Despite Light Winds, Stars & Stripes Gives Conner 1-0 Advantage

Tom Blackaller would do anything for Dennis Conner.

If Conner were going down for the third time, Blackaller would be the first to throw him an anchor.

If Conner’s house were burning down, Blackaller would organize a bucket brigade of gasoline.

Tom Blackaller does not like Dennis Conner.

Yet, the San Francisco skipper, whose radical USA 12-meter was blitzed by Conner’s Stars & Stripes, 4-0, in the America’s Cup challenge semifinals, watched Conner use his old mainsail to throttle Australia’s Kookaburra III by 1:41 in the opener of the best-of-seven Cup final Saturday.

It wasn’t at all like anyone expected. The “Fremantle Doctor” was a fraud. After three years of hype about the wet, wild and windy woes of Gage Roads, the guest of honor failed to show.

And on a day of worrying about seaweed and trying to outguess light and shifty winds, the so-called heavy weather, lumbering 12-meter from San Diego floated like a butterfly and stung like a bee.

It was the kind of racing anticipated if Conner takes the Cup to San Diego for a 1990 defense.

It was so wispy that Stars & Stripes had to use not only two spinnakers borrowed from the departed America II syndicate but also a light-air main offered to them by Blackaller, at a price yet to be negotiated.

But don’t get the idea Blackaller did it for Conner. It was for the good old U.S. of A.

“That was the whole U.S. effort out there,” said Jon Wright, who trims the mainsail on Stars & Stripes. “We hadn’t even tested it. We haven’t even paid for it yet.”

Conner, who has no particular animosity toward Blackaller, joked that they ought to be able to get a good price since his tactician, Tom Whidden, has just become president of North Sails, whose loft Blackaller manages in San Francisco.

“We can now ask for our employee discount,” Conner said.

Be assured that despite the apparent ease of the win, which was Kookaburra III’s most lopsided defeat in four months of racing, Stars & Stripes was just happy to survive conditions it feared and Kookaburra prayed for.

“It was lighter than we expected and shiftier than we expected,” Whidden said. “If it had been any lighter we would have been in trouble because we hadn’t brought enough light-air sails along.”

The wind reached the bottom of Stars & Stripes’ optimum range only briefly at 16 to 18 knots when a squall passed through the course on the third windward leg, and then the San Diego boat was just able to hold its own.

Otherwise, it dipped as low 8 knots on the second windward leg and 10 on the last beat when Kookaburra III picked up 39 and 19 seconds, respectively.

By then, however, Kookaburra III was too far behind to threaten.

Stars & Stripes’ most serious problem was a periodic collection of seaweed on its rudder. Conner recognized the problem from years of sailing in the kelp beds off San Diego.

“I can feel a little vibration on the rudder,” he said.

But navigator Peter Isler also said he regularly checks a small TV screen behind the cockpit.

“There were a lot of weeds today,” Isler said. “I have a TV camera that looks down through a hole in the bottom of the boat at the rudder.”

Kookaburra III skipper Iain Murray had more serious concerns.

“From our point of view, it was a frustrating day out there,” he said. “With the breeze shifting around, anything really could have happened. The anxiety level is pretty high when the breeze is like that.”

What saved Stars & Stripes was Conner’s crafty sailing before the start, his afterguard’s keen sense for the wind and--startling to everyone--its speed advantage over Kookaburra III off the wind, where Kookaburra III was thought to be faster but actually lost 1:22 on the day.

John Marshall, the S&S; design team coordinator, said: “For sure, we had better speed than anyone expected in light wind. I thought we’d be very competitive, but I didn’t think we’d be quite that fast in light to medium.

“Off the wind, we had more than I expected to see.”

Murray was plainly confused.

“We all expected that Kooka would have a downwind advantage, but today she seemed to have an upwind advantage,” he said.

“It wasn’t a very fair day. We were often in very much different breeze strengths and directions. To make any judgment, you’d have to let us race in a sea breeze.”

Conner said: “I liked the way it turned out today.”

Murray indicated he would rather take his chances in a blow. Winds up to 20 knots were forecast for the second race today.

