Conner’s Apparent Commanding Victory Is Gone With the Wind

At the halfway mark of Wednesday’s America’s Cup defenders series race between Team Dennis Conner’s Stars & Stripes and America 3’s Mighty Mary, the margin was an unbelievable 17 minutes and 23 seconds. Conner’s rejuvenated boat was ahead by a horizon.

Halfway up the last windward leg, Conner was beckoning each of his 15 crewmen to take a turn at the helm.

“Everyone gets TV time,” he joked.

Must have really been a breeze, huh? Wrong. By that time late Wednesday afternoon, there was nary a breeze.

“Hi Mom,” laughed the women of Mighty Mary, mugging for the onboard camera. “Are we on television?”

Both races Wednesday were abandoned because neither could be finished within the time limits, four hours for the challengers and 4:05 for the defenders. Stars & Stripes and Mighty Mary will race today and the two-boat challenger series will be extended.

Stars & Stripes was on its way to a victory that would have evened all three defender boats at two points each one-fourth of the way through the final series. Stars & Stripes, the winner over PACT 95’s Young America Tuesday, appeared destined to win its first races back-to-back since Feb. 24 and March 2.

On the challenger course, Team New Zealand was ahead, as usual, against oneAustralia and seemingly headed for a 2-0 lead in that best-of-nine series.