G’Night, Australia: Conner Regains the Cup : Stars & Stripes Completes Sweep of Kookaburra III; Skipper Avenges ’83 Loss

The United States regained yachting’s most prized trophy today when Dennis Conner’s Stars & Stripes, representing the San Diego Yacht Club, defeated Iain Murray’s Kookaburra III off Fremantle, Australia, to win the America’s Cup.

The victory, which gave Conner a 4-0 sweep of the best-of-seven final series, was particularly sweet for the 44-year-old San Diegan who in 1983 became the first American to lose the Cup that the United States had held for 132 years.

Although today’s race was the closest of the four, the outcome was almost never in doubt. Stars & Stripes took a five-second lead at the start and built it to 49 seconds by the halfway mark.

Stars & Stripes, a gun-metal blue 12-meter, has been fast, and its crew work has been almost flawless, throughout both the challenger series and the finals.

Stars & Stripes’ previous victory margins over Kookaburra III were by 1 minute 41 seconds, 1:10 and 1:46. The American boat led after every mark in all four races. Each race consists of eight legs.

Generally regarded as the world’s best on a 12-meter, Conner, skippering Liberty, lost the America’s Cup to John Bertrand’s Australia II off Newport, R.I., on Sept. 26, 1983.

The mood in Fremantle was like Labor Day in the United States, with a sense of urgency among Australians to crowd all of summer’s joys into one last fling before the Americans took their beloved Cup away.

It was windy but hot because the breeze was an easterly blowing in from the Nullarbor Desert. Parking was impossible, and the streets were filled with people carrying ice chests toward the harbor, like football fans trudging to a stadium.

The Stars & Stripes crew started the day with stretching exercises at 6:40 a.m.

“The whole ‘A’ team was there,” said Karen Smith, the syndicate’s exercise physiologist. “It felt like the end of summer camp--the last day--and it was sad, like this was the end.

“They’ve been together for so long and made such really special friends that there’s a little bit of sadness that it’s going to be over.”

But the crew was not overconfident and certainly not cocky. Inside the compound on Mews Road, supporters and reporters--fewer than usual--mingled with subdued anticipation. The crew exchanged firm handshakes and embraces, without smiling.

Security had been beefed up. The German shepherd Lobo was on patrol with her handler, and armed plainclothes policemen studied everyone--perhaps because of a death threat against Conner phoned in to a Melbourne TV station on the east coast two days earlier, perhaps just because of the implications of the critical, imminent moment.

At 9:42 a.m. Betsy, the catamaran tender, blew its whistle, signaling the crews to prepare to shove off in Stars & Stripes ’87 and Stars & Stripes ‘85, the backup “mushroom” boat they would tune up against before racing. There was more checking of rigging and sails, because conversation seemed difficult and there wasn’t anything else to do.

At 9:50, another blast. The rest of the crew stepped on board. Conner, in his office across the compound, threw his foul-weather gear over his shoulder and walked out toward the boat.

At 9:52, the Betsy skipper saw him coming and hit the whistle again.

At 9:54, the engines fired up and Betsy eased out from between the two U.S. yachts, taking up the slack in the twin tow lines until all were moving out among the flotilla of escort and spectator boats.

A few hundred yards away at the Kookaburra dock, the defenders also got under way, the Kookaburra II and Kookaburra III crews waving grimly to their supporters on the docks and rock jetties.

Tom Whidden, the Stars & Stripes tactician who was with Conner aboard Liberty when Alan Bond’s Australia II defeated them at Newport, R.I., in 1983, was especially eager for the coup de gras.

“It’s gonna be fun to get some revenge,” Whidden said. “We wish we were racing Bondy, but this will do.”

Meanwhile, at the Newport Hotel in downtown Fremantle, Australians painted a girl’s face green and gold--the country’s sporting colors--and chanted: “We’ve still got the Cup . . . we’ve still got the Cup.”

Americans responded: “Three more hours . . . three more hours.”

Only an hour after the start, the Kookaburra syndicate was phoning friends with invitations to their wrap-up party.

As the boats sailed back upwind on the second windward leg, a spectator craft capsized near the windward mark.

John Bertrand, a TV commentator who sailed Australia II to victory in 1983, said dryly: “It’s the wrong blue boat.”

Stars & Stripes led at every mark in the four races and was behind only once--on the first leg of the third race.

By race time, the wind had shifted to a southwest sea breeze of 16 knots, where Stars & Stripes starts to become almost invincible.

In the most aggressive start of the series, Peter Gilmour, Kookaburra III’s starting helmsman, sought to engage Stars & Stripes in a 12-meter dance that would cause Conner to fall into a trap and commit a foul or, at worst, wind up in a disadvantaged position at the gun.

Gilmour locked onto Conner’s stern one minute into the sequence and hung on like a bulldog. At minus-3:45, Conner led Gilmour into the spectator fleet of luxury yachts but couldn’t shake him off. In the last few seconds, Conner did manage to get leeward of Gilmour, with luffing rights, but time was running down and it appeared both boats would cross the line prematurely.

But at minus-10 seconds and less than a length from the line, Conner turned away to burn off speed. Gilmour chose to follow, rather than tacking away to port, then Conner headed back up and cut inside the America’s Cup buoy by an arm’s length.

Gilmour was 10 feet off Conner’s stern and eating spoiled air, so he had to tack away after starting five seconds behind.

When they met on opposite tacks 1 1/2 minutes later, Conner was two lengths in front and able to cross comfortably on port, although starboard tack has the right of way.

Kookaburra threw 16 tacks at Stars & Stripes and even changed its headsail on the first windward leg, but Conner continued to play the subtle wind shifts and pull away to lead by 26 seconds at the mark.