Jobson: You used to be known as big, bad Dennis down here. But you made quite a transition. How did you make that transition? You are the local hero here. Conner: First of all, I was very instrumental in helping Michael Fay get this started. You may remember that Bertrand and I were the keynote speakers at the biggest fundraiser that Michael Fay had across the street here. We sold twelve Cup models and that really got him started. I was also the featured speaker when we launched KZ1 and KZ3. So I have a special akin to the New Zealand America's Cup.

But when you are racing against a guy like Michael who is very serious and a fiery competitor like Chris Dickson, and I was in essence the enemy, don't forget. They were practically counting the Cup in '87. They won 37 races and we're the only people that beat them in the Louis Vuitton series. I was pretty outspoken and not necessarily sure I was right, but I made some statements now that maybe I shouldn't have but they came out misconstrued. I was looked upon as being big, bad Dennis because I beat up on them and they were already tasting the Cup. Maybe not wrongfully so, maybe I was big, bad Dennis from their perspective.

But since I've been back here racing in the two Whitbreads around the world, racing my Etchell in a local fleet, I was very instrumental in getting the Etchells fleet started here, and I've tried to be a good member of the community from raising money for the local children's programs to visiting some of the older folks that are around. I've paid my dues here and I think they appreciate that. One thing -- they are very serious about their sailing and they, I think, are looking forward to being someone of statue here when they defend the Cup. And I think they liked to beat me. Jobson: Do you think it's hard on Team New Zealand to be watching all the challengers going out and having real races every day and they're just spending time speed testing? Conner: I've tried to have some empathy along those lines. As defenders, we always had to race. When you were racing Freedom in 1980, with Ted, we had our own defender series going on so we weren't really too focused on the challengers. We had our hands full beating you and Russell Long and every other subsequent defense. We had something preoccupying our time and our thoughts and opposed to right now, all they can think about is who are we going to beat over here and what do they have? By the time you got to be the actual defender of the Cup, you only had a couple weeks to go to really think I'm defending this on behalf of not only myself and my colleagues and my backers and sponsors, but my whole country.

You were there in 1977 -- it takes on a special dimension. It is more like going to the Olympics as opposed to a world championship where you are representing your whole country. So I think this will whittle away on Russell and Butterworth and the rest of the team. I think how they handle that pressure and how they cope with it will have a significant effect on their performance come the third week in February. I think they can turn it around to their good or if they don't handle it properly inside and they get a little roped up, it could hurt their performance. We'll have to wait and see.

Jobson: Do you think the Challengers will get fast enough to eventually beat them? Conner: I wish I had a clear view of that. I'm pretty certain it won't be like it was 1992, 1995 or even 1987 where there was clearly a dominant boat. I think that this course out here is fickle enough and that whoever gets that first puff looks like they're hard to catch. Pretty well focused on a narrow long boat. The appendages are all pretty similar with the exception of a couple, notably the Swiss. I think we are going to have some very tight racing. North Sails is the maker now of all the sails. Stiff spars. I don't see the breakthroughs here. We don't have wing keels. We don't have a catamaran against a monohull. We don't have any real disparities amongst the boats. I think we are going to see very tight racing. It will be good for everyone with the wonderful venue that we have here in New Zealand. Very good, strong competition. Jobson: How would you assess Stars & Stripes progress after Round Robin 1? Conner: We have a conservative boat, there are no bumps or hollows here. It is very much along the lines of a Doug Peterson-type boat. We're very happy with the boat so far. It's a big boat. We're pretty certain she will be fine in a breeze. We're a little sticky in the light air. Thank goodness we had some light air to be able to focus on that. That was probably our biggest break in the series so far. We didn't have to wait until December to find out we needed to do some homework. I think that, as predicted, the Italians look to be the cream of the crop. They are very polished. They are sailing very well. Particularly impressed by the job deAngelis is doing at the start. I think he has been well coached by Rod Davis. They look to be the New York Yankees, if you will, at this point. But you would have been surprised if that wasn't the case. I suspect that they are pretty close to the top of their game. We all have a good bit of catching up to do. I think the New York Yacht Club has an interesting boat, but they don't look to be anything special based on times I've seen racing other boats. We have to be concerned with Paul Cayard (AmericaOne). He knows how to sail; competent crew. Of all the boats out there, Stars and Stripes, Cayard's boat, and the Prada boat are along the same lines. Those are the three boats the most similar and I think that those are the boats we have to beat if we are going to be successful in getting into the America's Cup.

