AMERICA’S CUP UPDATE : NOTEBOOK : Conner the Conglomerate? Sailor Might Branch Out

SAN DIEGO â€”  Dennis Conner is branching out to offshore racing and, perhaps, motor sports.

Through his marketing firm, Dennis Conner Sports Inc., America’s sailor is organizing a project for the ‘93-94 Whitbread Round the World Race, which an American has never won.

It hasn’t been determined whether Conner would sail on the boat himself--maybe two or three of the eight legs.

Perhaps he should talk first to Peter Blake, the general manager of the New Zealand Challenge who could tell him about survival conditions, icebergs, the doldrums, broken masts, collisions with whales and how he finally won the nine-month, 33,000-nautical mile Whitbread on his fourth try in ‘89-90.

Conner also is entertaining thoughts about fund-raising for an Indy car campaign.

His chief aide, Jerry La Dow, said, “It’s always been Dennis’ plan to build the organization beyond the America’s Cup. That’s only once every three or four years.�

The Russians are still coming, or so they say.

Kalev Vapper said a competition called the Red Star Cup, featuring the Red Star ’92 boat that is still in Estonia, has been scheduled for late March after the third round of challenger trials, when all but the four semifinalists will have been eliminated.

The event calls for three days of fleet racing. Red Star will be assisted by the Challenger of Record Committee and the Louis Vuitton company, sponsor of the challenger trials.

“But our participation cannot be official,� Louis Vuitton spokesman Bruno Trouble said. “We cannot be the organizers. We must concentrate on conducting the trials.�

Vapper, an English-speaking Estonian, says he is public relations representative for Red Star and that all “legal� challengers for the Cup, as well as the two defenders, will be invited to race.

That excludes the rival Age of Russia group, whose crew and boat have been in San Diego since late December trying to gain official recognition.

Vapper was asked if Age of Russia, in the spirit of goodwill, also would be invited to race in the Red Star Cup.

“Would you like to see at your family party a man who raped your sister?� Vapper replied.

The Red Star boat was on a cargo plane ready to be flown to San Diego hours before the deadline last month but never got off the ground. Vapper said it would now be sent by boat, unless a sponsor comes forth to fly it.

Meanwhile, Vladimir Koulbida, head of the Age of Russia group, remains in San Diego and, according to a report, offered plane tickets home to the crew.

He had no takers.

The prospect of its boats sailing each other twice on the same day Tuesday offers America 3a rare opportunity to switch complete crews between races.

Then they’d really learn how the boats compare.

Challenge Australia will have one crew change for the second round: Hugh Treharne as navigator in place of Tony Shaw.

Treharne was tactician on the wing-keeled Australia II when it won the Cup at Newport, R.I. in 1983.