Conner Gets Easy Victory : America’s Cup: Stars & Stripes defeats Bill Koch’s new Kanza by more than two minutes in fourth-round opener.
Neither kelp, nor Kanza, nor a broken boat part, nor a protest, nor a parking ticket could deter Dennis Conner from the swift completion of his appointed rounds Saturday.
Like the U.S. Postal Service, he delivered when the situation was darkest--and Kanza turned out to be the least of his problems.
Sailing Stars & Stripes, his old boat with the new look, Conner spoiled the debut of America 3’s newest boat in winning by a lopsided 2:27 to open the fourth round of America’s Cup defender trials.
Just calling it an upset wouldn’t grasp the significance. It’s the first time Stars & Stripes has been alone in first place since the trials started Jan. 14, and it finally places Conner on a competitive par with Bill Koch’s powerhouse, which probably had a sleepless night.
How would you feel after spending more than $55 million on cutting-edge technology only to find the Roadrunner jogging alongside?
Beep-beep.
With everyone starting over in this fourth round, from which only two boats will survive, the year-old, rebuilt boat is 2-0, including a bonus win for placing second in the points rounds.
Kanz is 2-1, and both of its wins are bonuses inherited from stablemate Americac,63 (0-0), which awaits Stars & Stripes in the next match Tuesday.
“This is a big win for us,” Conner said, “but we have to keep our feet on the ground. It’s nice to be in first place, but we have still have 14 races to win before it’s over.”
Conner is counting three more victories in seven races to clinch second place in this round, then seven wins in the best-of-13 defender finals and four in the best-of-seven Cup match in May.
On the way out to the race course, the outhaul car that stretches the foot of the mainsail toward the end of the boom broke. At about the same time, an officer was placing a ticket on the windshield of Conner’s new Stars & Stripes Cadillac Eldorado for leaving it in a fire lane in front of his compound, where he’s been parking it with impunity for weeks.
Must have been someone who hates sailing.
Conner told the race committee he would like to have time to fix his outhaul, and jury chairman Cy Gillette came aboard Stars & Stripes to verify the damage.
Satisfied, the committee delayed the start for 15 minutes, but Kanza’s crew stuck a red flag on the stern, protesting that the delay gave Conner an unfair advantage. Conner thought the protest was frivolous.
“We were ready to go if they’d fired the gun,” he said.
Nevertheless, with Gillette presiding, the jury politely heard the protest--technically, a request for redress--Saturday night and denied it in time for dinner.
Before the start in a light, 7-knot westerly wind, Conner’s and Kanza’s afterguards agreed that the right side of the 20-mile, three-lap course was better. But then Conner’s brain trust changed its mind in the final minute before the gun, confident that the oscillating breeze would soon swing back to the left.
So Conner pushed toward the left end of the line, as Kanza starting helmsman Dave Dellenbaugh jibed away from the line to avoid him. At the gun Conner was at full speed, while Kanza, moving slowly, crossed 11 seconds later at the opposite end.
The outcome was determined in the next few minutes. Conner found the shift he anticipated and took an early, commanding lead of 1:29 at the first mark.
Tom Whidden, Conner’s longtime tactician, said, “What’s really important in a match race, more than which end’s favored or which side of the other boat you pick, is where you want to be a minute or five minutes into the race.
“Dennis did a masterful job today. It’s one thing for the tactician to say where he wants to be. It’s another thing for the skipper to get you there. He did it perfectly. We wanted to be going on starboard tack at the start, with speed. All you gotta do is wait for the wind to go back to the left.”
Conner’s most serious problem thereafter was kelp. Neither Kanza’s see-through liquid crystal mainsail nor Buddy Melges’ expert helmsmanship could get the new boat back into the race. Even Koch tried his hand at the helm for awhile.
Kanza’s largest gain on any leg was when Stars & Stripes collected a large clump of kelp on its rudder on the last windward leg, allowing Kanza to trim 41 seconds to 1:25 before crewman Greg Prussia, dangling over the port side from a sling, could knock the weed off with a stick.
Then, as the wind dropped to 4 or 5 knots, Stars & Stripes stretched its lead back out to about a third of a mile at the finish.
Koch had said Kanza was built for stronger winds, and navigator By Baldridge said they had expected winds as high as 16 knots when they assigned Kanza to the slot for the first match Friday. Instead, they got half that and less.
“No boat’s easy to sail out of the box, particularly these boats,” Baldridge said, “and these weren’t Kanza’s forecast best conditions. But if you’re sailing in San Diego you’d better learn how to sail in that condition.”
Which is what Conner has been doing all his life.
