12.00pm
Mr America's Cup himself, Dennis Conner, was behind the wheel of Stars & Stripes USA-66 this morning and had no trouble guiding his side to victory over Mascalzone Latino in the challenger series.
Team Dennis Conner led at every mark before winning the flight-eight match of the second round robin by
1m 9s.
Paolo Cian was back at the helm of Mascalzone Latino having opted not to race yesterday.
Conner had not driven an America's Cup class sloop since December 1999, when he lost to Bravo España in the Louis Vuitton Cup regatta, but the master of time and distance showed his deft touch at the helm in posting his team's second victory of Round Robin Two.
Conner, seemingly stuck in Mascalzone's bad air on port tack in the final seconds of the pre-start, simply held his course while Mascalzone tacked away to starboard.
With about 10 seconds to the start, Conner tacked to starboard at the Race Committee boat end and crossed the line with speed, immediately asserting control of the match.
He rode Mascalzone Latino's Flavio Favini out to the port-tack layline before leading back toward the mark.
Conner and Stars & Stripes led by 21 seconds at the windward mark and were well on their way to a solid win.
Winds: W 15-20k
Winning margin: 01.09
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