Conner’s Ship Finally Coming In

When last we visited the America’s Cup Defender Selection Series, Dennis Conner was doing a seagoing imitation of Gen. Custer.

He was being soundly defeated, embarrassed actually, and the other guys had reinforcements coming. Conner was close to being buried at sea in his home waters off Point Loma.

Indeed, through most of the first 2 1/2 months of this competition, Stars & Stripes could not see first place with a periscope. It couldn’t even see second place, and there were only three entries.

Bill Koch had it all. He had the money to build four boats. He was buying happiness and success and he appeared to be such a slam dunk to defend the Cup that it was a matter of which two of his boats would make the finals.

Conner, you see, seemed capable of beating only Jayhawk, the first boat launched by Koch’s America 3 team. He was losing to Defiant and he was losing to America 3, the boat, and Koch was about to launch his fourth and presumably fastest boat, Kanza, for the semifinal series.

Conner was dead.

Plain and simple.

He had no fourth boat. For heaven’s sake, he had no second boat.

Unlike Koch, or at least in relation to Koch, Team Dennis Conner had no money.

Adios, farewell, Big Bad Dennis.

Wrong.

As the sun set Tuesday afternoon, Team Dennis Conner was in first place in the semifinal round credited with three wins and no losses.

Conner in first place?

He had been kicked around so badly through those first three rounds that he was 6-12 nearing the end of Round 3. He needed two wins, first against America 3 and then against Defiant, to keep from going into the semifinals in third (and last) place.

He beat America 3.

He beat Defiant.

Interestingly, he has not lost since he got to where he needed to win.

Understand that he had not defeated America 3 until that next-to-last race in Round 3. Understand also that Defiant had given him nothing but trouble.

Suddenly, Stars & Stripes was in second place going into the semifinals. It has raced twice in the semifinals, first against Kanza, that dashing new boat, and Tuesday against America 3, the old nemesis.

Kanza was a cakewalk, a 2-minute, 27-second victory Saturday. Koch’s newest creation, presumably the one making the next astonishing technological breakthroughs, was beaten by Ol’ Stars & Stripes, Conner’s tinkering toy.

And then came Tuesday and the first race with America 3, the boat, since the upset near the end of Round 3. Stars & Stripes was 1-6 against America 3.

In one of the most dramatic opening legs of the entire regatta, Conner spotted America 310 seconds and eventually four boat lengths at and just after the start. What happened from there was that Stars & Stripes’ crew simply out-sailed America 3 and led by 25 seconds at the first mark.

The balance of power had shifted.

At one point, after the second windward run, Stars & Stripes had a 1-minute, 28-second lead. It was as if at this point that Conner decided that enough of this was enough. You don’t want to make this look too easy. It got close enough to be scary at the third windward mark, where the margin was 21 seconds, and early in the final downwind run.

Stars & Stripes regrouped and won by 45 seconds.

Conner was ready to don the appropriate vest and open the appropriate soft drink for his post-race interview with ESPN. He was all aw shucks and doggone it and gracious, even if he could not suppress a giggle during the interview and a high-five at the finish line.

Things are going quite nicely now, so much so that it might be tempting to suggest that Conner’s early losses were the upsets . . . not the more recent victories.

It might also be tempting to suggest Conner had previously been sandbagging, excepting “preparing” is likely a more appropriate word.

What does all this mean?

It means that Dennis Conner is being Dennis Conner. It means no one understood the significance, or insignificance, of those early races more than Dennis Conner. It means no one can upgrade a boat or sharpen a crew better than Dennis Conner.

Bill Koch had at one point expressed concern that Stars & Stripes was not competitive enough to give his crew the edge it needed for a successful defense.

Those were euphoric days for America 3. Reality may now be setting in.

The Docker may now be on the other foot.