No Wind in Sales of America’s Cup Charter Boats : Landlubbers Will Have Best View on Race Days

Charter boat operator Bob Groening figures he’s got his bases covered when the America’s Cup race is staged off Point Loma this week.

He hopes to line up a party of six to charter his 60-foot refurbished trawler, Black Tie, for $1,200. He’ll take them out to sea for what he expects to be an ocean-going tailgate party of sorts and even a glimpse of the two competing sailboats.

If he doesn’t charter his boat, he will watch the race from what he believes will be the best seat in the house. He’ll stay ashore and cozy up to a big-screen TV for live coverage of the race.

The Coast Guard says it is anyone’s guesstimate how many vessels will head out to sea on race days--4,000 is as good a guess as any, ranging in size from two-man sailboats to 600-passenger ferries.

But it seems that sailing enthusiasts who take the sport seriously will be landlubbers Wednesday and Friday for the first two races of the best-of-three competition for the America’s Cup. A third race, if necessary, is scheduled for next Sunday.

Escorts for High-Noon Start

At most, some serious race fans will experience the hoopla by joining the flotilla of boats that will escort Dennis Conner’s Stars & Stripes and Michael Fay’s New Zealand out of the San Diego Harbor, and maybe even watch the two boats maneuver for the high-noon start.

But, once the 40-mile race is under way Wednesday, they say they will high-tail it back to shore and watch the race on television because cameras will follow the action from the air, from chase boats and even from the two sailboats themselves. The San Diego Yacht Club, home of Dennis Conner and the current roost of the America’s Cup, has lined up a dozen TV monitors for its members, who will root for their man from land.

Even the number of casual spectators who intend to watch the race from sea seems less than what some charter operators had hoped for.

Slow Sales

Charter boat companies late last week were reporting slow ticket sales, with one operator saying he was glad he didn’t take the free advice of a friend that he line up as many charter boats as possible for a quick killing.

“I didn’t do that, and I’m glad I didn’t,” said Vince Sims, president of San Diego Bay Charter Co., whose boats for hire include 34-foot-sloops and a 55-foot-power boat that rents for $5,000 a day.

“I never convinced myself there would be a horrendous demand to go out into the water, except maybe from corporate people and the media,” Sims said. “People have come out of the woodwork saying, ‘Hey, I’ve got a 40-footer and a captain’s license, and I’ll go out for the race if you book me.’ But I’ve had no heavy bookings or interest in these boats yet.

“The majority of people who are going out are getting tickets for cattle boats,” including ocean-going ferries and fishing scows, he said.

But tickets weren’t moving that swiftly for those spectator-boat charters either, operators said last week.

San Diego Harbor Excursion has lined up two 600-passenger ferries that usually make the San Pedro-Catalina Island run for Catalina Cruise, but tickets--at $85 a pop--”are going real slow,” said general manager Ron Dribben.

“This may be the calm before the storm,” he said. “People may be waiting till the last minute to buy tickets, but our ticket sales are off to a slow start.”

Grant Nichols, of H & M Landing, said it has lined up two boats for spectator viewing of the race, at $100 a ticket. Each boat can carry up to 75 people and is “mostly booked,” especially “by secretaries calling in from back East to see if we have room for their bosses.”

$250 for the Invader

Perhaps the most expensive public spectator boat in San Diego is the Invader, the largest licensed passenger sailing schooner on the West Coast. Tickets cost $250, which includes a bar, food and race commentary. Invader Cruises Vice President Eric Lund said he hopes to take 250 spectators to sea in it; by late last week, it was half sold out.

The relatively slow ticket sales may be credited to warnings from the Coast Guard that boats will have to keep their distance from the race course, and because very few boats will be able to keep pace with the two competing sailboats.

For those heading out to sea Wednesday, the best vantage point is said to be the start-finish line, about 4 1/2 miles off Ocean Beach. Spectators will be kept 1 1/2 miles from the starting line, but will be able to watch Stars & Stripes and New Zealand maneuver and position themselves for the start.

The closest that spectator boats will be able to get to the course itself will be a half-mile off the seaward buoy at the end of the 20-mile outward leg of the course, where the two competitors will make the U-turn for home.

But boats stationed at the far end will have to remain there until the second of the two sailboats turns for home, meaning the spectator boats will not be able to witness the first boat crossing the finish line and will probably fall behind the second boat as it heads back.

The Coast Guard hopes to keep spectators two miles off the course itself--but that imaginary line will fluctuate depending on the course the two sailboats actually take.

