Yachting: Telepathy of 21-year friendship worth gold

By Suzanne McFadden

Dennis Conner sails on Stars & Stripes every day, through the eyes of his best buddy, Tom Whidden.

When Conner chose not to sail in this America's Cup, he asked Whidden - a 52-year-old Connecticut businessman - to take his place on the midnight-blue boat.

It wasn't like Whidden was a novice. He has called tactics for seven America's Cups with Conner.

"I've got to say I'm a Dennis disciple," says the president of North Sails, the world's biggest sailmakers.

"I think when I'm on the boat, he feels like he's on there - we've known each other for so long ... 21 years.

"He knows everything that's happened, through my eyes. He probably thinks I can hear him - he watches the races on land, and he'll tell the guys to tack and five seconds later we'll tack."

Whidden has once again become an integral cog in the Stars & Stripes afterguard machine, talking constantly into the ear of helmsman Ken Read since joining the boat in the second round-robin.

He has already made a few winning calls in these Louis Vuitton Cup semifinals that have put Stars & Stripes at the top of the heap.

When asked why Team Dennis Conner have succeeded here in Auckland, Whidden comes up with that tried and true word, experience.

"It matters. Only a guy like Dennis Conner can start late with a one-boat campaign and be more successful than one-boat campaigns can be," he said.

Whidden's experience meant a lot when Conner asked him to fly south during the US winter. Stars & Stripes' fortunes picked up when he walked on the boat.

"Maybe it was coincidence. It wasn't like I was shoved into something that didn't work," he said.

"Honestly, they didn't need me.

"But I didn't try to come in and take over. I think it helped to have a voice of a little more maturity."

Whidden believes Auckland has changed the face of the America's Cup - for the better.

"This is a place where the sailing really matters. In Fremantle it was pure speed testing," he said.

"The wind here is very shifty, very up and down in strength. It's a hard place to sail and I understand now that it's why New Zealand has such great sailors."

The fact that this is what he calls a sailor's regatta is good for the cup.

"It's better than good - it's awesome," he said. "It takes a little premium off the money spent. Look at New York [Young America] - they had a brilliant technology programme and then had bad luck in their sailing.

"But that can happen to anyone ... we've been lucky picking the shifts for the first three races, and I'm not promising anything for the next seven."