America’s Cup : Challenger Showdown Next as Kiwis, Conner Each Build a 3-0 Lead
Skipper Marc Pajot of French Kiss gave his best Gallic shrug.
“Today, we got the Kiwi kiss,” he said.
It was very likely the kiss of death.
Meanwhile, in the other America’s Cup challenger semifinal, Dennis Conner simply kissed Tom Blackaller goodby.
New Zealand’s fiberglass KZ7, sailed by the precocious Chris Dickson, and Conner’s Stars & Stripes pushed their rivals close to the edge of the world by taking 3-0 leads in the best-of-seven series due to resume Friday after a New Year’s Day break.
Unless Conner and Dickson recruit some California Angels for a crew, they’re home free.
Because of spinnaker pole problems and choosing the wrong mainsail for the winds of 18 to 24 knots, New Zealand had to come from behind to beat the French by 13 seconds. There was the flourish of a collision near the finish: the “Kiwi kiss.”
Pajot pleaded guilty and was, technically, disqualified and now awaits his execution.
New Zealand skipper Chris Dickson said the race proved the tired cliche that “the opera’s not over till the fat lady sings.”
Blackaller is convinced that the buxom soprano, or a suitably heavy facsimile, is riding in the bottom of Conner’s boat, giving it a significant edge in stability and, hence, upwind speed. Stars & Stripes beat San Francisco’s USA by 3 minutes 2 seconds Monday and by 2:23 Tuesday--laughers in modern 12-meter racing.
Monday’s rout could be written off to severe wind shifts, but the San Diego boat, Blackaller and others believe, has suddenly become a rocket ship--perhaps even faster now than KZ7.
Some observers are making a case from the fact that Conner has sailed the 24.5-mile course faster than Dickson all three days this week: 3 hours 15 minutes 56 seconds to 3:19.35 Sunday, 3:18.25 to 3:19.53 Monday and 3:04.57 to 3:12.45 Tuesday.
That’s not really significant in sailing, unless it happens consistently.
Dickson said: “We did one hell of a lot of tacking out there today. If we were racing Stars & Stripes, yes, I’d be concerned about it. But we’re not in the same boat race.”
Blackaller was, and he was beyond concerned to resigned.
“Our performance today is a little bit baffling to us because our boat is going as good as or better than it has gone before, faster against Big Dennis than in the third round robin when we beat him,” Blackaller said.
“Up to now, the boats have been very close, and we’re about a 10th of a knot faster than we were in the third round robin, so somehow he’s jumped from being behind us about a 10th to ahead of us a 10th. He’s found a magical 2/10ths of a knot that’s a damn hard thing to find.
“He’s either got two tons of lead down inside his boat that he didn’t have in there when he measured in the third round robin . . . that would do it. That’s what she looks like. But we don’t know how he’s getting it on and off there. You’ve gotta watch him. He’s pretty tricky.
“It’s probably legal. I’m not saying it’s illegal.”
Blackaller said he knows by observation that Conner hasn’t done anything extraordinary to his boat. Even the new keel is conservatively winged.
“He doesn’t have wings all the way out to the edge of his boat,” said Blackaller, whose double-ruddered boat has no wings at all. “He has funny, stubby little wings that look like his daughter designed ‘em.”
Conner arrived late at the post-race press conference because of a routine flotation test administered to Stars & Stripes and KZ7 by regatta officials.
“Both boats passed,” he announced.
Apparently, there weren’t two tons of extra lead aboard.
“I told you what we did,” Conner said. “Told you everything. We put in 180 pounds of ballast and worked on a lot of small things, trying to reduce our weight in our spars (mast and boom), and we changed our wings, but not significantly. We didn’t do anything major.”
But after losing two of three to Blackaller in the round robins, he has now beaten him three straight.
“We’re sailing a little faster to windward than we were in October,” Conner said. “It seems that once in a while (Blackaller) slows down for a moment and you get a little jump on him. Maybe the uniqueness of his rudders gets a little bit out of whack and we gain half a boat length, and we don’t seem to give it back, and those all add up to 15 or 20 seconds at the end of a beat.”
Conner’s longtime tactician, Tom Whidden, was more candid.
“The latest improvements are helping a lot,” Whidden said. “We’ve got a very good boat right now. I think we’ve got enough speed to win it all.
“We’ve been thinking all along about the Kiwis. We always felt we’d get past Blackaller.
“We were worried he’d be a little psyched out by Blackaller, but he’s right on top of his game.”
Dickson is, too. Despite Tuesday’s troubles, New Zealand (36-1) won its 27th race in a row.
The problem was the end fitting on the spinnaker pole. After rounding the first leeward mark 14 seconds in front, the Kiwis, who take pride in their precise execution, were able to drop their spinnaker only halfway and had to reach off to the right for two minutes while French Kiss headed upwind into the lead.
With 31 tacks, they made up 35 seconds on the last windward leg. They crossed French Kiss’ sawed-off stern after the 24th tack.
Pajot slam-dunked him, but Dickson had speed and clear air and, with leeward rights, suddenly luffed up and broadsided the French boat. Pajot then swung away and smacked KZ7 with his stern.
The tough fiberglass boat never flinched.
America’s Cup Notes Australia IV took shaky command of the defender trials in defeating Steak ‘n Kidney by 14 seconds Tuesday, while Kookaburra II was beating stablemate K-III by 50 seconds. K-II’s only loss in Series D was on a protest by Steak ‘n Kidney, and it hurt. With Australia IV at 65 points, K-III at 59 and K-II at 52, it’s unlikely that the Kookaburras can keep Alan Bond’s Australia IV out of the final, with only five races remaining.