Team
D. Conner Joins Swedish Tour (03/01/01) (source
: Sailsail.com)
Team Dennis Conner, representing
the New York Yacht Club's Challenge for the 2003 America's
Cup, has agreed to compete on the Swedish Match Grand
Prix Sailing Tour 2001, the world's leading professional
sailing series.
Competing on the Swedish Match Tour provides Team
Dennis Conner the opportunity to practice the same
strategy and skills employed in America's Cup competition
againist the their likely competitors in their bid
to regain the America's Cup.TDC joins several other
America's Cup syndicates including the Swedish Victory
Challenge, Oracle Racing, Prada and Team NZ who regularly
compete on the Tour.
"Most of the premier match racing events in the world
are on the Swedish Match Grand Prix Sailing Tour and
most of the top sailors in the world will be competing
in these events, including the teams we will be racing
against for Americas' Cup 2003. We see it as an important
part of our preparations to have our team members
racing in these events and we appreciate the Tour
welcoming our participation. After competing in the
Colorcraft Gold Cup in Bermuda last year I was convinced
that competing on the Tour was essential," said Dennis
Conner, Chairman of the Stars & Stripes America's
Cup 2003 Challenge.
Team DC will begin their competitive preparation for
the 2003 America's Cup when helmsman Ken Read, competes
at the Sun Microsytems Australia Cup in Perth, Australia,
March 21-25.
The challenge from the
New York Yacht Club for the 31st America's Cup regatta
in Auckland, New Zealand in 2003 has been formally
accepted by the Royal New Zealand Yacht Squadron.
The Commodore of the Royal New Zealand Yacht Squadron,
Peter Taylor, confirmed the acceptance of the challenge
to the Commodore of the New York Yacht Club, George
Isdale Jr., in a letter dated 12th December 2000.
The number of challengers for the America's Cup grew
to four on Thursday with this acceptance.Other challenges
accepted so far have come from Italy's Punta Ala Yacht
Club, the Seattle Yacht Club of the United States
and the Societe Nautique de Geneve of Switzerland.
Around 10 challenges are expected to be made by the
closing date in March 2001 with the United States,
Sweden, Switzerland, Italy, Germany, France, Australia
and Britain all expected to be represented.
NY
Times interviewed Dennis Conner
(12/04/00) (source : NY
Times)
The four-lane thoroughfare
skirting the docks in downtown Newport is called America's
Cup Avenue. It's a reminder of a glorious era, when
the world's finest sailors regularly jousted for the
cup in the nearby waters. Traffic along the road,
a bumper-to-bumper crawl on a busy summer weekend,
is literally going nowhere fast.
But its namesake, at least as far as Newport is concerned,
is very likely gone forever.
That was one of several revelations put forth last
week by the four- time cup winner, Dennis Conner,
following a luncheon in Manhattan at the headquarters
of the New York Yacht Club. Conner's Stars and Stripes
syndicate has aligned with the club to challenge for
the cup in New Zealand beginning in the fall of 2002,
and the ceremony included an announcement that Computer
Associates, the software corporation, had signed on
as the primary sponsor to the tune of at least $10
million.
In recent years, many Newporters held high hopes that
the cup competition would someday return. The New
York Yacht Club owns a waterfront mansion in the city.
And when the New York team departed for Auckland for
last winter's cup event, the idea, had it won, was
to return the regatta to Rhode Island Sound. But the
club's Young America squad self-destructed and was
not a factor during New Zealand's triumphant defense.
So would Newport figure in the plans should Stars
and Stripes prevail next time?
"I can tell you," said Conner, who was at the helm
in 1983 when a victorious Australian boat sailed to
cup glory, "that's not the deal."
In an interview in the quiet oval room whose centerpiece
was once the America's Cup — and in the space where
some club members called for the native San Diegan's
head to replace the vacated trophy once it was gone
— Conner said: "We took losing very hard. There'd
be some magic if we could return it here 20 years
later."
There is clearly space reserved for the now well-traveled
cup. And while Conner said the ultimate decision about
where to stage any potential future event would lie
with the club, it was also clear that New York City
now had the inside track.
"I think this would be the logical place to sail it,"
he said. "It started here. The water off Sandy Hook
is a great place to sail. Can you imagine how the
cup would do here based on the Chelsea Piers or Governors
Island? Think of all the sponsors, wouldn't they love
to come here? Not only ours, but the overseas backers."
And in a reference to the most recent cup challenger,
Italy's Prada Challenge, he added, "You don't think
Prada wouldn't like to come here?"
Conner said the basis of his arrangement with the
club was simple.
"I was willing to give the club what they really wanted,
which is the cup, if we win, as well as control of
the venue," he said.
