AMERICA’S CUP : Koch’s Boats Team Up Against Stars & Stripes
SAN DIEGO — Bill Koch’s America 3 armada has Dennis Conner in a difficult position.
Koch, who wants to place both his boats in the America’s Cup defender finals, set up Conner Thursday when he sailed his newer Kanza around the 20-mile course in 9 minutes 59 seconds behind his other boat, America 3.
That’s a light year in match racing, but no more than what was expected in 5-knot wisps when Koch arrived at the starting line to steer Kanza, which was designed for stronger winds.
The result gave America 3 three points to Stars & Stripes’ four and Kanza’s five, with three races remaining in the round that will eliminate one boat before the finals, starting April 18.
Stars & Stripes can assure itself of a sailoff Monday by beating Kanza today but, regardless of the outcome, can clinch a spot by beating America 3 Saturday. A victory would render Sunday’s intramural finale between Koch’s boats unnecessary.
“Obviously, today was a day we wanted a win for 23 (America 3),” said David Rosow, America 3 executive vice president. “You put your best team on the boat you want to win.”
That’s helmsman Buddy Melges, tactician Dave Dellenbaugh, navigator Bill Campbell and the rest of the “A” crew that Koch named this week.
Rosow added: “We don’t rig races.”
Once Koch assigned the crews, nobody disputed that both tried hard. But the light wind favored America 3 so much that Kimo Worthington, Koch’s tactician on Kanza, said: “If we could have switched crews and skippers, the same result would have come out . . . 23 would have won.”
From the start, the question of Koch manipulating the scoring has clouded the trials. Koch has denied the charge.
An interesting event occurred in Thursday’s meaningless conclusion of the Louis Vuitton Cup challenger semifinals when New Zealand and Il Moro di Venezia nearly collided.
The incident was similar to Tuesday’s controversial windward mark collision between Stars & Stripes and Kanza on the defenders’ course. The collision forced Stars & Stripes into the mark, causing Conner’s boat to do a penalty turn that cost it the race and left it i a tenuous situation.
New Zealand--7-2 in the semifinals, 25-5 overall--was in Kanza’s outside position, with Il Moro di Venezia (5-4, 20-10) trying to squeeze through the inside like Stars & Stripes.
New Zealand recovered from a poor start to take the lead, and as Rod Davis steered across Il Moro’s course to round the mark, the boats missed colliding by inches. Both raised protest flags. Then Il Moro skipper Paul Cayard was unable to keep his boat from barely brushing a corner of the inflated buoy as he drifted past.
The umpires denied the protests but ordered Il Moro to do a penalty turn for touching the mark. Already 1:11 behind, the Italians did it on the next upwind leg after the three reaches and were never close again, losing by 2:20.
As the winds died from 5 knots to almost nothing, Ville de Paris (4-5, 18-12) lost a strong lead, then came from behind near the finish to beat Nippon (2-7, 20-10) by 0:24--three boat lengths--and claim third place in the challenger trials. New Zealand and Il Moro will start the best-of-9 finals April 19.