Saturday’s race was delayed for 20 minutes until a 10-knot wind settled in, and then the issue was decided in the few minutes preceding the start and the 10 minutes after the gun.

Although his tactics called for him to avoid a sparring match with Kookaburra III’s aggressive starting helmsman, Peter Gilmour, Conner suddenly wheeled past his opponent midway of the pre-start countdown, and Gilmour turned to follow by half a length.

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

While Conner kept his eyes on Kookaburra III, Whidden and Isler had checked for wind shifts and gusts.

“It was just like sailing on Long Island Sound,” said Isler, who grew up in Connecticut. “We stand up and look around, and we saw a little wind out there on the left.”

They also noted that the wind had been turning that way since the 10-minute warning signal, leaving the starting line cocked 13 degrees off from perpendicular, with the America’s Cup buoy marking the left end perhaps a boat length farther upwind than the bow of the committee boat at the other end.

The boats crossed the starting line even at opposite ends, four seconds after the gun, but Conner also got a 20-degree left-hand wind shift he anticipated, which rotated him into a commanding lead. He immediately tacked over toward Kookaburra III, which followed suit.

Murray said he tacked to the right “because I thought (the wind) was going back to the right. We were sorry we did that because there was another 30-degree (shift left) to come.”

New Zealand skipper Chris Dickson, commenting on Australian television, called it “a distressing start for Kookaburra.”

Murray said: “I’m not a great believer in luck in sailing. Dennis took each opportunity presented to him and capitalized on it.”

Whidden added: “You’ve gotta be able to race in that (light wind). Iain said a good thing: you shouldn’t believe in luck. I thought we sailed pretty well today and got a few good breaks.”

Partway up the first leg, the wind lightened to eight knots and both boats switched to lighter headsails. Stars & Stripes rounded the first mark 1:15 in front, then inched out to 1:20 at the first leeward mark, a juncture that both skippers said would be critical.

Murray cut that lead to 41 seconds on the second upwind leg. The wind shifted 60 degrees in his direction, but he also was moving faster.

Conner said: “I felt that chicken bone in my throat.”

But, Murray said: “We didn’t even come close. The options left for us were pretty well zilch.”

What did it prove? Not much, the skippers agreed. Another race in different conditions might be different.

“We weren’t able to make any judgment of Dennis’ speed,” Murray said, “and they weren’t able to make any of ours.”

Conner said: “The margin of victory was not indicative of the relative speed of the two boats.”

Whidden ventured the opinion that “it looks like we’re fast enough to beat ‘em, but we were nervous all the way. Tomorrow will be another day.

“It it were to blow only 9 (knots) true, he’d be pretty formidable. At 12 we’d be pretty even.”

When the boats left the harbor to open the series, the rock jetties near the entrance looked like grandstands. 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.

But a poll of journalists--including several Australians--favored Conner to win back the Cup, 30-5.

The wind was expected to increase today and then lighten some Monday and even more Tuesday--so light, says Stars & Stripes meteorologist Lee Davis, that “they might not even be able to race.”

Despite Saturday’s win, Conner still feels vulnerable in light wind, so there is the unusual prospect that he 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 each day’s racing.

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

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.”

But they’ll have to do it on their own. It might be too much to expect any more help from Blackaller.

America’s Cup Notes

Dennis Conner complained about the short length of the starting line. “We have the understanding it’s supposed to be 400 yards,” he said. Instead, the Royal Perth Yacht Club committee set it up at about 250 yards and, according to its guidelines, could have had it as short as 60 yards. Committee member Noel Robins said: “It’s on the order of what we’ve been using (in the defender trials).” . . . Both skippers were concerned about interference from the spectator fleet. “It was gross,” Conner said. “It was bad for the boat behind because the boat ahead gets to force him over to the wash.” Murray: “We couldn’t go out as far as we wanted to the starboard lay line.” . . . Stars & Stripes not only used two borrowed America II spinnakers, distinctive by one red and one blue stripe across the middle, but also had another on board: “Dolly,” the full-breasted chute named after Dolly Parton. “I hope we don’t have to use Dolly,” tactician Tom Whidden said. “That would mean we’d need something extra to win.”