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Match Racing Multis: A different direction?


I


t would be safe to say that match racing and multihulls have had a somewhat rocky relationship in the past. The year was 1988 when Mr America’s Cup, Dennis Conner, rocked the sailing world when he turned up to defend the 28th edition in a catamaran.


Conner’s choice of boat was an unconventional response to an unconventional challenge from Kiwi banker Micheal Fay, and, after the two failed to agree on how to best to contest the Cup, it fell to the Deed of Gift to decide for them. The deed, originally written in 1852, states simply that the boats used for the regatta must be single-masted and under 90ft long. Against Conner’s will, the challenge was allowed to stand, and so on September 7, 1988, as Fay and his team took to the water on their 90ft yacht New Zealand, Conner and his Stars and Stripes crew blasted out into San Diego Bay in his super-quick cat.


Gilles Martin-Raget / www.americascup.com MATCH RACING 360° | AUGUST 2011 page | 6


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