A SPECIAL REPORT: AMERICA’S CUP

INTO THE WATER: Four months of championship sailing get under way Tuesday in San Diego as U.S. entries square off in the defender trials of the America’s Cup. . . . This is the second time the race has been held on the West Coast. The first West Coast sailor to win the event was Newport Beach’s William P. Ficker, who skippered the Intrepid in a successful 1970 Cup defense. . . . Ficker, 63, has given up competitive sailing but plans to watch this year. The contest has changed since his day: “The big change is the full-time effort that is put into it now,” Ficker says. “It’s a year-round job for the people who are sailing.”