Rough Water for Stars & Stripes

AUCKLAND, New Zealand (AP) _ Stars & Stripes is waiting for things to go right in the America's Cup. <br><br>The New York Yacht Club team led by Dennis Conner lost two second-round races by the equivalent

Friday, October 25th 2002, 12:00 am

By: News On 6

AUCKLAND, New Zealand (AP) _ Stars & Stripes is waiting for things to go right in the America's Cup.

The New York Yacht Club team led by Dennis Conner lost two second-round races by the equivalent of a few boat-lengths and dropped to sixth place in the nine-team standings.

``We're struggling a little bit right now,'' Stars & Stripes helmsman Ken Read said. ``We think we sped the boat up a little bit between rounds but the results clearly don't show it.''

Stars & Stripes was leading Britain's GBR Challenge by more than 40 seconds in a race sailed in a light breeze Wednesday.

The race was abandoned when the wind stopped, leaving the yachts becalmed a little more than halfway through the course. When the race restarted, Stars & Stripes led by more than a minute at the first mark but was passed on the second of six legs and lost by 46 seconds.

Conner's team lost by 41 seconds to defending challenger champion Prada on Thursday, and Friday's races were postponed because of high wind.

Stars & Stripes was to have raced Victory Challenge of Sweden. Also called off: OneWorld of Seattle vs. GBR Challenge, Alinghi of Switzerland vs. Mascalzone Latino of Italy and Le Defi of France vs. Prada of Italy. Oracle of San Francisco had a bye. The postponed races were rescheduled for Saturday.

Alinghi leads the series with nine wins from 10 races after its 27-second win Thursday over OneWorld, which was previously undefeated.

The winner of the four-month Louis Vuitton Cup will face defender Team New Zealand in February.

Bad luck has shadowed the New York team. The second of its two new yachts, USA-77, sank off Long Beach, Calif., in mid-July.

New York sailed USA-66 in the first round and has used the same yacht, with a few unspecified modifications, in the second round that began Wednesday.

The team said it wasn't familiar enough with USA-77, which was fitted with a new bow after the sinking, to use it in the second round.

In the first round, Stars & Stripes defeated GBR Challenge, Prada, Mascalzone Latino and Le Defi, with losses to Victory Challenge, Alinghi, Oracle and OneWorld.

``We just have to work through it, that's all,'' Read said. ``You work for your breaks and we're not getting any breaks right now. We probably don't deserve them yet. We just have to keep doing what we do and hopefully our luck turns round a little bit.''

For its two-second round races, Stars & Stripes enjoyed the support of 30 New York firefighters, who are competing in the World Firefighters Games. The games are in tribute to the hundreds of firefighters who died in the Sept. 11 attacks.