AMERICA’S CUP DAILY REPORT : DEFENDER TRIALS : Defiant Has Lead at Every Mark, Beats Stars & Stripes in Opener

As expected, the first race of the America’s Cup XXVIII defender trials went to a veteran skipper with shrewd tactics and flawless crew work Tuesday.

And the winner was . . . Buddy Melges.

The 61-year-old outsailed the formidable Dennis Conner in Stars & Stripes around the 22.6-nautical mile course, placing America 3’s Defiant in front at every mark to win by 1 minute 34 seconds.

Too much could be made of the result, which is worth only one point. Victories in subsequent rounds will be worth two and four points. But it punctured a small hole in the Conner mystique and underscored what he had been saying all along, that he does have a fight on his hands against Bill Koch’s America 3sailing factory to win the right to defend the Cup. Koch will get his first crack at Conner with his other boat, Jayhawk, today.

Melges’ credentials are solid. He has five world championships, Olympic gold and bronze medals and enough national ice boat and E-Scow titles in the Midwest to sink a trophy case.

He just hasn’t won an America’s Cup.

With Conner’s bowman, Scotty Vogel, 100 feet up the mast looking for wind, the start of Tuesday’s opening race was delayed 15 minutes until a breeze of 8 to 9 knots settled in from the northwest.

Tactician Dave Dellenbaugh took Defiant’s wheel and kept Conner at bay through the starting sequence, then turned it over to Melges 30 seconds before the gun. At about that time Conner, trailing Defiant to the starting line, broke away to the right, thinking that side of the course had more favorable wind--perhaps, a decisive error.

Dellenbaugh said the left end of the line was closer to the wind direction by 15 degrees, and “15 degrees is about five boat lengths.”

So when the boats crossed on opposite tacks four minutes later, Melges was in front to stay. Melges said: “This is only one win of many, many races to come. The America’s Cup wasn’t won or lost today.

“(But) I think what we did today is achievable by (Jayhawk). The people on Jayhawk are tremendously gifted.”

To which Conner’s tactician, Tom Whidden, said: “Oh-oh.”