Word: mins
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Dates: during 1980-1989
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Having smiled on Conner on Tuesday, God was in a different mood for the fifth race, the next day. Just 45 min. before it was time to summon the yachts to the start, Liberty suffered a broken jumper strut, a hydraulically powered device that angles the mast to increase sail power. As a fast motorboat rushed a new part from dockside, New Yorkers Tom Rich and Scott Vogel struggled 60 ft. above the deck to cut away the faulty strut. The damage was repaired 12 min. before the start, but Liberty still had to raise a jib, and its crew...
...first upwind leg by 50 sec., a remarkable margin that displayed his boat's inherent speed. Unable to match his opponent in tacking duels, Bertrand decided to go off in search of a breeze. Left alone, it was Conner who found the wind-and won, by 1 min. 33 sec. "God smiled on us," said the American skipper, "and we managed things a little better." More to the point, one yachting expert observed (prematurely as it turned out), "Conner does not have accidents." Bertrand filed an official protest when the race ended, claiming the American boat had forced...
...most crucial of the series, even though it left the score unchanged at U.S. 2, Australia 0. In very light winds Australia II simply wiped out Liberty. As the yachts rounded the last mark for the beat to the finish, Australia led by more than 5 min., a colossal margin in a race of 24.3 miles. Bertrand was sitting half a mile ahead of Conner when the wind died. There is a time limit of 5 hr. 15 min. on the race, which ran out, and the result did not count. That was bad luck for the Aussies, but their...
...replay of the third race the winds were feather light once more, and ultralight Australia II, weighing 5,000 lbs. less than Liberty, took to them like a seagull riding the thermals. She beat the American boat by 3 min. 14 sec., the largest margin rung up by a foreign challenger since 1871. John Marshall, the mainsheet trimmer on Liberty, said after the race, "There is a speed difference in these two yachts like I have never seen. Australia II is something new, very thoughtful and very exciting." Asked how he spent the day off after his first loss, Conner...
...said Conner. It was Bertrand who found it. As they rounded the first mark, the Aussies led by 23 sec., having made up a whole minute. Liberty's strut broke again, and Conner was unable to trim his main properly; by the end Australia II had a 1 min. 47 sec. lead...