Eagle Is Better, but Loses in America’s Cup Trials

Tom Blackaller, sailing his radical USA 12-meter, upset longtime adversary Dennis Conner by 39 seconds as the second round of the America’s Cup challenger trials got underway Sunday.

In another race, Eagle’s modifications seemed to have improved the Newport Beach boat’s performance, but it wasn’t enough to avert a 1:49 loss to co-leader America II.

The second-round pairings for the 12 remaining challengers were rearranged because of the withdrawal of Courageous IV. Each victory will still be worth five points instead of the one point awarded in the first round, but there will be no lay days. Third-round victories will be worth 12 points each. The top four boats at the end of three rounds will advance to the semifinals after Christmas.

Blackaller’s upset of Conner moved USA into third place behind America II and New Zealand. A protest by Conner was disallowed. The San Diego skipper charged that Blackaller wrongly claimed an inside overlap at the reach mark, forcing Conner to bear off so that Blackaller could round the mark first.

Conner faced another tough match today against New Zealand’s Chris Dickson, who celebrated his 25th birthday by humiliating Heart of America by 13:06--about 1 1/2 miles.

Eagle skipper Rod Davis gave America II helmsman John Kolius a tough battle. He outmaneuvered Kolius for an eight-second lead at the start, only to surrender the advantage when he sailed into a spot of dead air near the first mark.

Davis regained the lead on the second downwind leg, but Kolius stormed back at the second windward mark, never to trail again.

Davis was unhappy with the loss but happy with the new Eagle, which has less ballast and more sail. “We would have lost the race by over five minutes in our old configuration,” Davis said. “The guys were very enthusiastic about the boat’s performance.” Eagle will meet USA today and New Zealand Tuesday.