AMERICA’S CUP / DAILY REPORT : DEFENDER TRIALS : Koch’s Second Boat Presses Conner

Like many large ocean racing boats, the International America’s Cup Class has two steering wheels.

On America 3’s boats, the joke goes, one is for owner Bill Koch and the other is for the instructor, but the crew on Dennis Conner’s Stars & Stripes wasn’t laughing Sunday.

Conner took a slight edge at the start of the fifth race of the defender trials and led throughout to win by 2 minutes 16 seconds, but Koch was snapping at him most of the way.

Koch, steering his supposedly slower Jayhawk, forced Conner to defend his position through 40 tacks on the first windward leg and 27 more on the second.

Conner’s tactician, Tom Whidden, said that in a tacking duel “the helmsman is pretty much on his own. That’s when the helmsmanship really shows up.”

If so, Koch passed the test.

The result left Stars & Stripes with two victories and two losses. America 3’s newer boat, Defiant, is 3-0 and Jayhawk 0-3. Those two will race Tuesday after a lay day today.