Stars & Stripes at Half Mast? : Sailing: Numerous problems have placed Dennis Conner’s team in a painful situation. Trouble continues to pop up and the team’s Cup hopes are dwindling.

Has Stars & Stripes become the Bo Jackson of America’s Cup--a former star unable to get around?

Similar to Jackson, the future of Dennis Conner’s boat seems unpromising after it was inelegantly towed home stern-first Tuesday, its new mast in two pieces, trailing through the kelp.

The mast, $500,000 worth of carbon fiber technology, snapped after the starboard runner block broke. Also lost was Team Conner’s new $50,000 mainsail, the one that proudly read, “Diet Pepsi. Uh-Huh.”

As of Tuesday, un-uh.

The latest piece of bad luck for Conner leaves his team with one mast, which it feverishly was trying to put on Stars & Stripes in time for today’s race against Defiant. Conner’s crew had just installed the new mast and sail for the third defense round, which began over the weekend.

But if this was a crippling blow, nobody was admitting it Tuesday.

Those on board spoke of the businesslike approach the crew took almost immediately following the initial surprise, trying to secure whatever equipment and rigging they could.

“What are you gonna do?” crew member John Bertrand said. “A lot of guys have experienced rig failure. There was a sense of shock, but we’ve all lost rigs before. Now the race is to get the new rig on in time. The worst thing now is not to be able to get to the course. You don’t see anybody sitting around moping, do you?”

Tactician Tom Whidden said, “It seems like this series, we’ve had a string of bad luck. We can’t wait for it to turn around. We weren’t gonna use that block anymore after this round--that’s a bit unlucky. But it’s part of the game.

“Nobody really said much. We went about picking up the mess. It’s lucky we’ve got a spare.”

The accident took place after Stars & Stripes had rounded the first mark and was preparing a spinnaker run. Stars & Stripes was already 35 seconds behind America 3 .

There was a sharp crack--the block breaking--followed by another several seconds later as the mast snapped, the top 2/3 of the 110 feet falling directly toward the bow.

Almost immediately, crewman Greg Prussia dived into the frigid Pacific in shorts and a polo shirt to try to disentangle the sail and spinnaker. Moments later Lexi Gahagan joined him, along with two members of the support crew. Bowman Scotty Vogel scampered up the mast to where it was rent, just above the first spreader, and stayed there into the night, trying to secure the rigging.

While the crew scurried about, Conner sat calmly, talking with 17th person John Strachan, a sponsor who had flown in from New York for the day.

“I called ‘em to hoist the spinnaker, and I was about 15 feet past the mark when there was this horrific noise . . . like a bang when the block broke,” Conner recalled.

“I looked up and Billy Trenkle and Tom (Whidden) noticed that the boom went up in the air because the mast was going forward. It’s really quite slow . . . kind of slow motion. It bends then you hear another boom. I felt the leeward running backstay hit me on top of the head and the runner hit me in the back. I’m a little bruised, but fortunately no one else was hurt.”

Strachan, sitting near Conner, was amazed at the crew’s efficiency.

“It was very, very loud, almost like a clap of thunder,” he said. “(The block) took off, almost like a sling. There was a very pronounced cracking noise--it was obvious something had happened.

“I didn’t see anybody aboard get frightened at all. The way they put things back together amazed me. I didn’t hear anybody shout or get excited. They gathered themselves together, each seemed to have a responsibility. It was a mess, an absolute mess, then two hours later (it was secured).

“Certainly, it was an eventful day.”

For Conner’s team, which now trails America 3 , 36 points to 11, the events seem to keep ganging up and the bones keep getting barer.