SAILING : Day Later Doesn’t Matter, Kiwis Still Beat Isler Crew

The scenario was, Sir Michael Fay’s critics said, that he couldn’t win the America’s Cup on the water (Plan A) so he’d try to win it in court (Plan B).

Plan A looks better right now.

New Zealand has the best match-racing sailors in the world.

In a faint harbinger of Cup competition on San Diego Bay Sunday, David Barnes and a race-hardened crew of 10 defeated American hopeful Peter Isler’s outfit, five races to three, to reinforce their position as future book favorites for the Cup in 1992.

Barnes had so dominated the first two days, winning four of five races, that Saturday’s scheduled third race was postponed to Sunday to avert his clinching the series with a day to spare.

But Isler, the San Diego-based skipper and leader of the Isler Sailing International America’s Cup syndicate, won Sunday’s first two races by 44 and 10 seconds to square the series at six points each.

Then Barnes came back to win the last one by 1:35--a rout in match racing--to claim the Soft Scrub Challenge Cup, 9-6.

The event was sailed in borrowed 68-foot maxi-sleds, which are the nearest facsimiles to the new America’s Cup class boats--larger, lighter and faster than the old, traditional 12-meters. Isler, 35, arranged the event in his ongoing campaign to sharpen his crew’s skills and keep a high profile in a town and country where most armchair sailors think Dennis Conner is the America’s Cup.

Earlier, he trounced the Danish team. In October he’ll meet one of the two Soviet entries. Those were and will be pushovers compared to New Zealand.

But, Isler said, “You’re only going to get better by sailing against people like David and Rod (Davis).”

Davis, the only three-time Congressional Cup winner, grew up sailing on San Diego Bay. He was Barnes’ tactician and steered the boat through the starting sequences. Isler won seven of the eight starts.