AMERICA’S CUP / DAILY REPORT : CHALLENGER TRIALS : Kiwis Thwart Diver, Then Win Race

Just a routine day for New Zealand: catch a spy, win a race.

As they were preparing to launch their boat for Thursday’s race in the first round of the America’s Cup challenger trials, two Kiwi divers discovered another diver about 15 feet underwater at their dock.

“He said he was looking for lobster--with a camera,” New Zealand diver Craig Kells said.

Three Coronado police cars responded. The intruder, identified as Amir Pishdad, a professional diver and U.S. Navy Seal reservist who lives in San Diego and previously had been hired by the syndicate to clean the bottom of its tender. He was released at the site after questioning. His film was confiscated.

Then the New Zealand boat went sailing and was leading Nippon Challenge by 1 minute 56 seconds halfway through the race when the Japanese retired because of a steering problem.

That left New Zealand, Nippon and Il Moro di Venezia leading the first round with 4-1 records.

There will be no racing today and the round will wind up Saturday and Sunday without the two Australian entries, which have put their boats in dry-dock for modifications.

Their withdrawal from the rest of the first round left Il Moro di Venezia without a race Thursday, but the Italian boat was fastest around the course anyway, finishing in 2 hours 24 minutes 42 seconds.

Espionage, employing divers, helicopters, hounding chase boats and sophisticated telemetry, has been blatant in the Cup since before competition started Jan. 14. Interest is focused on secret keels and rudders that can significantly enhance a boat’s performance.

Earlier, New Zealand had apprehended an intruder in its compound on Coronado Island, and there have been other reports of divers around docks, although this was the first known to be nabbed. After being forced to surface, the diver was taken aboard an inflatable chase boat and held until Coronado police arrived.

Syndicate spokesman Alan Sefton said the man claimed he was not spying on them.

According to another source, however, the intruder said he had been offered as much as $12,000 by a syndicate to take underwater pictures of Cup boats. The police did not detain him because New Zealand declined to press charges.

Film from the intruder’s underwater camera, retained by the Kiwis, showed only above-water shots of their compound and boats from about 100 yards away.