BACK ON TOP : Conner Re-Earns His Stripes as Star of America’s Cup
Che sara sara , said the Italians. The French said c’est la vie .
The Brits gave it a go, the Canadians’ caper crumbled, the other Americans were window dressing and, as we all know now, somebody else can better than a Kiwi can.
They all had their moments but they were only the means to another man’s end, because finally, after three years of scheming and four months of racing, it was Conner, Conner, Conner brushing aside the Australians like a Fremantle fly.
It’s clear now, since he has obliterated the Kookaburras in four consecutive races, that Dennis Conner would not be denied the America’s Cup.
“It’s a great moment for America and a great moment for the Stars & Stripes team, a great moment for the Stars & Stripes crew and a great moment for Dennis Conner,” he said.
“We all appreciate that the America’s Cup is the pinnacle of yachting, on a pedestal and the holy grail of yachting. It will probably all sink in tomorrow or the next day or the week after, but right now we’re just thrilled it all worked out for us.”
A solid, veteran crew that wore pressure like an old pair of sneakers, an ingenious design team that was always a step or two ahead of the other boat, a canny support organization of weathermen and sail developers--all these were part of one of the strongest programs ever launched in sport, and that also comes back to Conner, Conner, Conner.
He couldn’t have done it alone, but the others couldn’t have done it without him. True, he delegated more responsibilities than before, but only to people he believed in, and perhaps the most important appointment was to assign himself to steer.
Love him or leave him, trust him or take him to task, it was Conner’s sailing skill plus his single-minded drive and determination to surround himself with some of the best hands and minds in sailing that allowed him to fulfill his self-given right to reclaim that which he had lost. The scales weigh in his favor once again.
He won it in 1980, lost it in ’83 and won it in ‘87, a sequence of trials and tribulations that Conner can now accept because it has led him back to defending the cup in ’91 in San Diego, the town where he grew up, for the yacht club that gave a poor kid with sailing fever a break.
Officially, the defense site and dates will be determined within 90 days by a committee to be appointed by the SDYC and Sail America, the umbrella foundation of Stars & Stripes. But San Diego is the front runner and, as Queen Victoria was told in 1851, there is no second.
To win for San Diego, Conner had to lose for the New York Yacht Club, but there were no recriminations, not by Conner.
“I’m a member of the New York Yacht Club, and I have a lot of friends there,” Conner said. “The New York Yacht Club, we all like to take our shots at ‘em, but we have to realize they were the club that made this trophy what it is.
“For 132 years they defended the cup successfully. They didn’t do a perfect job every single time, but you have to give them an awful lot of credit. Bygones are bygones.”
Appropriately, on the last downwind leg of Wednesday’s race, the 1-minute, 59-second victory well in hand, Stars & Stripes ’87 flew a spinnaker borrowed from the America II syndicate that was sponsored by the NYYC.
The old club might have done better to ask Conner back again. His bitter lessons learned, nobody knows more about organizing a successful 12-meter program, and nobody steers a 12-meter as well.
Consider the start of Wednesday’s decisive race.
Wednesday morning blew hot and strong off the shore of Fremantle, but by race time the wind had shifted to the kind of southwest sea breeze, of 16 knots, in which Stars & Stripes starts to stretch its legs.
In the most aggressive start of the series, Kookaburra III’s starting helmsman, Peter Gilmour, sought to engage Stars & Stripes in a 12-meter adagio dance designed to lead Conner into a trap, to commit a foul or, at worst, to wind up in a disadvantaged position at the gun.
Gilmour not only was unsuccessful but also wound up stuffed in the corner pocket himself.
He locked onto Conner’s stern one minute into the 10-minute prestart sequence and hung on like a bulldog with its teeth in a salesman’s ankle. 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 slip to leeward of Gilmour, but time was running down and it appeared that both boats would cross the line prematurely.
But at minus-15 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 or sticking to Conner’s side, and when Conner headed back up and cut inside the America’s Cup buoy by an arm’s length, Gilmour was 10 feet off his stern and eating spoiled air.
Gilmour had to tack away at less than full speed, lost more time in accelerating and started five seconds behind.
Navigator Peter Isler of Stars & Stripes said: “They were going for the kill. They thought they could push us over, so they didn’t tack over to port.
“It wasn’t scary. (Tactician Tom Whidden) said, ‘OK, at 10 seconds let’s pull the trigger.’ Dennis timed it perfectly. We were very slow, but they were behind us so it didn’t matter.”
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 and led by 26 seconds at the mark.
Isler’s wife, J.J., the women’s world 470 champion, was in the Stars & Stripes helicopter watching for possible protest situations and, incidentally, checking the wind on the far reaches of the course.
