Il Moro

The Chesapeake Sailing Yacht Symposium, sponsored by the Society of Naval Architects and Marine Engineers, the Chesapeake Bay Yacht Racing Association and the Naval Academy Sailing Squadron, has a new look for 1993.The symposium has been expanded to a two-day format and has been moved from the Naval Academy to Maryland Hall. It will run from 9 a.m. to 5 p.m. Friday and Saturday.Over the years, the symposium has developed a reputation as a premier forum for presenting sailing yacht design technical information.

Prop. 48 cases down in Div. I, up in IIThe percentage of freshman athletes sidelined by Proposition 48 academic standards dropped this year in Division I schools but rose sharply in Division II, the National Collegiate Athletic Association said yesterday.The NCAA said the percentage of black Proposition 48s in Division I rose from 65.5 percent from 1987 to 1989 to 68.6 percent this year. In Division II, blacks were 58.5 percent of total Proposition 48 freshmen this year, up from 45.4 percent in 1989 and 49.7 percent in 1988.

SAN DIEGO -- Young America, the America's Cup racer with the golden-haired mermaid painted the length of its hull, was in an ugly position just after the start in its race yesterday against Stars and Stripes.But before the race was over, the PACT '95 boat had posted a come-from-behind victory and at 4-0 was guaranteed first place in the first round-robin of the Citizen Cup defender trials.Neither Team Dennis Conner's Stars and Stripes nor America3, the women's team, can finish better than 3-3.Stars and Stripes again was skippered by Paul Cayard, who in the 1992 America's Cup sailed challenger Il Moro for Italy against Bill Koch's America3.

SAN DIEGO -- Dennis Conner stood with one hand on his hips and the other on the steering wheel of Stars & Stripes.It was midway through yesterday's race at the America's Cup defender finals and Conner was feeling both awestruck and vulnerable.Bill Koch's America3 had just roared alongside with such velocity that Conner was helpless to halt his opponent's advance."That boat is like a rocket ship," Conner told his crew. "It is so fast that there is nothing I can do. It is amazing they could ever lose a race with the thing."

SAN DIEGO -- If America3 wins the America's Cup, the 1995 event most likely again will be sailed in the 75-foot International America's Cup Class yachts, regatta organizers said yesterday.But those officials, representing the Royal Perth, New York and San Diego yacht clubs and the America's Cup Organizing Committee also indicated that changes can be expected in the rules that govern competition."When we met with the challengers, they all expressed a great desire to stay within this class," SDYC commodore Frederick G. Delaney III said yesterday while explaining the protocol for 1995 if the Americans successfully defend the Cup."

The Cadillac Columbus Cup will be sailed on Baltimore Harbor off Fort McHenry this week with a new cast of contestants and a slew of new sponsors, indicating this match-racing regatta is being noticed in international sailing circles.In its first three years, the Columbus Cup was sailed in J/44s on loan from private owners, and each boat had its idiosyncrasies. Some were fast, others were faster and still others were dreadfully slow -- no matter which skipper sailed them.This year the regatta will be sailed in Beneteau First 310s supplied by their French builder.

A Peter Baker outdoors column, originally published last fall, mistakenly appeared again in yesterday's editions of The Sunday Sun. The Cadillac Columbus Cup regatta mentioned in the column will be sailed the week of Oct. 10, 1993, at the Inner Harbor.* The Sun regrets the error.The Cadillac Columbus Cup will be sailed on Baltimore Harbor off Fort McHenry this week with a new cast of contestants and a slew of new sponsors that indicate this match-racing regatta is being noticed in international sailing circles.

Knicks talk to Riley, and he considers jobThe New York Knicks have contacted Pat Riley about becoming their next head coach, and Riley, former coach of the Los Angeles Lakers and an NBC announcer, said he is interested in holding further discussions.Riley confirmed the Knicks' interest yesterday during halftime of NBC's telecast of the Seattle SuperSonics-Portland Trail Blazers playoff game. Riley said he was contacted by Knicks president Dave Checketts, but Riley did not reveal when the conversation took place.

It wasn't so long ago that the America's Cup existed on the periphery of our sports consciousness. You know, over there past the Stanley Cup and Davis Cup, by the Ryder Cup, the Walker Cup, protective cups and Kuppenheimer's.The competition was left to yachting aficionados. Why, even on the sports desks of our newspapers, there was uncertainty over how to spell it. Americas Cup? Americas' Cup? American Cup? Amerika's Cup? (Whoa, sorry, that was a '60s flashback.)Imagine, an event that sports copy editors were confused about.

SAN DIEGO -- Harry "Buddy" Melges spent Thursday doing what he loves -- sailing.In his 62 years, he has won thousands of races in boats of every size and description.In the 1964 Olympics at Tokyo, he won a bronze medal sailing a little Flying Dutchman. At the 1972 Olympics in Munich, he captured a gold in the soling class. But the next two weeks in the Pacific, off San Diego, will be the pinnacle of his sailing career, Melges said.Melges, the helmsman for America3, and the other 15 working crew on the sleek, white, 75-foot sailboat with a huge soaring eagle emblazoned on its hull, will defend America's Cup, sports' oldest trophy.