Conner backs US Cup bid
America’s Cup legend Dennis Conner will be at Auckland 2021 in spirit and name.
Conner has handed his famous banner to the latest United States challenge for the Cup, the Californian-based syndicate now known as Stars & Stripes Team USA.
The challenge from the Long Beach Yacht Club was officially confirmed today.
They have been whispered about for the past year with the working name of USA21 and a team based around the huge talent of American helmsman Taylor Canfield, arguably the sport’s best match-racer who has won four Congressional Cups, a world title and been ranked No 1 for three of the past five years.
Canfield’s team-mate Mike Buckley said they felt their goals – a successful all-American syndicate hoping to inspire the next generation of US sailors – was a good fit for Conner.
They decided to approach the multiple Cup winner about using the Stars & Stripes name he used to win back the Auld Mug in 1987 and featured in the defence of 1988 and campaigns in 1992, 1995, 2000 and 2003.
‘‘What Dennis had labelled as a short lunch turned into a couple of hours,’’ Buckley said with a chuckle. ‘‘It was something I will never forget as long as I live . . . an idol of mine and someone who I believe paved the way for professional sailing.
‘‘We asked him a lot of questions about lessons learned and he agreed to let us carry that Stars & Stripes banner and use that name. It was pretty special.’’
The syndicate are making up for lost time. They have bought a design package off Cup holders Team New Zealand and have their own design team headed by former Cup winner JB Braun adding their own twists to the 75-foot foiling monster. The boat is already under construction in Michigan.
Stars & Stripes intend to be around longer than the next edition of the Cup but believe they can be instantly competitive in yachting’s toughest environment.
‘‘The vision is long-term. Our goal and the reason we are doing this is because we believe we can win the America’s Cup now but we also know that that is an incredibly difficult task and we want to be a team that is around for a long time.
‘‘We are looking at multiple cycles,’’ Buckley said.
‘‘It took a while to get the pieces together. It started out as a dream of ours. Dreams are fantastic and we [he and Canfield] are both dreamers and we will never stop dreaming. But we needed an organisation behind us or alongside us and that took some time to build.’’
They don’t have ‘‘magical billionaires’’ backing them but have assembled a budget from a conglomerate of patrons and like the feel of that, making the syndicate more inclusive.
A second boat is their aim but it’s small steps at the moment.
‘‘Our goal is two boats but we don’t have to make that decision today. We will see how things shake out. Step one is making sure we have a great boat on the line in Italy in October of next year,’’ he said of the opening world series event to be sailed in Cagliari that will debut the AC75s in racing conditions.
Canfield felt the timing was right. Oracle had ditched the defender series for the 2013 and 2017 America’s Cups. A new era was under way with Team New Zealand and challenger of record Luna Rossa looking to restore some traditions and Auckland 2021 was a good opportunity with the design change.
‘‘The new boats are very exciting. It’s kind of a clean slate, a fresh start for everyone. In some ways that makes the playing field a little bit more level and allows newer teams to have a shot at it,’’ Canfield said.
While Canfield has made his name in traditional monohulls, he has been putting in time on foiling craft, including the GC32 Series raced in catamarans.
Canfield confirmed his crew would be ‘‘100 per cent American’’ and he was keen to get them into foiling boats as quickly and often as possible.
This year, something changed. Smith wasn’t nearly as accurate in key parts of his game.
Kicking from the base of the rucks and scrums was belowpar, especially against England in London and Ireland in Dublin last month, and while his passes were still being spat out at top speed they didn’t always find the intended recipient.
During the Rugby Championship match against South Africa in Wellington, a test the All Blacks lost 36-34, Smith’s attention to detail slipped.
Yes, he scored a try but the sight of him spending precious seconds attempting to direct runners as the ball sat at the tail of the ruck would have been welcomed by the opposition.
Three weeks later the All Blacks destroyed the Noeline Taurua has stayed true to her word and that means bad news for a ‘‘very small group’’ of Silver Ferns whose fitness wasn’t up to standard.
Those players – who Taurua wouldn’t name – have been ruled out of contention for January’s Quad Series in England, the coach confirmed yesterday.
Despite there being a few stragglers, Taurua was eager to Springboks’ hopes of recording consecutive victories against them when they recovered from a 13-point deficit with 10 minutes left to win 32-30 in Pretoria.
However, Smith was overshadowed by Faf de Klerk at Loftus Versfeld, his South African counterpart again proving why he will be a key part of his team’s game plans at the World Cup in Japan next year.
Smith was replaced by TJ Perenara in the 70th minute as the All Blacks wound up for their remarkable sprint home, while de Klerk was substituted three minutes later, a decision coach Rassie Erasmus surely regretted with the benefit of hindsight.
Perenara was picked to start the next test, against the Wallabies in Yokohama, but didn’t do enough to force the selectors to eject Smith from his throne.
Neither man did himself any
‘‘Dreams are fantastic and . . . we will never stop dreaming.’’ Mike Buckley, Stars & Stripes Team USA