AMERICA’S CUP : Stars & Stripes is Still Flying High : Sailing: Conner avoids elimination with victory against Kanza.
With apologies to Ernest Lawrence Thayer . . . It looked extremely rocky for the Cupville crew on Monday.
But Dennis Conner and the Stars & Stripes sailors got one last at-bat, swung from the heels and knocked Kanza out of the park, and maybe out of the America’s Cup.
They don’t know which of Bill Koch’s boats they’ll face in the best-of-13 defender trials starting Saturday--probably America 3, which has won five in row--but after three months they have evened the odds to one on one.
“Gosh, this was a big one,” Conner told ESPN moments after the finishing gun signaled his 2-minute, 12-second victory in the sudden-death sailoff of the semifinals.
It may not mean Stars & Stripes forever, just for at least seven more races. But when the prospect of seeing the defender finals reduced to a testing program for Koch was erased, the collective sigh of relief among Cup organizers, supporters and followers was enough to blow Stars & Stripes all the way back into port.
“I’ve always said,” Koch said afterward, “don’t count Dennis out.”
Earlier, the day loomed as Black Monday for Conner backers, although . . . a straggling few got up to go, leaving there the rest, with that hope which springs eternal within the human breast.
Through television, at least ten thousand eyes were on Conner as he stepped up to the helm. The weather forecasts were for northwest winds building from 8 to 15 knots, meaning that Stars & Stripes’ best chance was to take a big early lead and then hang on when the stronger winds kicked in for Kanza, a boat built for fresher air.
That’s about the way it worked out--except that the winds never did get past 11 knots before fading back to 8.
Koch said, “I wish I had Dennis’ luck and my money. The wind today was right in his window. Dennis nevertheless sailed a beautiful race, and he knows how to handle these San Diego conditions.”
In the pre-start maneuvering Conner fought for the right side and won it after a long, luffing drift up to the line, with starting helmsman Dave Dellenbaugh steering Kanza to his left. Conner was away to the right at the start, with Dellenbaugh tacking slowly from the left end of the line to follow him. Then Conner tacked back to converge and secure his advantage quickly--2 1/2 boat lengths when they crossed.
It was the perfect game plan, executed to perfection, and it might have won the race right there.
“We expected the wind to go left as the sea breeze filled in, but we heard from our weather sources that there was more wind on the right side of the course,” Conner said. “So . . . we wanted to go left but stay to the right of the competition. That seemed to pay off today.
“(Tactician) Tom (Whidden) and (strategist) John (Bertrand) did a real nice job keeping me in phase with the wind shifts and in control of the race.”
Stars & Stripes led by 4:09 at the first, windward mark--the largest lead anyone has had in the defender trials at that point. Coming off the mark with his spinnaker full, Conner headed straight at Kanza with starboard right of way, and helmsman Buddy Melges, on port tack, had to bear away to stay clear, costing him more time.
Stars & Stripes’ largest lead was 4:19 at the first downwind mark, but there were a few anxious moments when Kanza, aroused by a wind increase to 11 knots, chewed 2:29 out of that to 1:50 on the second upwind leg.
But then the breezes softened and Kanza never threatened again.
It wasn’t expected to be that easy--and it wasn’t. Stars & Stripes had to come back from losing to Kanza last week after the controversial incident at the last mark that ultimately caused the series to go to a sailoff.
“Kill him! Kill the umpire” shouted someone on the stand ... but Dennis stilled the rising tumult and bade the game go on.
“We still need to win one more,” he told his crew last Saturday, after losing to America 3, the boat. “Nothing’s changed.”
Nothing except the blood pressure.
In their daily pre-dawn constitutional Monday, Conner, Whidden, longtime Conner backer Ed DuMoulin and their wives were greeted by about 50 cheering and singing supporters.
Passing Bill Koch’s rented house, they noticed that the “Roseanne” sculpture in the front yard had been draped with a bra reading, “We Love D.C.”
Monday is usually a quiet day at the San Diego Yacht Club, which would keep the Cup whether Conner or Koch defended it. But on this day there were about 75 people there watching the race on television and unanimously rooting for Conner, the way it was in ’87 when they stayed up half the night watching him retrieve the trophy from Fremantle.
And they knew that Dennis wouldn’t let the ball go by again.
The result also crimps Koch’s plans for further developments in his boats, including a new tandem keel he had hoped to try, before the Cup match May 9. Now Koch must gear one of his boats to beat Conner instead of tuning both to beat the ultimate challenger--either New Zealand or Il Moro di Venezia, who start their best-of-nine finals Sunday.
“I’m extremely disappointed with what happened today,” Koch said. “We were hoping to dethrone the king. He’s still the king and deserves to be. We’re also very proud of what we’ve done in the past year and a half . . . to come this far.
“I’ve always said that what will strengthen the Cup is the two fastest boats and the two most competitive teams out there competing. Today showed that Dennis has one of those fast boats. I don’t particularly like it, but having two really fast boats for these really weird conditions is good.”
