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Conner chases sailing's holy grail

Conner and his wife launching the second boat for the team

AUCKLAND, New Zealand -- For 132 years, the America's Cup trophy was showcased in the New York Yacht Club clubroom surrounded by photos of the men who had defended it.

The club, formed in 1844, won the cup from Britain in 1851 fitting it in its new home by screwing it to a wooden base, suggesting permanence.

Club members swooned over the trophy and it was held, as part of America's Cup lore, that if the cup were ever lost, the head of the man responsible would be fixed on that wood base in its place.

Dennis Conner was that man. In 1983, Conner and Liberty were beaten by Australia II off Newport, Rhode Island.

The cup was unscrewed from its pedestal while club members watched -- most of them stunned, some tearful -- and it was surrendered to Australia.

Almost 20 years have passed and Conner's head and body are still joined. He has not had to pay the ultimate price cup lore proposed.

Conner might have crept quietly away after losing to the Australians and resigned himself to being remembered as the man who lost the trophy rather than the man who defended it in 1974 and 1980.

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Instead, he assembled a new team under the flag of the San Diego Yacht Club and challenged for the cup again off Fremantle, West Australia in 1987.

He won the largest challenger series in cup history and was able to challenge for the cup, which he went on to win, making him the first man to have lost the cup and retrieve it again.

He defended it for San Diego against New Zealand's "big-boat challenge" in 1988, campaigned again in 1992.

But in 1995, off San Diego, he lost the Cup to New Zealand, who have held it since, making him the only man to have lost the cup for America two times.

After having spent nearly half his life pursuing the America's Cup, he is back with the New York Yacht Club again trying to retrieve the ultimate sailing trophy.

He will mount his ninth attempt for the cup over the next seven months and for the first time in those 20 years he will sail under the New York banner.

He turned 60 in Auckland in September while overseeing preparations for his latest campaign 28 years after his first.

Stars & Stripes operations manager Bill Trenkle told The Associated Press: "As a key player at the highest level of sport, he always plays to win. The harder the contest, the better he performs. He loves the Cup, its excitement and its challenges, and he loves trying to win it.

"He's an inspiration to everyone on this team. No one will ever work as hard as him. We all learn from him and follow his lead."