Word: conner
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Among the alibis Conner offered and Murray declined were the narrowness of the starting line and the nearness of the spectator fleet. A ragtag armada, 800 remarkable vessels ranging from the Achille Lauro to the Love Boat, tails along in a boiling wash. "They were a factor," insisted Conner, who called for more elbow room. In the second race the wind came up, and while tight quarters prompted a momentary Kookabura protest, Stars & Stripes ran away again and plainly seemed capable of doing it in any conditions...
Even before racing began at Gage Roads, the blowy strip between the beaches of desolate Fremantle (pop. 23,000) and the wonderfully named Rottnest Island, "confidence" scarcely described Conner's mood. "Inside I can't imagine myself not recapturing the America's Cup," he said. "Pressure is defending a 132-year winning streak with a slow boat. This is fun." With Australian Collaborator Bruce Stannard, Conner has already completed his second book, titled Comeback. Will he update with the final races? "It's done." he says, smiling. "It's done...
...Aussies refer to Conner as "Big Bad Dennis," but they regard him as a larrikin. In their singular idiom, a larrikin is someone with a highly developed sense of fun and mischief who is continuously in trouble and eternally forgiven. "I'm a larrikin?" Conner says. He likes that. In a perverse way, he has become an Australian hero, and there is an impression in Freo that even at their own expense, the Australians are ready to warm him with a chorus of "good on yer." Picturing the town without Cup or customers is a little sad, though. In Fremantle...
...some sea or other, Conner is staying on. The speculation that has him quitting America's Cup sailing this year, win or lose, is wrong. "Win, lose or draw, I'm going to sail the next America's Cup, the next one and the one after that. As long as I have the fire and the drive, I have the imagination. I have to keep running to stay ahead. I'm the standard...
...only a boat race. It's a marketplace, a space program, an Olympic Games. Cockpits and boardrooms. Commercialism is bound to proliferate now, probably next time to the point of boat decals and spinnaker ads. If Baseball Emperor George Steinbrenner had been a little more forthcoming, Conner might have painted this boat with pinstripes and called it Yankee. With a better contribution, Real Estate Tycoon Donald Trump might have had Trump Card. "Funding, staffing, operating, planning, logistics, everything -- isn't that the game of life?" Conner says. Isn't it, campers? "Murray's got to be a six-figure...