Light Winds Leave Conner at a Loss in Second Round
Whatever it was, Dennis Conner thought, it wasn’t sailing.
Tuesday, when the winds remained light, the Stars & Stripes skipper from San Diego lost a frustrating America’s Cup trials match to Britain’s White Crusader by 2 minutes 18 seconds.
The wind was so weak that a Canada II crewman went water skiing behind his tender when the committee delayed the races for 2 hours 15 minutes. Then the course was shortened from 24.5 miles to 10.5 miles, eliminating five of the eight legs. Conner’s camp thought the races should have canceled.
“It wasn’t in the spirit of America’s Cup trials,” said Stars & Stripes spokesman Robert Hopkins. “This race could have easily been postponed.”
But White Crusader skipper Harold Cudmore, fortified with new light-air sails, wasn’t bothered. The shortened course only meant “we won by a smaller margin,” Cudmore said.
The wind built to about 10 knots by the finish, but by then Conner was too far behind.
Cudmore said his crew “felt confident of beating Stars & Stripes in the light air. We have the speed and sailed with our new sails.”
Helmsman Chris Law said: “We don’t want to get overly excited about the win, but it was an important psychological barrier. Conner is a big man.”
The loss was the third second-round setback for Conner, dropping him further behind the top two boats, New Zealand and America II, which won Tuesday. White Crusader now trails third-place Stars & Stripes by only three points, 41-38.
It was the second straight day that Conner was foiled by meager winds on calm waters, although he managed a slim victory Monday over Azzurra.
Conner has said that if the winds remain light, his boat could be back in the United States before Thanksgiving. He built his three new boats for strong winds and spent nearly a year tuning them in Hawaii in the heavy conditions he expected in Australia.
New Zealand remained five points ahead of America II by beating USA, the San Francisco-based boat skippered by Tom Blackaller, by 1:25. John Kolius sailed America II past Challenge France by 3:16. New Zealand has 56 points, America II 51.
In other races, Eagle edged Azzurra by 17 seconds, French Kiss defeated Italia by 1:39 and Canada II beat Heart of America by 4:05.
America’s Cup Notes There was one surprise in the second round of the defender trials. South Australia defeated Australia III by 2:27 to move into a fourth-place tie with the second of the two Alan Bond syndicate boats.