America’s Cup Trials : Conner Loses to Dickson in Battle of Mistakes
Sometime in the next few weeks--perhaps in the semifinals after Christmas or, if not then, in the January challenger final--Dennis Conner and Chris Dickson seem destined to meet again.
If the sport weren’t sailing, they could sell a lot of tickets. It would be a best-of-seven showdown to see which man advanced in the pursuit of the America’s Cup that Conner has won and lost and Dickson has only seen, briefly.
They have met three times now in the challenger trials, Conner in command of his steel-blue Stars & Stripes ’87 12-meter and Dickson at the helm of the fiberglass KZ7 from New Zealand that Conner’s camp suggested was of illegal construction.
Thursday’s race was just like the first two--close. Dickson, 25, won by 32 seconds, as far apart as the boats were all day, thrashing through the deep, churning seas in winds of 20 to 22 knots.
Conner had won the first encounter by 49 seconds--the Kiwis’ only defeat in 26 races--and Dickson had taken the second by 58.
“We felt it was just the type of racing that the challengers need if we’re going to be competitive when it comes to the America’s Cup,” Conner said. “We need him to stick around to push us.”
Score one zinger for Conner.
The San Diego skipper may not have known that a few minutes earlier, in a preceding press conference, Australian Alan Bond, head of the America’s Cup Defence ’87 syndicate, had said he would be disappointed if his Australia IV reached the cup final Jan. 31 only to find that Conner hadn’t made it.
“Yes, I would be disappointed,” said Bond, whose Australia II removed the cup from Conner’s grip in 1983. “But for anybody who thinks that they automatically become the challenger, New Zealand might well be a surprise.”
In Bond’s mind, he and Conner, the two names around which the America’s Cup has revolved for the last four years, also have a date with destiny. Bond’s ideal scenario would be not only to beat Conner again but to keep the cup out of New Zealand, which is Australia’s annoying little neighbor to the southeast.
“From the point of view of the sport itself, it would be a great benefit if the challenger does come from America or a European country,” Bond said.
But who is to stop Conner and the Kiwis?
“(Britain’s) White Crusader is going very fast out there, at least as fast as New Zealand,” Bond said.
Zinger, Bond.
He said his Australia IV had practice sailed against Stars & Stripes and America II between trial rounds and “didn’t have any trouble with either of those boats.”
Conner, told of Bond’s remarks, said: “I haven’t seen Alan Bond on Australia IV, so any of his information would be second hand. I’ll leave it at that.”
There is no guarantee, either, that Bond’s boat will reach the final, although its chances looked better after beating defender leader Kookaburra III by 50 seconds Thursday.
“After all, we won it,” Bond said. “We should defend it.”
Realistically, both of Thursday’s highlight races held more psychological than strategical importance. Barring total collapses, all of the boats involved will reach their respective four-boat semifinals. Then the points will be discarded, and it will be head-to-head elimination sailing. It should be even more intense than Thursday’s competition.
“The boats were so evenly matched that it came down to who made the most mistakes or who was able to capitalize at the right time,” Dickson said.
Conner committed the first two errors, both in the starting sequence before the gun.
The boats weaved their way through the spectator fleet behind the line. “When we both turned to go to the line, we turned first, but Chris was able to squeeze out underneath us and slow us down (by interfering with Conner’s wind),” Conner said.
“Then when we came up to the line, I thought I had a chance of pushing him over the line early and made a mistake in judgment. When I luffed him (sailed toward the wind until the sails flapped) he was able to keep going straight and not be over the line early, so that got him in control of the race.”
Conner, meanwhile, had lost headway with his luffing maneuver as Dickson maintained speed.
But a few moments later, Dickson slowed down, and Conner closed the gap. One of Dickson’s crew had a foot tangled in a line and was being dragged into a block. Rather than risk a serious injury, Dickson luffed his boat momentarily to take pressure off the line and free the crewman.
“That allowed us to get free to the right (side of the course),” Conner said.
On the first downwind leg, Conner had caught up when Dickson’s spinnaker halyard snapped, sending the blue-and-white chute flying out from the boat like Monday’s wash. Conner moved into the lead, but not for long.
At the leeward mark, Conner said, “We had a little trouble getting our spinnaker down, and they took advantage of that and rounded inside of us.”
Some had thought that the Kiwis, new to cup competition, would be the ones to crack under pressure. Instead, it was Conner’s battle-hardened crew. With the chute still billowing out in front of the boat, Conner had to keep sailing past the mark until the crew could douse it.
Conner’s tactician, Tom Whidden, said: “A maneuver we’ve practiced a million times got us behind. Once in a while, you make a mistake.”
And once in a while, one such mistake can cost a race, perhaps even an America’s Cup.
Dickson said: “We were fortunate to have a good bottom mark rounding when Dennis was having a bad one. Our crew work pulled us through on that one.”
America’s Cup Notes Eagle’s luck went from bad to worse Thursday. Already trailing America II by 2:22 after the second leeward mark, the Newport Beach boat’s No. 5 headsail ripped in two. The number corresponds to the proper sail for a given wind velocity. Eagle had to put up an old No. 6. It has a new No. 5, but that’s been tied up by Australian customs in Sydney on the other side of the continent. At this point, it wouldn’t have made any difference. Time lost by Eagle in changing sails allowed America II to win by 8:36. . . . In other matches, White Crusader defeated Italia by 2:27, Heart of America beat Challenge France by 8 minutes, USA downed Azzurra by 3:30, and French Kiss outsailed Canada II by 4:21.