Stars & Stripes Rides Wind to 2-0 Cup Lead, Pending Aussie Protest

Dennis Conner and his crew proved that their Stars & Stripes ’87 was an all-weather boat Sunday when they charged through heavy wind and seas to defeat Kookaburra III and take a 2-0 lead in the best-of-seven America’s Cup final.

Saturday, in light winds, they beat the Australians with Conner’s tactical skill at the helm and his afterguard’s ability to sniff out wind shifts. Sunday, in winds up to 26 knots, they wrote another chapter for the 12-meter sailing manual: success in the slop.

Their flawless, precision performance further discouraged the Kookaburras, whose golden boat was left with no significant advantages--upwind, downwind, light wind, strong wind--save perhaps an edge upwind in ultra-light winds below 10 knots.

In effect, Conner threw another Kooka on the barbie.

Australia’s hopes for keeping the Cup may rest in the hands not of the sailors but of the sea lawyers, who were to argue a protest filed by Kookaburra III over an incident during the pre-start maneuvers. Stars & Stripes filed no protests.

The protest process has been a significant part of the Kookaburras’ success this Down Under summer. With British rules expert Brian Willis stating their cases, they had filed 28 and won 6 before today, thus claiming victory in the jury room in races they had lost on the water.

Ordinarily, Kookaburra would request a lay day for Monday to regroup. But the Bureau of Meteorology in Perth forecasts “a distinct possibility of no sea breeze,” which would be to Kookaburra III’s only perceivable advantage.

Specifically, the wind forecast is for southeasterlies from 10 to 15 knots and even less on Tuesday, from 3 to 8 knots.

If the Australians don’t call a lay day for Monday, Conner could certainly call one for Tuesday, even with a 3-0 lead.

Unlike Saturday’s tricky light-to-moderate wind conditions, a sea breeze was already blowing hard when the boats left the harbor at 10 o’clock this morning, and it kicked up a high sea that tested men and equipment.

At the start, the wind was blowing at 22 to 23 knots from the southwest, with gusts to 25 knots, as water poured over the 12-meters’ decks and into the holds.

Six-and-a-half minutes before the gun, Conner led Kookaburra III around the bow of Bengal I, the blue Japanese motor yacht owned by the Nippon industrialist who last week bought Alan Bond’s 12-meter fleet for $7 million. Bond had masterminded the Australians’ Cup victory in 1983.

When they came out from the stern, Kookaburra III had a protest flag flying for a reason that would be explained if the protest is followed through.

With 1 1/2 minutes remaining as they neared the line, Conner had worked his boat underneath Kookaburra III, but starting helmsman Peter Gilmour was willing to go right on across, circle the committee boat and come back strong to start three seconds ahead of Conner, who had jibed toward his favorite left side.

Both boats sailed off on a long starboard tack almost to the lay line, but after 15 minutes Conner, working the waves skillfully, had crept up three or four lengths almost directly in front of Kookaburra III, which had to tack away to avoid eating the disturbed air from Stars & Stripes’ sails.

Conner soon followed and, with a smaller headsail, was sailing with more upright stability than Kookaburra III. Finally, the first time they crossed, Stars & Stripes had a four-length lead and rounded the first mark 12 seconds in front.

That was close enough for Kookaburra skipper Iain Murray to attack with his suspected edge: superior downwind speed.

But Conner, in fact, stretched his lead on the run. Sailing cautiously, he raised his jib to prepare for the upwind leg three minutes early and had his spinnaker down well before rounding the America’s Cup buoy 29 seconds on top.

The spectator fleet seemed less a problem than it had been Saturday, thinned out by the uncomfortable conditions. It was no day for Sunday sailors.

As they turned up the second windward leg, Murray wasn’t close enough to draw Conner into a tacking duel, although every time Kookaburra III went about, Conner went along just to stay between Kookaburra III and the next mark--textbook sailing.

The big, blue boat, faster on every point of sail, continued to lead comfortably at every rounding--1:14 at the second windward, 1:22 at the reach, 1:17 at the second leeward--as Conner doused his chute early again to avoid a foul-up in the rough conditions.

The wind piped up to 26 knots on the third windward leg, and Conner, sailing just hard enough to maintain his lead while saving strain on the boat, led by 1:23 at the next mark.