Team Dennis Conner got down to business today and convincingly beat GBR Challenge to gain a 2-1 lead in the quarterfinals of the Louis Vuitton Cup.
Although this is the closest series of the quarterfinals - the only one that is not a clean sweep after three starts - the races themselves have been very lopsided for the past two days.
The Stars & Stripes crew appear to have shrugged off their first match loss, which resulted from a penalty incurred in the pre-start, to turn in two dominating performances.
An innocuous pre-start today saw Ken Read place Stars & Stripes USA-77 to leeward and ahead of Wight Lightning GBR-70, started by Andy Beadsworth who later handed off to skipper Ian Walker.
Soon after the start Wight Lightning tacked away to port. Stars & Stripes continued on starboard for a short bit, then tacked to port and into a lift.
From there, Stars & Stripes showed excellent boatspeed and patient, covering tactics.
The Americans padded their lead on every leg and stormed to a runaway win.