“The New Zealand boat may have to tack (head off diagonally into the wind) 10 miles at a 45-degree angle, then tack back 10 miles,” said Coast Guard spokesman Charles Embleton. The Coast Guard will have to clear the path ahead of it, with the help of a helicopter and the fastest boats in its fleet of 80 vessels assigned to monitor the race, he said.

“From the onset, the Coast Guard and Sail America have discouraged viewers from positioning themselves along the leg of the race,” Embleton said. Sail America is managing the San Diego Yacht Club’s defense of the Cup.

Friday’s race will follow a 39-mile-long triangular course, which, because of the configuration, will probably keep the two sailboats closer on line along two of its three legs, thereby letting spectators position themselves along the race course with less risk of being moved by the Coast Guard.

There will be concern that some boaters, unappreciative of the speed the two competitors will be traveling, may try to cross the race path.

“There’s the possibility of some boats trying to cross the course when they can barely see the sails, and finding the sailboats all of a sudden right on top of them,” Coast Guard Cmdr. Jack Scarborough said.

Catamaran Could Tip Over

The fear isn’t of an actual collision but that a spectator boat’s wake may create enough chop to disrupt or totally upset the sailboats--especially Conner’s 60-foot catamaran, which is susceptible to tipping in choppy water.

Scarborough also expressed concern that some boaters, finding they have four hours on their hands between the start and finish of the race, may overimbibe on the high seas and create further nuisances.

Not only do boaters face fines of up to $1,000 for reckless behavior, but they also risk having their vessels boarded by the Coast Guard for full-fledged searches--an hours-long procedure that would more than dampen their party mood, Scarborough noted.

Yet another option for viewing the race is from the air. Already, an estimated 25 helicopters and two blimps have been chartered by the media to photograph and televise the race.

Moreover, Federal Aviation Administration officials acknowledge that, although they are asking pilots to sign letters of agreement governing their race-day behavior, they wield little authority over international water.

One FAA official who asked not to be identified said he had no idea whether private aircraft will try to fly over the race course. He said he can only expect them to follow common-sense rules of the air and not endanger themselves or hinder the race by flying too low, creating an air wash that could affect sailing and lead to an official protest.

Sail America spokesman Tom Mitchell said private pilots trying to fly into the area “would be dangerous as hell,” given the air-traffic congestion expected.

“We want people to understand that (flying) around the area for the fun of it may sound great, it’s just not the way to go.”

Mitchell suggested that race fans not go on the water at all but instead experience the race excitement at the America’s Cup Village at Seaport Village, where more than 50,000 people are expected to watch the race on television monitors.

Visiting Kiwis are also being encouraged to watch the race from the America’s Cup Village, said Graeme Colman, spokesman for the New Zealand challenge.

Colman said as many as several thousand Kiwis are expected to be in San Diego this week, and most are making their own arrangements on viewing the race. Several hundred Kiwis--including the family of the New Zealand crew--are expected to be on the water, in private yachts and sailboats owned by San Diegans supporting Fay’s bid to win the Cup.

“But for most of our supporters, the America’s Cup Village would seem to be the place to be,” Colman said.

Early arrivals will also be able to watch as Stars & Stripes, with its innovative wing sail, and the 133-foot New Zealand, with its 150-foot-high mast, pass Seaport Village before and after the race.

Alternative parking for the America’s Cup Village will be available at the old Navy Hospital in Balboa Park, where shuttle buses will make runs every five minutes, he said.

Asked People Not to Come

Rangers at Cabrillo National Monument at the tip of Point Loma have issued a press release urging visitors not to go there with hopes of watching the race.

Ranger Tracey Smith noted that there is parking for only 350 vehicles and it is usually half full on normal days. Besides, she said, the race will begin too far out to sea to be visible from the park.

Space will also be a problem for out-of-town boaters thinking of coming to San Diego this week, officials say.

Virtually no boat slips are available in San Diego County, though boaters can anchor in San Diego Bay in areas designated by San Diego Harbor police. And San Diego has created a special free temporary anchorage in Mission Bay capable of accommodating 300 vessels.

Concern about accommodations and how close they can get to the race course seems to be dampening interest from boaters north of San Diego, officials and yacht club spokesmen along the coast say.

“There’s quite a bit of interest in the race, but, because of all the publicity about how poor the viewing will be, I don’t think too many of us will be going down,” said a staff employee at the Long Beach Yacht Club. “It’s going to be hard to find a place to berth overnight, and it’s too far to go down there and come back the same day.”

Terry Ward, commodore of the King Harbor Yacht Club in Redondo Beach, said most of his club’s members will stay in Los Angeles. “The boats will be so far apart, it won’t be much of a spectator race to see from the water,” he said. “It’ll take TV coverage to see it all.”