America’s Cup Trials : Conner Reaches Final, Wastes No Time Starting to Work on Dickson

Skipper Chris Dickson of New Zealand was about to answer a question when Dennis Conner suddenly walked on stage, bringing the proceedings to a halt.

Conner was wearing a bright red cap and a long-sleeved rugby shirt with big white stars on a field of blue around the shoulders, and red and white horizontal stripes beneath. The only thing missing was the U.S. Marine Corps band playing, “Stars and Stripes Forever,” which could become the theme song of these America’s Cup challenger trials.

Aboard Stars & Stripes ’87 or ashore for press conferences, Conner has made a habit of upstaging his opponents here.

After Friday’s race, in which he swept Tom Blackaller and USA aside by 43 seconds and won his semifinal series, 4-0, the San Diego sailor is Yankee Doodle Dandy, the last survivor of the six syndicates that shoved off from the American shores to retrieve the trophy from the Australians.

So, were you expecting Popeye?

Somehow, all that has transpired this far seems only a formality, leading to Conner’s inevitable showdown with the Aussies. He lost the America’s Cup; it’s his birthright to win it back.

“We can’t help but feel that we’ve done a nice job,” Conner said. “But we didn’t come here to beat the other Americans. We came here to win the cup. So until that’s over, we’ve got a lot of work to do.”

Friday night, he started working on Dickson, who was seated next to him and will be his foe in the challenger final series starting Jan. 13.

“Both of us are reaching the top of our game at just the right time,” Conner said.

Nice stroke, Dennis.

The flashy shirt and others like it worn by Sail America syndicate supporters for the first time Friday were made by Canterbury Clothing of--ahem--New Zealand. Conner is arranging to become a U.S. distributor.

Nice touch, Dennis.

New Zealand wiped out French Kiss by 2 minutes 44 seconds Friday, finishing that semifinal in four straight, too. The Kiwis’ only loss in 38 races has been to Conner, and that was 28 races ago, but even that incredible record pales somewhat considering the confrontation looming Jan. 13 to determine which boat will take on Australia for the America’s Cup.

One way or another, Conner will test the New Zealand nerve, and he probably won’t wait until the racing starts. Count the days, Kiwis. The clock is running.

Dickson, 25, was the youngest skipper to start the trials Oct. 5, and Conner, 44, would like to age him 20 years in the next 10 days.

But the icy Dickson will not be an easy mark. The ongoing controversy about KZ7--much of it orchestrated by Conner--has proven only that Dickson’s skin is stronger than fiberglass. His crew has thrived on adversity.

Dickson sized up his chances rationally: “All we have to go on is our three races against Stars & Stripes, and we’re certainly a different boat now, as they are. We aren’t saying we’re a tenth-second faster. We do say we have a boat that’s good right across the spectrum of wind conditions.”

Conner’s view? “Our boat is conventional, but at least we know what we have. We still have a little problem with our light-air speed, and we’re going to keep working on it.”

Even so, Stars & Stripes was the most-improved boat of the semifinals, blowing off Blackaller’s radical craft more easily than anyone had anticipated.

Conner led USA at every mark Friday but never by more than 26 seconds, and for just one moment on the final beat to the finish, Blackaller stole a final glint of glory.

As they approached on long, opposite tacks, it was apparent that the San Francisco boat was ahead. Conner, on port, had to dip USA’s stern, and as he did, Blackaller tried to wrestle his fore and aft rudders around to lay a slam-dunk tack on Conner.

Stars & Stripes’ bow missed USA’s stern by about the width of this column, and Conner immediately released his protest flag, apparently because he thought that USA tactician Paul Cayard hailed “mast abeam” improperly, attempting to deprive Conner of the right to luff USA upwind.

Blackaller already was flying a red flag for an incident at the leeward mark, when he thought Conner was sailing “an improper course” away from the mark to impede USA’s way.

After reaching his dock, Blackaller decided not to protest--but he didn’t tell Conner that until the latter’s brain trust had spent a couple of hours working on their case.

Conner’s camp was convinced it was Blackaller’s way of spoiling their party a little.

The race may have been close only because Conner carried his light-air mainsail. The starts were delayed about 1 1/2 hours while the crews waited for the wind to fill in. Then the wind built from 16 to 24 knots by the end.

“Our people told us it was going to be 19 max,” Stars & Stripes trimmer Adam Ostenfeld said. “That was the biggest, fullest mainsail we had.”

Blackaller still believes in his boat and may return with an advanced version in 1990.

“Given a little more time, we could have done a better job,” he said. “We were a year and a half behind some of the other syndicates. We still have a couple of big things going in California with aerospace companies. We were just a little off the pace.”

Conner couldn’t resist his rival’s opening.

“We’re going to give him three years to work on his boat speed,” Conner said.

Blackaller again offered to help Conner, in his way.

“We’ll be glad to lend whatever our meager little syndicate might have for whatever his gorilla syndicate might need,” Blackaller said. “As for tuning, our boat is so weird that I don’t think we could tune anybody up. We can’t even keep it under control.”

Skipper Marc Pajot of French Kiss was asked if he, in turn, would help New Zealand, which beat him in all seven meetings this Down Under summer. Pajot was taken aback, stammering and struggling in English.

“Today, I have just lost to the Kiwis, and now you ask me if I will help them?” Pajot said. “Well, why not?”

America’s Cup Notes The defender trials tightened up once more when the crew of Australia IV, leading runner-up Kookaburra III by about a minute, watched in horror halfway up the final leg as their mainsail headboard gave way and the sail dropped to the deck. Kookaburra III went on to a 17-second win that left both boats with 65 points. Meanwhile, Kookaburra II disposed of Steak ‘n Kidney by 2 minutes and now has 58 points. . . . Later, the Royal Perth Yacht Club ousted last-place Steak ‘n Kidney from the competition because it lacked enough points to reach the defender finals, which will start Sunday. . . . Fremantle survived a New Year’s Eve invasion of about 150,000 revelers from Perth and the general area. The streets were so jammed that a parade was called off. Police estimated that the alcohol consumed could have floated an America’s Cup regatta, but there were few incidents. In the midst of all this, the Perth Daily News pointed out, were dozens of unhappy guests at the ancient and primitive Fremantle jail who hadn’t been convicted of anything but were merely awaiting court dates. Comforts include a bucket for a lavatory.