Jobson: Is it a disadvantage only having one boat while those particular syndicates have two boats? Conner: I just can't see it. I know that was all marketing talk on behalf of John Marshall and Cayard. It was just marketing talk. Cayard's second boat hasn't been in the water that I'm aware of and won't be for sometime. The New York Yacht Club came down here and only sailed four times in a month. The two-boat program is not the same as San Diego or Newport or Hawaii. As you've seen out there the conditions are fluky. The 10 degree shifts are not uncommon. Could you imagine trying to test a keel or a sail or a rudder or a bulb when the boats are headed 10 degrees and one guy gets two extra knots and he is gone. Plus, who is going to find two equal crews as strong ... it is going to take 17 people to sail these boats. So I've heard a lot a talk about the two-boat program and all it will bring to the program. But my assessment is that it is just that, talk. If the second boat is significantly different, and they are good enough at their weather forecasting to put a light air boat in in January and they fear it is going to be light, then good on them and they deserve to win the series because of that. But how would you like to come down here with your heavy air boat and the first three days here we've never seen it over 15 knots. My guess is it very very hard to prognosticate the weather here in Auckland. Jobson: Are you enjoying the transition of being skipper/manager and having some of these younger guys like a Kenny Reed or Peter Holmberg come along and actually steer the boat?

Conner: Basically this started in 1988, so if you say transition being from 1988 to 1999, the answer is I'm trying to do whatever I can do to help be successful. And if that means raise the money and deal with the sponsors, then that is what I think is in our best interest. But we had Randy Smyth help us with the catamaran in 1988 and Paul Cayard did a nice job for us in 1995, and I'm confident that Kenny will be a more than adequate substitute for Paul here moving to the 1999/2000 series. It is just no different than any other team ... if Roger Pensky feels better at raising the money and he can hire a driver to steer the car or it is no different than George Steinbrenner turning the guys over to a manager. That's how I see this. I still enjoy my sailing and I'm still very comfortable with my sailing skills. I'm just trying to do the best I can to help Stars & Stripes get to the victory circle. If that meant riding on a tender and letting Tom Whidden sail once in a while, then that's what I intend to do. But I still love the sailing and I'm just doing what I think is in Team Dennis Conner's best interest and in Dennis Conner's best interest. Jobson: Is there a different philosophy in this America's Cup for you? You get to see the keel for example, not covering it up.

Conner: I feel that everything I have in life really came from my sailing, and that I have a special place, if you will, particularly in the America's Cup, to show some leadership and give something back to the sport. And I thought with this wonderful venue that has been given us courtesy of the New Zealand people that it will be something nice for them to come and see what these boats all look like.

With the special compound I have, the No. 1 premier spot on the corner, letting the people come through the models and out into my hospitality tent and see the boat up close and personal is a present that they would appreciate and they have appreciated it.

I think we are the sentimental favorite of most New Zealanders to win the challenger series. I certainly don't kid myself to think they're wanting us to win the Cup. That is certainly not the case. But we are definitely the people's choice here in the challenger series. It has been nice to have them on my side here from the very get-go.

Jobson: What was the incentive to put this fantastic America's Cup model collection together?

Conner: The real incentive was seeing how nice the collection was at the New York Yacht Club. When I saw that collection and I had a chance to create my own collection with the help of Kenny Gardner, I just couldn't resist.

When I see these models ... when some people see the Mona Lisa, I see these as my own personal Mona Lisa. It's so gratifying to see the whole America's Cup history here all to the same scale so when we are sitting here near Reliance and we see her at 201 feet and then we see twelve meters at 65 feet, that gives you a sense that era of 1900 was really special. Charlie Barr out here racing this with 75 professionals and a few wealthy people in the back. A special era. Now we are having a special era of our own. There is a lot of history in the models if you went back to 1850 you'd see that the British boats were quite narrow and long. The American boats were squatty and they weren't as deep. So if you were narrow and long but quite deep you could carry the same amount of cargo as a boat that was wide and long. And so the King in his own special way had a big influence on the English boats and on the English racing. You can carry that right through to the America's Cup. You don't need to look at the flag from the late 1800s all the way up to 1920. Just look at which boat is the narrowest and that will have the British flag on there.

Jobson: Would you have liked to sail against Charlie Barr? Conner: I think he had to have been a special guy. Win three America's Cup and didn't really emerge as the leader from a relatively obscure harbor pilot to be able to play with all the wealthy guys of his time. Not only take the America's Cup in such convincing fashion, but to sail the Atlantic, the boat Atlantic, across in record time. That record held until we broke it on Winston seven or eight years ago with a Whitbread 60 and ultimately several other successful tries across there. That was almost a 100-year record so he had to be special.