AMERICA’S CUP ’92 : Conner Seeking Quick Fix : Sailing: Koch waives a rule and allows struggling Stars & Stripes to make alterations during the round.

Dennis Conner’s slow boat to nowhere will try a quick fix to get back up to speed--and thank you, Bill Koch.

“I don’t think anybody’s benefiting much from this kind of race program,” America 3helmsman Buddy Melges said after drubbing Conner again by 6 minutes Tuesday. “We need to be pushed.”

Since major modifications before this second round of America’s Cup defender trials, Stars & Stripes also had lost to Koch’s tandem of America 3 by 6:23 and Defiant by 4:16.

Normally, a boat couldn’t be altered except between rounds. But with three races remaining for Stars & Stripes in this round, Koch agreed to waive the rule.

There wasn’t time to fix it before today’s race against Defiant, but Conner’s crew will have Thursday and Friday to work before racing the Cuben pair Saturday and Sunday.

“We’re gonna put it back approximately the way it was before,” tactician Tom Whidden said. That would probably mean scrapping the radical underwater appendages installed after the first round, when Stars & Stripes was at least competitive.

Since then Stars & Stripes is believed to have been refitted with a radical, fore-and-aft rudder steering system similar to what designer Alberto Calderon developed for the late Tom Blackaller’s 12-meter USA in 1986.

Blackaller likened the system to learning how to steer a hook-and-ladder fire truck from the rear end: tricky at best, terrifying at worst.

For Conner, the main problem has been upwind, at least in the last two races. Off the wind, he has actually sailed slightly faster than his rivals.

America 3, with owner Koch and helmsman Melges aboard Tuesday, outsailed Conner on the three windward legs by 6:28. Conner made up 49 seconds on three of the four off-wind legs.

Upwind, the boat is badly out of balance between rig and rudder and appears to have considerable leeway--sideways slippage through the water--which is why Conner suddenly is having trouble laying marks.

Calderon said, “The (underwater) configuration is a very lovely one. If we optimize the mast, the problems disappear.”

Conner, apparently, isn’t convinced it’s that simple.

Melges says, by contrast, the newest America 3 boat “goes to windward like a scalded dog,” but he’d like tougher competition.

At one time the America 3 team also was thought to have a steering problem: Koch. But according to Melges, his mentor, the owner did quite well Tuesday.

“When Bill was driving the (gains) were just as sweet as they could be,” Melges said. “He improved 50% on his tacks. He was up today.”

In Tuesday’s race Conner avoided skirmishing before the start, tacked immediately and sailed far to the right before tacking for the mark. Melges covered loosely while pointing higher into the wind and sailing faster. They weren’t within hailing distance all afternoon.

“(Conner) isn’t gonna do an awful lot until he completely understands (the new system),” Melges said. “He doesn’t want to smash into us and we don’t want to smash into him.

“That’s quite a complicated system of steering. When he gets it all roped in I think he’ll feel more comfortable about attacking.”

With more time, Calderon said, the new system would work. Blackaller had trouble, too, at first.

“(Blackaller) had a month and a half,” Calderon said. “This time we had two days. Dennis has done a tremendous job adapting as well as he has. Admirable.”

The modifications apparently weren’t a late, desperate decision but had been planned for some time as part of Conner’s research and development program. Calderon, who owns Advanced Aeromechanisms Corp. in La Jolla, is one of Conner’s three principal designers, along with Bruce Nelson and David Pedrick.

More importantly, he is regarded as the world’s top authority on twin-rudder technology. He has his 27-foot boat, with a forward rudder.

Calderon worked for NASA for 20 years, consulted on the Concorde and now works for the Navy in its fighter program.

He brought his nautical concepts to USA, the St. Francis Yacht Club entry, in the last 12-meter America’s Cup and it developed into the fastest boat at Fremantle in pure, straight-line speed.

Normally, a keel serves two purposes: ballast and resistance to leeway, or sideslipping.

“(Stars & Stripes) shares with USA the idea of separating the side force function from the ballast function,” Calderon said.

“This is a design that’s optimized for speed. As such, as with any racing vehicle optimized for speed--race planes, race cars--it becomes more tender and difficult to maneuver.

“I personally feel the best chance for an American defense is going to be with the fastest possible configuration, (and that) our first-generation canoe (hull), with these radical appendages, has done well, (making) a clear statement of the power of the configuration.”

Calderon said the Nippon Challenge consulted him three years ago. The Japanese used a boat with a forward rudder in last May’s IACC World Championships, then discarded the idea.

Calderon believes New Zealand tried the concept on its third boat, before trying another radical departure with its fourth and final boat.