!) is that it was the first campaign that started sailing 18 months before the actual Cup races, with two boats, and literally did not stop for a day off for those 18 months. We launched the boats in the spring in 1979 and sailed non-stop until the Cup in September 1980...trucking the boats to San Diego for the winter...leaving Rhode Island in a snow storm on Thanksgiving Day...stopping on day 3 in El Paso, TX at a truck stop, where Nancy and I painted the deck of Freedom under the parking lot lights at night...arriving in San Diego two days later and sailing that afternoon.

 

 

 

Rives Potts on America II in Fremantle 1986

Nancy and I lived with Dennis and Judy Conner at their house in San Diego, and except for sleeping, I do not think DC and I were apart for more than a few minutes during our entire stay in CA. We raced up and down the coast in Long Beach, Newport Beach, Los Angeles, Marina del Rey, Mexico, and countless 14-hour days training and testing off of Coronado Island. Nancy ran our office at the San Diego YC, made sandwiches for us every day, and sailed with us quite often. It was a lot of work, but heaps of fun, and when we got back to Newport, RI, we were ready. I believe we won 49 of 51 races through the trials and the Cup. Total obsession was not an overstatement. The AC historians say that the Freedom effort for that Cup defense changed the Cup forever. The full time effort, the single mindedness of Dennis, and the relentless testing and training, set new standards that had to be met and exceeded for anyone seriously interested in challenging or defending for the Cup. It was fun to be a part of it!

 

In 1983, I did do the whole 2 1/2 years, with trips to Newport and back and forth to San Diego for sailing sessions, building the trial horse Magic, and working on many of the technical features on the boats. But my growing boatyard business and the fact that Nancy was due with our second child in early September led me to decide to step aside for one of the younger guys to move up into my spot. It was tough to see Liberty lose in the seventh race, but in retrospect, Australia II's win was the best thing to ever happen to the America's Cup.

Although I sailed with Dennis for the next few years in races all over the world, I had signed on with the NYYC to sail and help put together its effort to challenge for the Cup in Australia. When DC was not selected by the NYYC to be its skipper, I was disappointed, but had a decision to make...go with DC, or to stay with the America II group I had started this effort with. 18 trips to Australia over the next four years, and a lot of tough sailing was a challenge. And going into the last set of eliminations, our group had the best record. But DC came up with the fastest boat in the end and did and great job winning the Cup back...but not for the New York Yacht Club, but rather the San Diego YC.

Thus entered in a whole new era of uncharted ground ... a defense in San Diego, and ultimately, a lop-sided race between a 60' catamaran and a 130' monohull behemoth, and a lot of lawyers in the mix. After that unfortunate time, the San Diego Protocol was agreed on and the era of the new 80' AC Class boats was born.

I joined Dennis and the Stars & Stripes crew for his 1992 effort and spent a good bit of the next two years in San Diego sailing and testing, and building keels, steering systems, and other newly minted gadgets that these new boats spawned. I shared the mainsheet duties with Vince Brun, handling the grinding, and the hydraulic mast controls. The program was pretty much like our 1980 effort, with a lot of time sailing after the wind came up at 11 am every day, and late nights and mornings modifying and keeping this new boat sailing. Our budget was relatively small, and we had only one boat to work with. The learning curve was steep with this new type of boat, but we could not keep up with the America3 program's five boats, and we lost to them in the finals of the defense trials. They did a super job and went on to win against a superbly sailed Italian team skippered by Paul Cayard.

After every one of these cup campaigns, you say that you will never do one again. Too much time, tough on the body, and family and business have to take a back seat. I said this after the 1992 Cup, but then decided to throw my hat in the ring once again in 1996. Dennis called and asked for one more effort...one that would be well funded and with a good shot at it. We had two boats this time, and the training wasn't as intense, as the team knew how to sail. But the boat testing took over and countless hours were spent testing the computer programs predictions, and modifying the appendages and spars to gain those elusive one or two boat lengths over the 25-mile course. I signed on to help with the technical side and to help with the two boat testing sessions and practice races, on a part time basis. It was a huge challenge, and a lot of work, and I enjoyed every bit of it.

But I could see that the quest for the Cup was changing. The costs were huge and the era of the full time professional sailors had arrived. With the rules of nationality relaxed, designers, sailors, boat builders and support crews, were moving between countries at will. Our own countryman, designer Doug Peterson, was the mastermind behind the Kiwi smashing 5-0 of Stars & Stripes in the Cup in 1996. At the ripe old age of 46, I decided to retire from this level of racing, and get back to sailing with family and friends. It was a good ride.