[Contents] [Comment] [Home] [Up] [Previous]

Sailing Magazine Review

To the best power. There is that memorable photograph from the last America's Cup in which victorious Bill Koch is holding up the unwieldy America's Cup in a defiant, straightarm-above his head pose. There is something in that photo that is remniscent of the pose of the successful fisherman, back on the dock, holding up his trophy catch for the camera, and for time immemorial.

America's Cup victory poses are, of course, indigenous to the grandest of racing, which was sailed off San Diego in the May 9th - 16th match.

It's not surprising that sailors like to tell us how they achieved such a great accomplishment: winning the America's Cup. Bill Koch, not a lifelong sailor, not a professional sailor, not a member of the sailing fraternity, contracted this account, "To the Third Power - The Inside Story of Bill Koch's Winning Strategies for the America's Cup" (Tilbury House, $24.95, 272 pages) by Paul C. Larsen.

Winning the America's Cup in 1992, as Bill Koch did with an approach never before enjoined to winning Cup campaings, is about much more than being the best sailor in the world. Koch, the iconoclast of the America's Cup scene, saw the challenage as all-new frames of mind. It was a scientific exercise, it was a corporate program, it was a challenge of organization, and it was a belief in the talents of every man.

Doesn't sound like America's Cup campaigns I have known. And, as is clearly described from inception to that victory pose on the dock, nothing like the Koch campaign had ever been witnessed before. While veteran Cup wags questioned repeatedly the unusual methods of Koch, the winner did, indeed, get the final laugh.

How could a nonprofessional, for example, walk into the hallowed America's Cup scene and walk away with the Cup? Beyond the undeniable fact that Bill Koch spent more on the winning of the America's Cup than Thomas Lipton might have ever dared imagine, Koch taught us a new way to think of ourselves as sailors. Koch told us we could do it. Professional sailors don't have to be involved in order to achieve victory, and that management, technology, and team work - and, of course, a lot of money - can turn the key.

"To the Third Power" lays down, for the first time in a primer like fashion, how to put together a successful America's Cup campaign. While we know this is not a warts-and-all paresentation, the window that Koch opens for us provides a wealth of information and fascinating detail that allow us to come away from this $60-million-plus program with a taste that sates our appetite.

While Koch may be getting in the last word on the contentious early points of the organization, the discussions on the pros of our sport are revealing, and, to a certain point, as with drop-out Larry Klein, astounding.

"Problems with Larry Klien began as soon as he appeared for the regatta (Columbus Cup). When he drew the names of his four local crew members, on of them was Linda Stearns. Despite the fact that Stearns is one of the most accomplished offshore sailors in the country ... the Californian was outraged that he would be forced to sail with a woman ... only days before the sailor had veen introduced as a potential helmsman of the new America's Cup effort ... Jobson, well aware of Koch's insistence on attitude and that the syndicate portray a unified 'clean' image, met with Klein and requested that he make a formal apology to Linda Stearns." Klein later refused to make the apology.

One might well wonder at the necessity of including this largely unflattering glimpse of Klein, a world-class sailor and past Rolex Yachtsman of the Year, who perished last fall in an unforuate boating accident on San Francisco Bay. It is not the only such picture of professionals in this book. Other well-known names of the business of yacht racing come off in a light they progably will not be pleased with. Unquestionably, Koch wanted to make the world aware that sailing is not the professional sport of pros alone, that even average-quality sailors can walk away in vicotry, even in the grandest of leagues, if they trust his tri-part plan of teamwork, technology and sailing attitude.

This is a story that many sailors, including professionals, could learn a lot from reading. Thank you, Mr. Koch.

Micca Hutchins
Sailing, March 1995