Stars & Stripes Ends Second Round on Upbeat Note : Sailing: Conner steers boat to 47-second victory over Defiant.

There’s a little more wind in the sails of Stars & Stripes after Dennis Conner’s boat closed out its second round of the Defender Series with a 47-second victory over Defiant Monday.

It was the second consecutive victory for Conner’s embattled racer over Defiant and assured Stars & Stripes a second-place finish in the second round, which finishes today with a doubleheader between Defiant and stablemate America 3.

It also assures that Conner’s crew goes into a two-week layoff period on an upbeat note. Stars & Stripes never beat Defiant in the first round and has been blown away by the even swifter America 3 until recently. But Stars & Stripes stayed within 55 seconds of America 3on Sunday, and tactician Tom Whidden blamed the loss on his attack.

On Monday, Whidden’s approach was nearly perfect except for the start--the only time Defiant led--and he said the crew should get even sharper with two weeks to practice and break in some new sails.

“That was the kind of race the defenders need in order to do a good job defending the Cup,” Whidden said.

“The crew work, I think, has been a big improvement. I think the crew work Sunday was good. Today, I think it was fantastic. The competition America 3 has been giving us has helped.”

Bill Trenkle, Conner’s operations manager and headsail trimmer, said, “Everybody’s in a better mood. We still need to get a little extra speed. We’ve got a few ideas. We’ll start off the next round ready to go.”

Before the third round begins March 3, Stars & Stripes will get several new sails, and the crew will spend considerable time on the water. The boat needed so much modification between the first two rounds that the crew got little practice.

“We are gonna do a lot more sailing,” Trenkle said. “We got to order a new heavy one (No. 1 Genoa headsail). It’s exciting to me we’re gonna get to trim new sails.”

Whidden’s tactics were to stay to the right of Defiant, where the wind was advantageous. Stars & Stripes played the wind so well that the boat got a chance to roll Defiant--a demoralizing move that doesn’t happen often.

Asked if he’s been taking chances to make up any speed deficiency, Whidden noted, “Tactics are always a gamble. (Sunday’s) tactics definitely influenced today’s tactics. We got too far to the right Sunday. . . . Today we worked hard to start right but be close.”

Stars & Stripes made its comeback since abandoning an experimental keel and rudder system last week. Whidden said he was unsure if Conner wants to try the system again in later rounds.

In fact, Whidden doesn’t necessarily disagree with critics who said Stars & Stripes might have given up on the new system too early.

“We’ve still got the keel in the yard,” he said. “The idea’s a great one . . . well, a good one, but it takes a lot of (practice) time. With one boat we felt the need to get back to the sailing. I don’t doubt a multiboat program (America 3 has three with a fourth on the way) might show a good reason to try it. It definitely looked promising. We were just too far off (America 3’s pace).”

With its recent success against Defiant, Stars & Stripes now has to focus on the unbeaten America 3, which goes into today’s races with 14 points to Stars & Stripes’ seven.

“I do agree America 3 seems to be a little faster,” Whidden said. “We’ve got a pretty good feel for what they have and the distance we need to come. We just have to keep working to try to up our performance.”

That probably means Conner’s crew will concentrate on technique instead of technology. “I think it’s safe to say,” Whidden said. “At some point you’ve got to get the sailing down.”