AMERICA’S CUP : Mighty Mary Defeats Stars & Stripes

The many women (and one man) of America 3’s Mighty Mary defeated Team Dennis Conner’s Stars & Stripes by 2 minutes 4 seconds Friday, pulling into a tie for the second position in the America’s Cup defender semifinals.

Stars & Stripes can advance to the defender finals with a victory today over PACT 95’s Young America, which is already assured of a berth in the defender finals. Should Stars & Stripes lose, which it has the last five times these boats have met, it would meet Mighty Mary in a one-race sail-off Sunday.

Except . . .

The jury was still out Friday night.

The America’s Cup International Jury, a seven-member panel, began its third evening on the case of America 3 vs. Team Dennis Conner. It heard arguments on the legality of Stars & Stripes’ replacement keel for 5 1/2 hours Wednesday night and 3 1/2 hours Thursday night. Deliberations had not begun.

Much of what has been happening on the water lately among the defenders will be meaningless if the jury rules in favor of America 3. Such a verdict would advance Bill Koch’s boat to the finals and eliminate Team Conner, rendering further semifinal racing unnecessary.

The challengers, meanwhile, continued their archaic method of determining their finalists. OneAustralia actually sailed into the finals opposite unbeaten Team New Zealand with a victory by 2:41 over winless Nippon. TAG Heuer Challenge, New Zealand’s other entry, was eliminated.

The defenders’ race was tight through the first five legs, Stars & Stripes leading until early on the third leg when Mighty Mary took charge. The margin was still a modest 21 seconds heading into the final downwind, when Stars & Stripes went off by itself to the left side of the course and died.

Team Conner would have put considerable heat on the international jury if it had won that race. On the water, at least, it would have clinched a berth in the finals. As it stood late Friday, both boats were still alive.