The America’s Cup : Victory Parade for Conner Attracts All Kinds : Even Those Who Know Nothing About Races Are Happy to Join Celebration

Yaron Beeri and Michal Gur live on a moshav near Natanya, Israel. Friday, around 5 p.m., they found themselves strolling along the boardwalk near San Diego’s Seaport Village, looking hopelessly confused.

Beeri peered at the thousands of spectators lining the harbor area. He gazed at the Marlboro hot-air balloon, the flying kites, the inflatable Pepsi cans as big as buildings, and said:

“Could you please tell me what this is?”

This was Dennis Conner’s victory parade. This was Stars & Stripes defending the America’s Cup against an upstart challenger from Auckland, New Zealand. This was a San Diego party.

This was something the Israelis hadn’t heard about, much less counted on.

“What is the America’s Cup?” Beeri asked, “and who is this Dennis Conner?”

The America’s Cup is an 8.4-pound bottomless jug that by 6 p.m. Friday was filled with a big bouquet of red and white roses. The smile behind the Cup belonged to Conner, a 45-year-old drapery salesman and local hero, who has as big a knack for bringing out the crowds as Tony Gwynn, Dan Fouts or Bruce Springsteen ever did.

After Friday, no one can dispute the drawing power of “the boss” of sailing.

Yaron Beeri didn’t have a clue, but liked the idea of a festival, and quickly joined in. He frolicked alongside thousands of beer-swilling, Frisbee-throwing, kite fliers who had beaten him to the shoreline by hours. Some were perched on jagged rocks, and one lone kayaker had the best view of all--he was in the water.

Martin McSkimming, 44, a restaurant owner, journeyed all the way from Invercargill, New Zealand. He and his “mates” held a banner featuring a sword-bearing kiwi and playfully poured beer on two Americans and their red, white and blue flag.

The beer-sloshing Kiwis were dreary about defeat but thrilled when San Diegans cheered just as loudly for Michael Fay’s 133-foot monohull, New Zealand, when it rounded the harbor, as they did for Stars & Stripes.

Conner’s boat stopped at the San Diego Yacht Club--where skipper and crew were given a baptism of celebration--and cruised by a fleet of Navy ships before heading into port near the Chart House restaurant. At the compound, Conner and crew went back in the water, after being shampooed with champagne.

McSkimming said San Diego’s was his third America’s Cup--and the best of all. He said Fay has every right to challenge Conner’s catamaran in court but that he--and McSkimming--will be back in San Diego for “a truly terrific Cup” in 1991.

McSkimming matched the mood of the crowd, which even by sunset was hoppin’. Laughter mingled with the smells of hot dogs, popcorn and chicken fajitas. The sky was loaded with helicopters and small planes. Boats vied for space in a harbor packed with vessels of all sizes and shapes. The music was as loud as a 4th of July rock show.

A corner near the boardwalk was dressed up like a quaint New Zealand village. A woman with a Waco-thick accent approached the stand selling venison burgers.

“Yawl sellin’ hamburgers?” she drawled.

“These are venison burgers,” said the woman with the crisp Kiwi tongue.

“Venison’s deer, ain’t it?” the Texan asked.

“Yes, mum,” replied the Kiwi.

“Sure it ain’t from a kangaroo?”

As Conner’s boat rounded the huge platform barge bearing Marlboro’s Diamond Vision screen--watched by thousands throughout the races--loud speakers blasted out Jimi Hendrix’s controversial rendering of “The Star-Spangled Banner,” first played at Woodstock in 1969.

“I love it,” said Steve Crans, 30, a contractor from Rancho Penasquitos, who was playing catch with his 14-month-old son, Matthew. “I actually think Michael Fay was right in trying to pull a legal fast one on San Diego. He read the Deed of Gift as it should be read. But I also think San Diego was justified in using that speedy little catamaran. It made for great drama.”

Not everyone thought so. Allen Edwards, 27, is the manager of a Seaport Village bookstore. Edwards said the America’s Cup had not brought “the expected economic boom.”

He said a “lot of people have walked through (the store and the shopping center), but sales-wise, it has made no difference.”

Edwards said he thought the race and the rigmarole surrounding it were “ridiculous, when we know full well it will really be decided in court. It’s a waste of everyone’s time. Pardon the horrible pun, but the America’s Cup had the wind taken out of its sails, right here in San Diego.”

“It’s crazy,” said Anthony Russo, 38, who manages an art gallery at Seaport Village. “It’s two little boys throwing a tantrum, trying to get their own way.”

Shortly before Conner sailed into view at 5:32 p.m., Susan West, 36, continued to carve a hunk of balsa-like wood.

“I’m making a monohull bowl,” she said with a laugh. “I was given this block of wood as a present last Christmas. I intend to have it carved by this Christmas and give it back to the friend who gave it to me--as a finished product. I won’t finish it today--not with every person here asking me about it!”

Between Conner’s arrival and the start of the fireworks show at 8, the crowd swelled even larger. Beer was everywhere, as were blaring broadcasts from a fleet of radio stations, mimes and jugglers, dogs, strollers and enough souvenir stands to decorate a Super Bowl.

“We’re very mediocre fans,” laughed Jan Page, 45, who, accompanied by wife Patti, 42, drove in from nearby Ramona. “We have only a passing interest in sailing. But it was great to see Stars & Stripes win.

“This is America. This is San Diego. And we’re all having fun. What better way to spend a Friday than to celebrate a victory--an American victory in ‘America’s Finest City.’ ”