SAILING : In High Wind, Skippers Find Boats Are Light-Wind Craft

SAN DIEGO —  Bill Koch says the new International America’s Cup Class boats are “incredibly dangerous” and the men who designed them are “idiots.”

Chris Dickson disagrees. He says maybe his mast fell down Saturday because it was Butsu Metsu Day--the one day a year that Buddha takes off, depriving followers of his protection.

Koch was serious. Dickson? It depends how far the New Zealand citizen is into the culture of the Japanese, for whom he sails.

Winds up to 20 knots swept in the new era of high-tech boats in the Cup with the first race of the IACC World Championship Saturday, and the toll was terrific:

--Three spinnakers (Dennis Conner, two, on Stars & Stripes and Koch on America-3;

--Three spinnaker poles (Conner, Koch and Ville de Paris);

--One steering pedestal (Spain ‘92);

--One boom (Conner);

--One boom vang (Koch);

--One mast (Dickson);

--One soggy crewman (Nippon).

Americans Paul Cayard and John Kolius sailed the two red boats from Italy’s Il Moro di Venezia syndicate to a solid one-two finish, but three of the nine starters were knocked out and Conner limped through most of the 21.1-nautical mile race without a mainsail, finishing sixth, but finishing.

The question for months has been whether the new, high-tech boats could withstand the battering of strong winds and heavy seas.

Nobody expected much of that off Point Loma, but before this event, which runs through next Saturday, two boats--New Zealand and Il Moro--had been dismasted in practice and Dickson predicted there would be more.

There was.

His.

Dickson had just stopped to retrieve a man overboard at one mark when his mast fell down at the next.

Spain and Koch also dropped out, but Conner, after his boom cracked midway of the race, dropped his mainsail and completed the race with only a headsail--although he did raise two spinnakers that blew out.

Koch, a multi-millionaire industrialist, thinks it could get worse.

“I think the guys that made up the rules to design these boats are idiots,” Koch said. “I think these boats are incredibly dangerous. I think someone’s gonna get hurt out here.”

Dickson said: “These boats are . . . a great challenge . . . exactly what the America’s Cup is all about. These are not boats that an average sailor is gonna feel happy with.”