A Breeze for Conner in Opener : Despite Light Winds, Stars & Stripes Gains 1-0 Edge in Cup Final

The Fremantle Doctor was out, but school was in today when Dennis Conner gave Iain Murray and Peter Gilmour a sailing lesson.

The tuition paid by the Kookaburra III sailors was the first race of the best-of-seven America’s Cup final, which Conner won easily.

In doing so, Conner blew away two myths that had been building about his big, blue Stars & Stripes ’87 12-meter: first, that it couldn’t beat Kookaburra III in light wind and, two, that it was slower downwind than the golden Australian boat.

The wind was so light and fluky at race time that the start was delayed for 20 minutes to let the breeze settle in. Then, Conner outmaneuvered the Aussies at the start, outfoxed them on the wind shifts and outsailed them on the three laps around the 24.1-mile course. At successive marks Stars & Stripes led by 1:15, 1:20, 0:41, 1:14, 1:15, and 1:17.

Going into the last leg, Stars & Stripes had increased the advantage to 1:59.

The only time Kookaburra III was able to gain significantly was on the second windward leg, when Conner, possibly carrying too heavy a mainsail for the 8 knots of wind, gave up half his lead.

But when a squall brought fresh wind from the southwest on the first reach, chasing much of the flotilla of small spectator craft back to port, Stars & Stripes came to life in the 16 to 18 knots of breeze and powered away again.

Very early in the race, the spectator fleet seemed to include Kookaburra III itself as Gilmour, the aggressive starting helmsman, sailed himself into a trap laid by the crafty Conner.

Although his tactics called for him to avoid a sparring match with the Kookaburra’s aggressive starting helmsman, Peter Gilmour, Conner emerged from the spectator flotilla six minutes before the gun to sweep past Kookaburra, which turned to follow by half a length.

At minus-four minutes, Conner luffed his sails to slow down, allowing Kookaburra to sail past him to windward, leaving Stars & Stripes in the controlling position.

He stayed there, nudging Gilmour up toward the line, until minus-1:10 when Gilmour had to tack away to avoid going over early. Conner then bore off to start on the left side next to the America’s Cup buoy, which is exactly where he wanted to be.

Why? The boats crossed the starting line even at opposite ends, four seconds after the gun, but Conner got the left-hand wind shift he anticipated, which rotated him into a commanding lead. He immediately tacked over toward Kookaburra, which followed suit.

The wind then lightened to eight knots, and both boats switched to lighter headsails under way.

Stars & Stripes rounded the first mark 1:15 in front. There were no protest flags.

It appeared that Kookaburra was gaining on the ensuing downwind leg, as expected, but Conner in fact had increased his lead to 1:20 as he turned Stars & Stripes’ bows into the wind.

Earlier, the rock jetties near the harbor entrance looked like grandstands when the boats departed three hours before race time for the 30-minute tow up the coast to the race course (12-meters don’t have engines). Thousands of people waved Australian or American flags and cheered their favorites, who seemed overwhelmed by the turnout.

Certainly, most of the Aussie sentiment that had swelled against Kookaburra after syndicate chief Kevin Parry blasted rival Alan Bond had swung back to the national cause.

A poll of journalists this morning favored Conner to win back the cup, 30-5.

But an unsettling sign for Stars & Stripes supporters was that when S&S; ’87 left the dock with sister ship S&S; ’85 under tandem tow from their tender, Betsy, the wind was at their backs.

The offshore breeze and a cover of cotton-ball altocumulus clouds meant lighter wind than Conner’s camp would like.

Lee Davis and Chris Bedford, Conner’s meteorologists, expected Saturday morning’s offshore easterlies to switch to a 15-knot sea breeze around race time, then build.

That appeared to be happening an hour before the scheduled race time when the flags along the waterfront went limp, indicating a shift, and--sure enough--shortly after the start had been postponed, the wind came in from the southwest at 14 knots and they got off the line 20 minutes behind schedule.

Davis and Bedford were one knot off and 20 minutes late.

Forecasters generally agreed that the wind would blow stronger today (Sunday)--perhaps to 20--but Davis said it would then drop off drastically Monday--”maybe not even enough to race,” he said--before starting another cyclical buildup Monday night.

That raised the unusual prospect that Conner might win the first two races and then call for a lay day rather than risk a light-air race Monday.

Each boat may call for one lay day through the first four races, then request another after four races.

However, if both call for a lay day at the same time, both would be charged, and they never know what the other is doing until the race committee announces it after the 8 p.m. deadline following the day’s racing.

Each night before that time, a representative from each side delivers a sealed envelope to the committee with a note inside stating whether it wants a lay day.

Stars & Stripes tactician Tom Whidden said: “Sometimes there’s a little bluffing going on. If you can get the other guy to waste a lay day, you might gain an edge.”