He also stated that other Northeast sites would be
given consideration were he triumphant.
"The state of Connecticut is trying to rebuild New
London, and the State Piers there would be a wonderful
place to have it," he said. "And you could make a
good case for Boston and a few other places."
The Stars and Stripes team has several Newport connections.
Conner's designated helmsman, Ken Read, and the club's
incoming commodore, Charles Dana, both live there.
The sail trimmer Mike Toppa grew up in Newport where
his father, John, is a legendary high school football
coach. Both of Conner's new boats will be built at
New England Boatworks in nearby Portsmouth.
"We have some big attachments there," he said.
But the cup's last two stops have been San Diego and
Auckland, and Conner implied that the event has probably
outgrown the small coastal city. "It's about infrastructure,"
he said. "Where are the superyachts going to tie up
and where are the sponsors and spectators going to
stay and be entertained?
" When Conner signed with the New York club, it closed
a round of back- and-forth negotiations that could
have tilted either way. After the dismal, expensive
experience with the Young America challenge, not everyone
in the club was enamored with the notion of fielding
another challenge, nor with Conner spearheading it.
"A lot of people that put up a lot of money last time
were disappointed," Conner said. "Some of them felt
this wasn't the right thing for the club to do. But
the club's leadership felt it was. And after a while
people believed we'd have a program they could be
proud of and they supported their flag officers."
More than anyone, Conner knows that if the program
sours, it's his head they will seek once again. And
while he may not know where the cup will ultimately
go, he knows where it currently resides.
Before long, he'll be back off to New Zealand to try
and retrieve it.
At a press conference today at the
NYYC, Dennis Conner announced that Computer Associates
(CA), the world's leading eBusiness solutions provider,
is the main sponsor and technology partner (the team
will implement a variety of CA solutions to gather,
store, analyze, manage and distribute information
during the many stages of the racing program) for
Stars & Stripes, his America’s Cup team.
According to Team DC director of operations, Bill
Trenkle, the deal is worth $10 million in both cash
and product. When added to private donations it puts
the Conner-led team, which will be mounting its eighth
campaign for the Cup, about halfway to its goal of
raising at least $30 million for the next campaign.
Conner also introduced his crew, which will include
Tom Whidden, Conner’s tactician since 1980, Ken Read,
his helmsman in 1999-2000, Terry Hutchinson, mainsail
trimmer for Paul Cayard’s AmericaOne last time, Mike
Toppa, trimmer, and Bill Trenkle (as headsail trimmer),
president of Dennis Conner Sports who has raced with
Conner in the America’s Cup since 1980. Bill Trenkle
said the crew would be comprised of almost two-thirds
of the Stars & Stripes crew from the last LVC.
During the last Cup challenge, Conner ran the Stars
& Stripes program, but he left the sailing to Ken
Read and Conner's long-time friend Tom Whidden. This
time, Conner is still in charge, but Read will have
more influence in the design and construction of the
boats, their spars and sails, as well as the crew.
One key person who won't return is Peter Holmberg,
who served in the afterguard of the last challenge.
Although unannounced, it is understood that Holmberg
has joined Larry Ellison's Oracle Racing team. "Peter
was a great guy to have on our team," said Trenkle.
"We're excited to have Terry onboard. He more than
makes up for the loss of Holmberg."
Despite mounting a one-boat effort in 1999-2000, Conner’s
Stars & Stripes finished a close third in the Louis
Vuitton Semifinals to Prada and AmericaOne -- both
two-boat campaigns. For the forthcoming America’s
Cup, Conner will field two boats. Tank-testing will
be conducted at the David Taylor Model Basin in MD.
Team Dennis Conner also is busy on design work. Reichel
Pugh have been testing 26-foot models at the David
Taylor Basin in Maryland. Two new boats are planned
and will be built at New England Boatworks in Portsmouth,
R.I., which built the last Stars & Stripes. Tank-testing
will be conducted at the David Taylor Model Basin
in MD.
The boats won't be launched until early 2002, about
eight months before the expected start of the Louis
Vuitton Cup. If that seems late, remember that Team
DC didn't launch USA-55 until a month before the last
LVC, and then almost made it to the finals.
The sailmaker will be North, the largest sailmaker
in the world. In the previous Cup, North had its sails
on 11 of 12 syndicates, including Team New Zealand,
the defender, and Prada, the challenger from Italy.
Masts and booms will come from Southern Spars, which
equipped six of 12 groups last time, including both
finalists. Tom Whidden, Conner’s longtime tactician,
is president/CEO of North Marine Group, which owns
North Sails and Southern Spars.
