THE AMERICA’S CUP : Stars & Stripes Calls for a Lay Day : Bomb Threat Doesn’t Bother Kookaburra, 3rd Loss Does

Iain Murray was coaxing Kookaburra III along on the last leg of Monday’s America’s Cup race, with Dennis Conner’s Stars & Stripes somewhere ahead on the horizon of the Indian Ocean, when members of the race committee came alongside in a rubber chase boat.

“The committee said, ‘You’ve got a bomb on board. What do you want to do?’ ” Murray said.

“Our immediate response to them was, ‘Well, what’s the bad news?’ ”

The Kookaburras already had been blown away three times by Conner, who needs only one more victory to take the Cup to San Diego.

“We took the option to continue with the race,” Murray said. “We didn’t think if the bomb went up it was going to affect the result.”

As it turned out, the report was false. There was no bomb aboard.

Stars & Stripes’ winning margin of 1 minute 46 seconds was its most lopsided yet in another so-called showdown that approximates the routs of Tom Blackaller’s USA in four straight and New Zealand’s KZ7, 4-1.

The combination of a remarkable 12-meter, a redoubtable skipper, a veteran crew and--again--some critical weather reporting has become an invincible force. And on the fourth day, Conner will rest.

With all of that going for him, Conner looked at the erratic winds forecast for today and decided to call a lay day, rather than risk Kookaburra III getting lucky with wind shifts or ultra-light zephyrs that could put it back in the hunt.

He can thank the Kookas for having that option. If they had called a day off for Monday, Stars & Stripes couldn’t have called one a second consecutive day and, conceivably, it could be 2-1 instead of 3-0 at this point, giving Kookaburra the best of it.

Conner said: “We’re gonna remain scared to death until we get one more victory.”

But, realistically, all the lay day probably does now is prolong the inevitable and keep the Fremantle tourist trade alive an extra day.

Press conference moderator Peter Newman thanked Conner for his “gift to the economy of Western Australia,” which will have the Cup to cherish at least until about 4:15 Wednesday afternoon.

The Kookaburras, though, would seem to have little cause for further optimism. Generally, the tactics of Murray and starting helmsman Peter Gilmour have been sound, and they have suffered no breakdowns or significant bad luck.

Stars & Stripes has simply been superior in all-around performance, and there isn’t much the Kookas can do about that. Each of the wins has been a brief sailing lesson followed by a relatively leisurely sail that could hardly be called racing.

As it was, he had tactician Tom Whidden, a skilled helmsman in his own right, steering much of the downwind legs while he sipped a diet soda.

Murray and Gilmour gave it their best shots Monday. At the 10-minute warning, Conner led Kookaburra III by about six lengths on a weaving chase through the spectator fleet, then turned upwind to engage at minus-6:15.

Gilmour fell onto Conner’s stern a length behind and with 2:45 remaining was controlling Stars & Stripes from leeward.

A few seconds later, Conner made his move. He jibed away to the right and circled below the Aussie boat, grabbed the leeward position and was then able to peel off to start at the left end of the line next to the America’s Cup buoy, where he likes to be.

This time it was a mistake. The wind was still moving to the right.

“The right end of the line was favored,” Stars & Stripes navigator Peter Isler said.

Kookaburra III started at the committee boat end on the opposite tack, with bowman Don McCracken halfway up the mast working on a faulty luff zipper in the mainsail.

When the boats met on opposite tacks five minutes later--McCracken was still up the mast--Conner was unable to cross on port. He took Kookaburra III’s stern and Murray hit him with a slam-dunk tack, forcing Conner to tack away for clear air--the first time in the three races that Kookaburra III had been clearly in front.

But not for long.

Five minutes later, Conner felt he was gaining.

“Can we cross now?” he asked Isler.

It didn’t matter. Stars & Stripes had a plan.

Conner tacked back toward Kookaburra III. This time he was able to tack on Kookaburra III’s lee bow, half a length in front and a boat length away, forcing Murray to tack away for clear air.

When next they met, Conner had moved up another half-length, and again Murray had to bail out.

This time, Conner went with him, sitting on Murray’s left hip and waiting for the Australian to come back to him a fourth time, as he had to.

When Murray wheeled his big golden boat over to starboard tack, he probably expected Conner to tack on his lee bow again or even try to cross on port--starboard tack has right of way. Instead, Conner pulled a switch.

Before Murray could get up to speed again, Conner suddenly wheeled his 25-ton 12-meter sharply to the right and dived behind Kookaburra III’s stern like Eric Dickerson veering off tackle.

Before Murray could bring his boat back to cover, Conner had powered through to clear air and had the critical starboard rights position for any future crossings.

Murray said: “We felt we had enough speed to tack back, but the blue boat to leeward was going faster. That’s the first time that’s happened to us this summer.”

Murray also said it was the first time Kookaburra III had been passed on an upwind leg.

Jon Wright, the Stars & Stripes mainsail trimmer, said: “They were trying to drive us over to the other (left) lay line, but they weren’t up to speed. That’s when we decided to duck ‘em. We knew we could blow through ‘em.”

Starboard tailer Adam Ostenfeld said: “I have to ease the jib out and then trim it back in. I know what Dennis is trying to do. I can see the other boat through the corner of my eye.”

Isler added: “All we wanted was to get our nose out ahead of him on the long tack (to the lay line).”

They did better than that. They were far enough ahead to spill their spoiled wind on KIII’s sails, forcing Murray to tack away.

Conner rounded the first windward mark only 15 seconds in front, but Murray might have committed a small tactical error that Isler estimated “cost him a boat length and a half.”

After Stars & Stripes rounded, Wright merely eased out the mainsail as the forward hands popped out the spinnaker and the boat continued to drive. But Murray turned farther around and delayed setting the chute, preferring not to follow in Conner’s wake.

As Conner turned over the wheel to Whidden and reached for a soda, the wind increased to 18 knots on the downwind leg and Stars & Stripes increased its lead to a whopping 57 seconds.

From there, Stars & Stripes’ speed and crew work helped the boat to increase its lead.

America’s Cup Notes Stars & Stripes tactician Tom Whidden said he steered the boat Monday “just while Dennis (Conner) was fixing his makeup.” Actually, Conner does wear a white sun cream containing zinc and novocaine. Before Monday’s race, he lent some to Kookaburra III’s Peter Gilmour, who is extremely susceptible to sunburn. . . . The Australian coast guard issued a shark warning before Monday’s race. Apparently large schools of hammerheads have been attracted by garbage tossed overboard by the vast spectator fleet.