After becoming the first America's Cup skipper to lose to an all-female crew, Dennis Conner evened the score Saturday with a convincing win in light winds against America3 in the second day of the defenders trials.
Team Dennis Conner won the start and steadily increased his lead during every leg, finishing nearly six minutes ahead of the women. The unusually large margin of victory was partly caused by a fading breeze that slowed the yachts during the closing stage of the race.On Friday, the America3 team became the first all-female crew to win an America's Cup race, defeating four-time champion Conner by 69 seconds.
Saturday morning, racing off Point Loma was delayed twice because of a lack of wind. The rematch got underway in a 7-knot breeze with Team Dennis Conner on Stars & Stripes taking a 3-second lead over the women at the gun.
America3 shadowed Conner up the first leg. After three nautical miles, it was 22 seconds behind. At the halfway mark of the 18.55-nautical-mile course, Conner was about one minute ahead.
As the wind faded, the women dropped further behind. Conner's winning margin was 5 minutes, 47 seconds. The current points table has America3 and Team Dennis Conner tied with one point.
America3 and Conner will race each other again when the defenders series resumes Sunday.
The third U.S. syndicate, Pact 95, whose yacht was seriously damaged by a storm two weeks ago, will race for the first time on Monday against America3.
In the first day of challengers racing, Nippon Challenge's winning margin was 1 minutes, 6 seconds over John Bertrand's OneAustralia; Team New Zealand won over Spain in 10 minutes, 53 seconds, the biggest margin of the day; and Sydney 95 defeated France America 95 by 20 seconds.
Tag Heuer Challenge of New Zealand had a bye on Saturday.