Skirts all the fashion among America's Cup contenders

By JULIE ASH

To skirt or not to skirt is something all America's Cup syndicates have to decide when determining how far they will go to protect their design secrets.

The long covers make viewing the boats a bore for spectators, but their purpose is to hide the hull shape and appendages under the boat.

It is believed the first skirt was introduced in 1887 by Scottish team Thistle, who used canvas screens to hide their boat.

They were not seen again until 1983, when Alan Bond's Australia II went to extreme measures to hide their winged keel.

Australia II's yacht was covered by a skirt with electric currents running through it, and the yacht itself was surrounded by armed guards.

But despite Australia II's best efforts, divers were able to sneak a look at the keel before guards chased them away.

Australia II's antics have not been repeated, but skirts are still popular among syndicates today, although most sailors would be happy to see the back end of them. Dragging up a long, wet skirt is no one's idea of fun.

Of the nine challengers this time, all but three are skirting their boats while taking them to and from the water.

Team Dennis Conner, Le Defi Areva and Mascalzone Latino are baring all, but the cup defenders, Team New Zealand, have taken skirting to a new level, opting to keep their new boat covered all the way out to the Hauraki Gulf.

Prada skipper Francesco de Angelis said it was worth trying to protect the huge amount of work which had been done on the appendages of the yachts.

"Each team choose whether or not to protect the research and development carried out over the past two years by using heavy skirts," he said.

Alinghi strategist Murray Jones agreed that skirts "are a pain" but said: "They protect the development programme to some degree, so therefore are a benefit."

The second Italian challengers, Mascalzone Latino, say they do not bother with skirts because they have nothing to hide.

Team Dennis Conner helmsman Ken Read would ban them if he could. "The cup will survive by getting more of the public involved," Read said. "Part of the excitement is seeing the boats. Covering them up just doesn't make any sense.

"Our designers have just spent years working on making the fastest boat they know how.

"If they look at another boat which doesn't have a skirt on it, do you think all of a sudden they are going to say, 'Oh, that's got to be right and ours has got to be wrong and we have got to change it'? No way. Not a prayer."

Team New Zealand designer Clay Oliver said they just wanted to keep their ideas protected as long as they could.

"There are two sides to it. We can say there is something specifically to conceal, or there may be nothing to conceal. It is a mystery. We'll just let that mystery float."

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