“J.J. told us (by radio before the starting sequence) that the left side of the course was gonna be favored for the first half of the beat,” Isler said. “Then once we got clear ahead, the right side seemed to have some pretty good puffs.”
Kookaburra III, with skipper Iain Murray now at the helm, cut four seconds off Stars & Stripes’ lead on the downwind leg.
“They looked a little scary when they started surfing on some puffs,” Isler said.
But with the wind building to 18 knots, Conner moved back out to a 42-second lead at the second windward mark.
As the boats turned back upwind on that leg, a spectator craft capsized near the windward mark.
John Bertrand, a TV commentator who sailed Australia II in ‘83, said dryly: “It’s the wrong blue boat.”
The spectator boat’s occupants were rescued, but nothing could save the competing Australians.
Stars & Stripes led at every mark in the four races and was behind only once--on the first leg of the third race.
Murray said: “We realized we were struggling in our upwind speed after the third race. We knew after the second race we were to going to have a problem in the heavier air. We had to go into the fourth race with some more aggressive tactics.”
Two days earlier, Sail America President Malin Burnham had criticized Murray for “giving up” and not trying to draw Conner into a tacking match.
Burnham apologized the next day but said Wednesday: “You’ll notice he was a little more aggressive today.”
But it was to no avail. Conner, confident of his superior speed, generally ignored him.
“When we don’t tack and don’t cover, it’s pretty hard for him to be aggressive,” Conner said. “I can’t think of anything we could have done much better. We didn’t leave them any place to attack.”
Murray turned to Conner and said: “I can’t say enough for you, Dennis. A tremendous job, you guys.”
Conner replied: “I have a great deal of empathy for the way you feel. We enjoyed beating you, but we enjoyed being up against such great sportsmen. Good on you.”
After the race, Kookaburra III returned to the crowded harbor flying a blue Foster’s lager spinnaker--the only time it had been in front of Stars & Stripes all week.
Stars & Stripes sailed in 20 minutes later under mainsail alone, with a large American flag flying from its backstay. Conner did a smart round-up into the wind in front of the dock so the crew could douse the sail. The flag stayed up and was later dwarfed by a parachute-size Old Glory streaming over the slips.
Grinder Jim Kavle said: “After two years of hard work, we finally did it. It’s a long, hard road. It was an awful lot of sacrifice. Two years with basically no pay, give up your girlfriend, your work. But you come into the harbor with all the people going nuts and it seems worthwhile.
“I’ll never forget this the rest of my life . . . the American flags flying. Even the people with the Kookaburra flags gave us the thumbs up. Even the Australians were cheering for us.”
Five of Conner’s crew--mainsail trimmer Jon Wright, grinder Kyle Smith, starboard tailer Adam Ostenfeld, bowman Scott Vogel and Whidden--were with him in ’83 or earlier.
“You couldn’t have asked for a better story,” Smith said. “I’ve won it before, but getting it back is better.”
Wright said: “It takes losing in ’83 to appreciate this. I feel better than winning in ’80. This was a bigger challenge, the end of a beautiful book.
“You always think your first America’s Cup is exciting. I had tears in my eyes and everything. But we had to work much harder for this one.
“It became international in ’83 when somebody beat us. The best part this time was the people back home, watching and reading about us doing it. They knew what was going on.”
Kavle and Wright are neighbors in Rosemont, Pa.
“My parents said the local TV station was coming over to our house to watch them watch the races,” Kavle said. “That was exciting for them.”
Vogel’s only disappointment was that the series was so lopsided.
“It was sort of anti-climactic after the whole summer,” he said. “It could have been better for the spectators.”
He watched the wild celebrations around him and said: “It was like this in Newport, but we were on the other end of the stick.”
Whidden called it “the thrill of a lifetime but a little subdued because once we knew we were gonna win, it was a little anti-climactic.”
Jack Sutphen, 62, drove Stars & Stripes ‘85, the so-called “mushroom” backup boat, as he has driven 10 other 12-meters in five America’s Cup campaigns.
“I’ve been through a lot of ‘em,” Sutphen said. “I’ve won three of the four, but this is the best one. You’ve gotta hand it to Dennis. Every minute he was looking for a little more speed, a little more speed.”
And because he’s Conner, he’ll keep right on looking for it. He’ll probably find it, too.
AMERICA’S CUP WINNERS IN 12-METER YACHTS
Year Skipper Boat 1958 Briggs Cunningham Columbia 1961 Bus Mosbacher Weatherly 1964 Bob Bavier Constellation 1967 Bus Mosbacher Intrepid 1970 Bill Ficker Intrepid 1974 Ted Turner Courageous 1977 Ted Hood Courageous 1980 Dennis Conner Freedom 1983 John Betrand Australia II 1987 Dennis Conner Stars & Stripes