Talk:Dennis Conner

Mr. America's Cup

Mr. America's Cup and variants should redirect here. 132.205.93.63 04:01, 13 June 2007 (UTC)

Television Interview

IIRC, Conner walked out of a TV interview (in New Zealand? Australia?). Does anyone know a bit of the history of this, and any links? 154.5.26.224 15:49, 3 September 2007 (UTC)

It was the First Holmes show, in NZ, 1989. Check the 'Paul Homes, Broadcaster' entry.

Video of this can be found on YouTube at http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=kKEMpg_Ck_M&feature=related (it was provided by TVNVOnline, who have rights to the video).

This is a none event. Paul Holmes attempts an ambush interview after the news that the New York court (whose decision would be overturned on appeal) had decided to strip the San Diego Yacht Club of the America's Cup. Mr. Holmes is fishing for some sort of apology from Dennis Conner, saying that he lost the Cup this time because he cheated. It was an outrageous claim, and there was some typical baiting going on from Holmes. Conner had just received the news earlier, and was still processing it all.

Clearly Conner had put in a tremendous effort to regain the Cup, and his expectation, as was the expectation of all the participants at the regatta off Fremantle, was that the Cup would be defended in 1990, either in 12 Meters or a similar class craft that would be better suited to the lighter airs off San Diego. In his legal case against SDYC, Fay's lawyers had argued that though both boats fit the description under the deed, it was not sportsman like of Conner to sail in a boat that was so much faster.

For Fay to respond to the Kiwi Magic loss of the 1987 Louis Vuitton Cup Finals by having his legal team review the Deed of Gift and look for a way to turn the tables on SDYC, make them defend on Fay's terms and in boats of Fay's choosing and which he had the jump on in design strikes me as the height of poor sportsmanship.

The appeal court stated that they were not in the business of ruling on what was "sporting", that those questions should be argued before a recognized governing body of sailing, something which Mr. Fay had declined to do. Instead he insisted that the case be argued before the New York courts. Both boats fit under the terms of the deed was the answer that he received, and SDYC went on to host their event in 1992, though by this time much of the sheen of the Cup had been rubbed off. With the decision of the appeal court, it would seem that Mr. Holmes and more importantly Mr. Fay owed an apology to Conner.

Were they big enough men to do that? Apparently not. Gunbirddriver (talk) 07:00, 9 November 2010 (UTC)

Dennis Conner doesn't own the San Diego Yacht Club!

"Business Owner: 1983 - Present San Diego Yacht Club "

I'm sure Mr. Conner would be surprised to know he owns SDYC. I doubt he'd want to pay the taxes (or be responsible for the overall bar tab)!

Maybe someone has the time to make a correction

Maryyugo (talk) 17:52, 20 March 2009 (UTC)

white wash

I don't know what white wash means. Is this expression known to the general public or does it need to be explained/reformulated? --Ettrig (talk) 07:31, 14 November 2009 (UTC)

Sailor mounts a challenge

Conner was a rare non-billionaire fielding a team to compete in the 2003 America's Cup

This is one of the striking aspects of his story. He was a sailor, brought on by the NYYC to sail their boat, and was roundly criticized for the loss of the Cup, even though he was clearly sailing in a slower boat. The fact that the helmsman of the yacht would walk away from that experience and decide to build his own syndicate, find sponsors and mount a challenge of his own was a remarkable occurrence. He poured everything he had into the effort, culminating in his victory at Fremantle in '87. Dennis Conner was no billionaire with a sailing hobby. He made his living selling carpet. He was a great competitor and he loved to sail. Gunbirddriver (talk) 19:15, 8 November 2010 (UTC)

We talk about professional sailors, guys like Chris Dickson, Russell Coutts, Peter Gilmour and Paul Cayard, and they are great sailors, but they are hired to sail for a syndicate. Conner wanted to sail, he wanted to get the Cup back, so he built a syndicate to enable him to do that. When you think of the millions of dollars involved in such an effort, all the coordination and work to build the syndicate, let alone the boat development, crew training and sailing in the regatta itself, you have to say that is remarkable. Gunbirddriver (talk) 21:58, 8 November 2010 (UTC)