Kevin Parry, who backed Australian bid for sailing’s America’s Cup, dies at 77

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Businessman Kevin Parry, who backed Australia’s 1987 defense of sailing’s America’s Cup, has died in a car accident. He was 77.

Parry died Friday of injuries sustained when the vehicle he was driving rolled near his home north of Perth, police said.

Parry funded the yacht Kookaburra III, which beat Alan Bond’s Australia IV to earn the right to defend the America’s Cup off Fremantle, West Australia in 1987.

The defense ended in failure as Dennis Conner, sailing Stars and Stripes, reclaimed the America’s Cup for the United States four years after losing it to Bond’s Australia II.

-- Associated Press