Whole thing up for grabs: Conner

Press, 27 November 1986, Page 48

Whole thing up for grabs: Conner

By

ROBERT LOWE

of NZPA Sydney

The weather is likely to play the decisive role in next month’s challengers’ round-robin in the America’s Cup, according to Stars and Stripes’ skipper, Dennis Conner. “The whole thing is up for grabs,” Conner wrote in his weekly column in the news magazine “The Bulletin.”

“Even such a boat as New Zealand, which appears to have an insurmountable lead on 66 (points), could be vulnerable.”

Conner said the media seemed to take it for granted that three of the four semi-final places were already determined. “I’ll guarantee the top three (New Zealand, America II and Stars and Stripes) don’t feel so confident inside.” Conner said the luck of the weather would play a bigger factor in the final round-robin — where each challenger faced each of its rivals once for 12 points a race — than in the semi-finals, which involved best-of-seven series. Stars and Stripes appeared to come

, unstuck during the unexpected light » airs that prevailed on some racing days ' r earlier this month, and the San Diego boat lost four of its 11 races in the , second round-robin. 1 Conner said his Sail America syndicate had not gone to Fremantle with a • heavy air boat. I “We came with a boat optimised for winds of 14.5 knots and above. That’s 1 not heavy,” he said. , “We certainly didn’t come optimised to sail six races in less than 10 knots in s November.

“The racing then was a light weather lottery for us and I suspect it was for some of the others too.” Conner said breakdowns were also likely to play a role in sorting out the semi-finalists: “We have seen gear failure in the majority of the fleet in the moderate wind and sea conditions,” he said. “So much emphasis seems to have been placed on crew practice and boat speed, but aboard Stars and Stripes we’re putting our emphasis into not beating ourselves through breakdowns.”