SAILING: Japan address helm query

SAILING: Signs of pre-match nerves were evident in the Japanese America's Cup camp yesterday as they tried to convince the scrutineers that their coach, the top Australian helmsman Peter Gilmour, had the residential qualifications to race as part of the team on the boat, writes Stuart Alexander.

Preliminary consideration to including him on the approved crew list was being given yesterday by the challenger organisation, but it was a matter likely to be handed to the international jury. Gilmour needs to demonstrate some sort of Japanese address for two years from no later than May 1993.

But it begs the question of what job he would have on the boat, especially as the Manchester-born John Cutler, who won a bronze medal for New Zealand in the 1988 Olympics, has not been named as skipper for the opening race of the Louis Vuitton Cup serieson Saturday.

That job goes to Makoto Namba, who will be in charge of a yacht that, as well as being severely damaged in practice in October, has recently undergone extensive modification.