AMERICA’S CUP UPDATE : NOTEBOOK : There Will Be No Disabled List for America’s (Gimpy) Sailor
Dennis Conner plays hurt, too.
The Stars & Stripes skipper slipped on the boat and hurt his right knee 11 days ago and has been sailing with elastic supports around it since.
“By the end of the day it swells up,” he said Thursday. “I had it drained a couple of days ago.”
The injury might require minor surgery, but it will wait.
“I’ve gotta keep sailing,” Conner said.
Bill Koch, discussing America 3’s fatal failure to cover Stars & Stripes on the first leg Thursday, explained the tacticial decision process on the boat.
“It’s democratic to a point. Then there’s one vote (his) that carries the day. Unfortunately, some of the decisions did not get made fast enough. Therefore, we make errors when we have a difference of opinion.”
Win or lose, the New Zealand crew has been the least demonstrative of all those that have competed in this Cup, while their opponents from Il Moro di Venezia are the opposite.
On-board microphones for television have revealed recently that there isn’t any unnecessary conversation on the New Zealand boat, while the crew of Il Moro seems to be chattering non-stop--in two languages.
Kiwi mainsail trimmer Simon Daubney noted this week, “The boat goes very, very quiet when the news is that (the other boat is sailing) higher and faster.”
But Il Moro tactician Enrico Chieffi said on his boat, “When you see you are going very good, everything is really quiet. When everybody is speaking, probably it’s a sign that it’s not working too well.”
The challengers especially are starting to watch each other very closely these days.
Il Moro di Venezia is still very concerned about New Zealand’s bowsprit, and New Zealand is concerned about who’s riding on the Italian boat.
Il Moro skipper Paul Cayard said, “I understand (New Zealand legal counsel) Andrew Johns couldn’t figure out which guy was our 17th guy, so I had to call (Challenger of Record Committee chairman) Stan Reid the other day and say, ‘Stan, you tell Andrew that our 17th man is the guy who sits to leeward when the boat goes upwind and looks like he’s on fire.’ ”
He was talking about syndicate boss Raul Gardini.
Cayard explained, “He’s the only crew member who smokes a pack and a half. And the only guy wearing a tie.”
Despite the threat of elimination looming larger every day, it’s business as usual at the Stars & Stripes compound.
Judy Conner, the skipper’s wife, brought 60 children from her fifth-grade class at Francis Parker School to visit before the boat left Thursday morning.