Surprise Victory Puts New Wind in Conner’s Sails : America’s Cup: After trailing by more than four minutes, he defeats Mighty Mary to reach the finals.

Dennis Conner sailed into the finals of the America’s Cup for the sixth time, catching an astonishing break Wednesday from his hometown’s fluky wind and making up a 45-length deficit on the last leg.

America 3’s mostly women’s crew on Mighty Mary seemed to have an insurmountable lead of 4 minutes, 8 seconds over Stars & Stripes turning onto the downwind spinnaker run to the finish.

But while Mighty Mary sailed into a wind hole, Conner took a flyer out to the right side of the course, caught a wind shift and rolled into the lead about halfway down the leg.

Stars & Stripes won by 52 seconds--a turnaround of five minutes over three miles--even though it blew out its giant spinnaker on the last third of the leg.

Stars & Stripes’ crew, probably the most experienced in the regatta, broke out in wild celebration. On Mighty Mary, there were tears followed by stunned silence.

Conner eliminated both Mighty Mary and PACT 95’s Young America and will face Team New Zealand’s Black Magic 1 in the best-of-9 America’s Cup match beginning May 6.

Conner is a four-time America’s Cup winner, the most recent being in 1988 when he turned back New Zealand’s rogue challenge. He is 3-1 as a skipper, and also held a key position aboard the winning Courageous in 1974.

In 1992, America 3’s male crew eliminated Conner in the defender finals.

Had Mighty Mary won, it would have tied the three-boat Citizen Cup finals. Conner would have dropped out since he was in last place entering the round, and Mighty Mary and Young America would have had a sudden-death sail-off to determine the defender.

It was a wild comeback for Conner in more ways than one. He was all but eliminated from the semifinals, but his rivals let him back in via a back-room deal that made this a three-boat finals.

The deal was struck hours before Conner lost what was supposed to have been a sudden-death sail-off April 4 against Mighty Mary, whose crew wasn’t told about the deal because America 3officials thought they’d lose their edge.

The big loser is Young America, which was the overwhelming defender favorite with a 21-7 record after the semifinals. Its part of the three-boat bargain was to get two bonus points entering the finals. But Young America collapsed, going 3-5 in the finals.

While his opponents struggled, Conner got Stars & Stripes up to speed by winning five of six races in the finals. He lost to Young America on Monday, then had to beat Mighty Mary on Wednesday.

America 3started the regatta as the first women’s crew in America’s Cup history. But with only a 5-15 record after four round-robins, America 3replaced J.J. Isler with Dave Dellenbaugh as tactician and starting helmsman. Dellenbaugh was a member of America 3’s Cup-winning team in 1992.

Mighty Mary and Young America shared weather information and helped each other tune up the last four days in an attempt to oust Conner. The race began in nine knots of wind but quickly dropped to six knots.

Stars & Stripes appeared doomed at the start. Starting helmsman Paul Cayard pushed Mighty Mary across the line early, but Stars & Stripes was over, too.

Stars & Stripes was still in controlling position, but Dellenbaugh made a bold move and spun around in front of Stars & Stripes and dipped back across the line. It had recrossed the line and was heading off to the right side of the course with a 24-second lead as Stars & Stripes was making a 360-degree turn to re-start.

Mighty Mary got the early wind shifts, led by 20 seconds at the first mark and kept a moderate lead through the first three legs on the six-leg, 18.55-mile course.

The race seemed over as Mighty Mary made a huge gain of 2:43 on the downwind fourth leg for a lead of 3:31.

After Mighty Mary built the advantage to 4:08 after the upwind fifth leg, Stars & Stripes went on an opposite downwind tack, got some nice puffs of wind and caught Mighty Mary.

Stars & Stripes’ spinnaker blew out near the top, but the crew quickly hoisted a new one and stayed ahead on the nerve-racking approach to the finish line.

Conner began his America’s Cup career as starting helmsman and tactician on the winning Courageous in 1974. He started his own syndicate in 1980, winning aboard Freedom.

But in 1983, he became the first U.S. skipper to lose the Cup. Sailing Liberty, he blew a 3-1 lead and lost to the wing-keeled Australia II, ending the New York Yacht Club’s 132-year grip on the Cup.

Conner went Down Under and won it back in 1987, leading Kookaburra III at every mark in the finals for a 4-0 sweep. He came home and defended the trophy against New Zealand the next year, winning it both on the water and in a protracted court fight afterward.