Yesterday, Skippers from most of the
confirmed teams for the next America's Cup (Ed Baird,
Dean Barker, Dennis Conner, Russell Coutts, Chris
Dickson, Peter Gilmour, Andy Green, Chris Larson &
James Spithill) attended a "State of the America's
Cup" press conference at the Royal Bermuda Yacht.
In a relaxed, hour-long genial exchange they traded
quips, revealed a few secrets and agreed that the
next America's Cup regatta would lift the stature
of the event to a new plateau.
Dennis Conner told that
he is close to completing an agreement with the New
Yorkers to sail under their banner at the next challenge
in New Zealand in 2003. Queried if he would challenge
next time from the New York Yacht Club, Conner revealed
that he wanted to represent New York in Fremantle
in 1987 and in Auckland last year. "I've had two unsuccessful
bids, you might say, to represent the club," he said.
"It would be a nice dream for me to win the Cup and
bring it back to New York and the trophy room at the
New York Yacht Club. It would be nice closure. While
it might be a dream, I would relish the chance for
it to be reality."
Briton Andy Green talked about his plans for a British
challenge, but admitted he needed a major backer.
Green said he and British sailors had spent a great
summer sailing that country's two IACC boats in Cowes.
"There was a lot of positive feeling, but feeling
unfortunately doesn't get you to the America's Cup,"
he noted wryly. "The British sailing team at the Olympics
did an amazing job," he added. "They got three gold
medals and two silvers. I'm hoping that will encourage
a few people with some serious money to get involved."
Magnus Holmberg from Sweden revealed that he had just
signed up to skipper Sweden's Victory Challenge. Holmberg
said Argentinian designer German Frers who helped
start Italy's Prada Challenge last time would design
the Swedish boats.
Peter Holmberg, from the US Virgin Islands, sat at
the opposite end of the table from Ed Baird, and like
Baird, acknowledged he had no concrete Cup plans.
-
NYYC and Conner Formalize Agreement
(11/09/00) (source :
NYYC)
George M. Isdale Jr., commodore of
the New York Yacht Club (NYYC), announced that the
club has completed an agreement with Dennis Conner
and his Stars & Stripes team to represent the club
in America's Cup XXXI in 2003. The NYYC has also formally
challenged the Royal New Zealand Yacht Squadron, the
keeper of the Cup.
"This is a revival of a long-standing relationship
that has existed between Dennis Conner and the New
York Yacht Club," said Commodore Isdale. "Major sponsorship
and many of the key members of the team are in place
allowing Stars & Stripes to move forward. We expect
to field a very competitive challenge in New Zealand."
Corporate partners will be announced shortly.
Dennis Conner is the only four-time winner of the
America's Cup. He was starting helmsman and tactician
aboard Courageous, the successful defender for the
NYYC in 1974. In 1980 he skippered the winning Freedom
for the NYYC. He was the first person to lose the
America's Cup with Liberty in 1983 and the first to
win it back in 1987, with Stars & Stripes. Conner
also defended the Cup for the San Diego Yacht Club
in 1988. Despite fielding a lean one-boat campaign
in 1999-2000 in New Zealand, Conner's team came close
to winning the Semifinals of the Louis Vuitton Cup.
"The place for the Cup is on New York's West 44th
Street," said Conner, a NYYC member since 1980. "Twenty
years after losing it, I'd love to be the one to win
it back." The next America's Cup will be in Auckland,
New Zealand, in 2002-2003
The trophy that came to be called the America's Cup
was won by America, a NYYC vessel, in 1851 in England.
The club retained the trophy for 132 years, or until
1983. During that period, there were 25 defenses.
Yachts from the NYYC won 81 of 93 races.
-
Dennis Conner plan cup assault
(10/16/00) (source : Sports.com)
After the tycoons' announcements,
attention is now riveted on what's happening in NYYC,
and how efforts to return the Auld Mug to its Yacht
Club are shaping up. There is no urgency in filing
the formal challenge to theRNZYC (the deadline for
filing the challenge and $150,000 entry fee is not
until next March), the Dennis Conner silence was a
little bit disturbing.
After months of speculation, Big Bad Dennis monday
gived informations about the future Stars & Stripes
Challenge for the America's Cup, which includes a
two boat campaign (he has committed to Reichel Pugh
as the design team) and some top world sailors (Ken
Read, Peter Isler and Peter Holmberg).
While other big money teams are out scouting around
the world signing up the best crew they can find,
Dennis isn't worried about this, "well informally
I've talked to the same people that you would expect
me to have," he says, "but I'm not going to
sign any contracts, because there is no point in it."
Commenting on practicing on Auckland's Hauraki Gulf,
he believes his team are getting enough sailing anyway.
