SAILING / PRE-WORLDS REGATTA : Conner Has Problems, but His Boat Passes Test

It would take more than a blown-out spinnaker, two third-place finishes and a run-in with the Coast Guard to ruin Dennis Conner’s day.

Conner had to be pleased because his three-week-old boat came out second only to Japan’s Nippon Challenge Wednesday in the first formal test of the new International America’s Cup Class.

With nine boats from six countries competing, the final race of the Pre-Worlds Regatta is scheduled to be sailed today, followed by the first IACC World Championships Friday through May 11.

Neither Conner nor Nippon, skippered by New Zealand’s Chris Dickson, won a race, but their crews had two good efforts in different wind conditions.

France’s new boat, Ville de Paris, had sailed only five times before Wednesday, but Marc Pajot steered it to a surprise victory in the first race in winds of 6-7 knots, beating Nippon by 33 seconds. But in the second race, with winds reaching 17 knots, Pajot started poorly and dropped out early when a mainsheet block broke.

Italy’s new Il Moro di Venezia, the third boat built by Montedison industrialist Raul Gardini for skipper Paul Cayard, was sixth in the first race but won the second by 7.7 seconds over Nippon.

Conner’s primary spinnaker tore apart at the top near the end of the first race but was not a factor in the outcome. However, the only other spinnaker he had was noticeably smaller than those of his rivals and cost him speed downwind in the second race.

Conner was still sailing back into San Diego Bay with his mainsail when two Coast Guard dinghies and a cutter pulled alongside and ordered him by bullhorn to drop his sail, informing him he should have been under tow in the channel.

Once in the lee of Pt. Loma, Conner dropped his sail and hooked up to his tender Betsy for the tow back.