SAILING : Conner Having the Wind Taken Out of His Sails

Counting two practice races, Dennis Conner has led at the first mark in three of the four initial skirmishes in the new International America’s Cup Class, but then has faltered.

Meanwhile, New Zealand has won twice with different helmsmen.

One time it was Rod Davis, the next David Barnes, while Conner’s performance keeps turning from classic to Keystone Kops. Are Conner and the Kiwis trying to confuse the opposition?

Barnes, who steered NZL-12 to a two-minute nine-second win over Il Moro di Venezia’s Paul Cayard Sunday, said: “We have quite a few people with equal talent, whether it be a tactician, helmsman or navigator. So we rotate people around so they can come out of this regatta knowing a lot more about how to sail the boat.”

Barnes claims the plan is not competitive among Davis, Russell Coutts and himself, but that the Kiwis look upon the current IACC World Championship as a learning experience, to build toward the America’s Cup next year.

So does Conner’s team, but in a different way.

In the first official race of the worlds Saturday, sailed in winds to 20 knots, Conner led by 39 seconds at the first windward mark before his boat started falling apart and his sails blowing out.

Sunday he led by 25 seconds, then went from first to fifth on the next leg. First the foreguy controlling his spinnaker pole broke, allowing the chute to flail wildly for a couple of minutes. Then when the crew got it under control it tore apart like a cheap kite.

The problem, tactician Tom Whidden said, is that the crew has been together on the new Stars & Stripes IACC boat only a month and sail selection for the downwind and especially the reaching (across the wind) legs featured in the new Cup race course remains a mystery.

“The reaches are a horror show,” Whidden said. “The problem is we don’t have any sails. That makes it hard to put the right sail up at the right time.”

No sails? Isn’t Whidden president of North Sails, the world’s largest manufacturer of racing sails, with lofts around the globe.

“We could put all of North Sails to work here and keep ‘em all busy,” Whidden said. “It’s more important to learn from the other guys what they’re using. Even though we look a little stupid, we get to learn from them and we don’t have to waste our money.”

It’s evident from the variety of shapes that few teams seem sure which sails fit the new boats best.

Said Whidden: “We could have sailed six weeks and not learned what we learned in the last two days.”

After Saturday’s blow that littered the course with wreckage, the winds were only eight to 10 knots Sunday--”normal” San Diego conditions for which these boats were built. The only damage reported was three blown spinnakers--besides Conner’s, Cayard’s and Chris Dickson’s on Nippon Challenge.

Conner fought back to finish fourth but couldn’t pass the two Il Moros, which have been consistently competitive in all conditions and on all points of sail.

Although New Zealand was third Saturday, its boat seems geared for milder stuff. “We felt much more comfortable in today’s lighter air,” Barnes said.

Chris Dickson’s Nippon Challenge, using an older, heavier spar after Saturday’s dismasting, was far off the pace in eighth place, beating only America-3’s older boat.

With three fleet races remaining the next three days, the Japanese will have difficulty reaching the four-boat semifinals Friday.