the path to victory. They had sequestered themselves away in Hawaii while many other teams were set up in Fremantle. They skipped the 1986 12-Metre Worlds that gave the other competing teams a taste of the Fremantle Doctor, the howling seabreeze off the Indian Ocean that roils the water. There were times, Whidden says, when they thought those were mis- takes. Especially when they had trouble designing a boat that they felt was fast. ‘We had built a boat that was long and heavy, and it was a dog in light air,’ says Whidden. ‘We watched the 12-Metre Worlds that year and saw that the other teams were considerably shorter in length. We got lulled into thinking too much about the expected windspeed for the Cup, if we made it through, and not enough about how to actually make it to the Cup. We hadn’t considered strongly enough the light air of the opening rounds. And when it all began we weren’t very good.
‘Then it got windier and windier and we were all
set,’ Whidden continues. ‘So I think the pace of programme, the cohe- siveness of the group and some decisions along the way turned out OK. We crescen- doed at the right time.’
As Stars & Stripes began reeling off
victories the US public took note. The races were being broadcast on the upstart cable sports network ESPN in the middle of the night and drawing large viewing audiences. ‘We were told that something like three million people were watching us in the middle of the night,’ Whidden says. ‘The current Cup would kill for that…’ The victory earned the Stars & Stripes crew a ticker tape parade down the ‘Canyon of Heroes’ in New York City, usu- ally a fete reserved for war heroes and astro- nauts. ‘We’re the only crew to have had a ticker tape parade,’ says Whidden. ‘I rode on a float with Dennis, Malin Burnham [syndicate chairman], New York Mayor Ed Koch and Donald Trump. Then we partied for a couple of days. Yes, it was great!’ Conner has called Whidden his best friend, and Whidden is similarly compli- mentary. ‘There’s no guy who’s taught me more about life,’ says Whidden. ‘It’s funny because there are guys who know more about life, but he’s had more influence on me than any other single guy. ‘If you consider there are 20 things that make a programme successful, DC has taught me more about those 20 things through example and by example. That’s two different uses of the phrase, but if you follow him and see how hard he works and how he thinks, he’s got good street sense. He knows how to do things with what he’s got better than most.’ One thing Conner famously knows how to do better than most is estimate time and distance. But he also knows how to scam a buck. Conner is famous for making $1 bets on simple things like how long it’ll take to cross a bridge or how long it might take to return to the dock. He and Whid- den certainly have had their share of bets.
Happier times (above) as Conner rides shotgun with the America’s Cup on the flight back from Fremantle… Not so long before and Conner and Whidden share the pain (top) of losing the America’s Cup in spite of delivering one of the finest displays of match-race sailing ever seen
‘He and I have probably bet something like 6,000 times,’ Whidden says in all seri- ousness. ‘And I’m pretty sure that Dennis hasn’t suckered me more than the others. He and I used to bet on time to the dock when we were sailing the 40ft cats in the Pacific before the big cat was built for the 1988 Cup. One time, to win a dollar from me, he took one of the cats and ran it into the dock head-on, flying a hull. He com- pletely annihilated the dock and the front of the boat, but beat me by two seconds. ‘He completely pissed off all the guys in the camp who had to fix the boats. I said, “Dennis, you’re an idiot.” But it shows how competitive he is.
‘Overall, he probably came out a little ahead of me. Jack Sutphen [Conner’s long- time trial horse skipper] probably paid out something like $20,000 over the years. And they were always $1 bets…’ When Whidden isn’t on the road or in the office he can be found at home, spend- ing time with his wife Betsy,
children
Avery and Holly and grandchildren. He enjoys skiing and powerboating and has even started reading novels… He has an affinity for cars and his collection numbers four. ‘I love cars; got too many of them.’ The road, or rather an owner, is always calling, however, and the week after this interview Whidden was off to Palma de Mallorca for another regatta. But he’s hardly complaining. It’s not the nature
of an obsessive-compulsive personality always looking to gain more knowledge or nowadays help out another owner-driver. ‘When I first started work I figured if I did something I was passionate about I would always love it,’ Whidden says. ‘I had eight employees with Pete Conrad when we bought Sobstad Sails, and now North employs 2,400 people worldwide. I get to sail on the coolest boats with the nicest people. The rest of the days I spend either travelling for business or working here in Connecticut. That’s what drives me. I love it and I’m as passionate about it as ever.’
Name-dropping When it comes to names, Tom Whidden has a Rolodex the size of a Ferris wheel. In a bit sampling it features the likes of Gianni Agnelli, Jim Clarke, George Coumantaros, George David, Jim Kilroy, Terry Kohler, Lindsay Owen-Jones, John B Thomson Jr and Ted Turner. Some are out of the game, some are deceased, some still race, but they all embody Whidden’s ethos of fair play. ‘A good owner is keen and competitive, but doesn’t fly off the handle and get upset,’ Whidden says. ‘An even tempera- ment makes a good owner because, whether he likes it or not, he has a lot of say in the tone of the boat. That’s really important. A good owner sets the tone. ‘Early in my career I thought the impor- tant thing was to help an owner win, even if it meant steering the boat. I don’t believe that now. The best things I can do are help tactically and coach, teach him how to sail the boat well. Hopefully that way he’s going to have more fun and stay in the sport for longer.’
When it comes to who he admires in the business of sailmaking, he rattles off two names without hesitation – Ted Hood and Lowell North, the founders of the epony- mous companies that still bear their names. ‘I’ve always had a lot of respect for Ted Hood,’ says Whidden. ‘When you think about the way he did it, it’s the antithesis of Lowell. Lowell came at it with a scien- tist approach. Ted Hood knew science, but he brought an artistic approach. No person in the world could look at a sail and improve it better than Ted Hood. That’s the theme of my book, The Art & Science of Sails. Ted’s the artist and Lowell the scientist. Unfortunately for Ted, it’s hard to translate to the next guy, to the successors, what he saw and knew; his latent ability. Whereas with Lowell there’s a cookbook. He was easy to follow.’ When asked which sailors he admires Whidden falls back on his old skipper and betting buddy. ‘I would have to say Dennis. I haven’t had the chance to sail with a guy like Russell Coutts. If I had to pick a guy who I would think has a lot of Dennis’s characteristics it’d be Russell. ‘Russell may come from more of a science background than Dennis, but they both combine great natural ability with a serious work ethic... and that’s very tough to go up against.’
SEAHORSE 31
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DANIEL FORSTER
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