![]() The final race is some 160 miles, beating up along the north coast of Sardinia through the Strait of Bonifacio to the Gulf of Asinara, where there is a turning mark for home. We place second and third in succeeding races. In the next two days we do better and better and I realise that Helisara really is fast and the crew is working together well. In the first race we’re over the line early and involved in a protest, all of which we survive to finish fifth out of thirteen. We want to be hungry and work hard.” There is no grumbling. After the first day I tell them: “No more wine and food. “We’re going to have to hustle,” I tell the crew as we begin practicing but hustling does not seem to be part of their routine, which is to sail out with wine and cheese to do some manoeuvring and head back, as if cruising. Here, beautiful yet threatening, is the assemblage of big racing yachts and professional crews: Ondine is there the brand new 80’ Kialoa the 81’ Condor, with Dennis Conner at the helm the 78’ Xargo with sailmaker and twelve-meter racer Robbie Doyle aboard. He is very good, putting the plane down at Porto Cervo, as he describes it, “like a butterfly with sore feet.” On the flight down, Von Karajan concentrates on flying the plane, a chore he takes very seriously. Privately I know that Helisara has never been put to the extreme test of racing the best there is in the offshore world. ![]() I reassure him, “It’s not like we’ve never sailed together before. He greets us warmly, then says, “Gary, I think we are in for the battle of our lives”. In early September, Janice and I wait in the air terminal in Zürich for the maestro to arrive and fly us in his Falcon Jet to Sardinia. But with the larger boat I was more effective in organising the crew and I decided to convince the maestro to enter the Maxi Worlds in Sardinia that September. I had no idea how she would really sail because Von Karajan still was not committed to major racing. The new boat is a beauty from the board of Germán Frers. By this time our relationship had changed to something warmer, although still totally professional. In December 1980 he wrote to ask “Will you have the time to come to Europe next summer? It would be a great help and an immense joy…” It was an offer I couldn’t refuse and in early July I found myself in St. More letters went back and forth, Von Karajan communicating between concert trips. ![]() With the Cup behind us, there was more time to think about Helisara and her owner. ![]() That winter, the construction of Von Karajan’s new maxi was well underway at the Huisman yard in Holland but, as I had signed up for the 1980 America’s Cup defence by Courageous, I was unable to sail with him that year. On the beach sat Von Karajan’s French wife and it seemed as if he were proudly performing for her as much as himself as he directed the movements of Helisara. Making smooth tacks and reach-to-reach jibes was difficult at first, but within a day the mostly-French crew was able to go through each manoeuvre smoothly, even in the afternoon winds of up to 25 knots. ![]()
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