The Cup Runneth and Runneth

You think the America's Cup is all washed up? Because the races off Newport last summer were a bit one-sided? Nonsense! As Commodore Percy Chubb II, at right between two of the challengers, is finding out, so many nations want to have a go at it in 1970 that the New York Yacht Club may have to set up a Davis Cup-type elimination tournament to pick a winner. But whether it turns out to be France, England, Greece or Australia, you can be sure the man at the left will be there in his $250,000 ringside seat, enjoying every minute of the tense competition, or at least resting up to read about it in the newspapers.

The best days at Newport are the lay days, when nobody has to go to sea at all, not even the boats. Those are the days when you wander around the docks and watch celebrities like tall David Boyd explaining to pretty, striped-shirted Betty Sturrock how he designed three clinkers. Betty's husband skippered two more. And who's the broody man with long hair? He owns one of the clinkers.

What makes cup racing the best of all spectator sports is that there is so little to watch. Once the race starts, you can go below and take a nap until you're tied up once again at the slip, sipping cocktails in the heady aroma of the fishing fleet. Then, if you are on the right yacht, there'll be a handsome someone to tell you all about windward legs and split tacks and you'll want to listen forever. It's an interesting fact that nobody can pour too much of a good thing into this remarkable cup. It has no bottom.

FIVE ILLUSTRATIONS

MARC SIMONT