Team Conner Rolls Without Its Big Wheel : Sailing: Bertrand steers Stars & Stripes to 55-second victory over Defiant.

When Dennis Conner’s away, the crew will play. And what a glorious game it was.

With the boss man otherwise engaged, Team Dennis Conner took to the rocky seas in Round 2 of the defender trials Thursday, against Defiant, a feisty little boat belonging to Bill Koch and his America 3 syndicate.

Defiant, Koch’s No. 2 yacht in a fleet of four, had routinely whipped Stars & Stripes in four previous meetings. And then came Thursday, along with its 7-foot swells and up to 14 knots of wind. Not too shabby weather for a regatta.

John Bertrand, taking over for Conner as helmsman, steered Stars & Stripes to a 55-second victory over Defiant in the second-closest race through 1 1/2 rounds of the America’s Cup defender trials. The closest contest came Jan. 23, in 8 to 11 knots, when Defiant breezed by Stars & Stripes by 50 seconds.

“I’m sure Dennis would have loved to have been out there,” said Bertrand, who admitted his driving skills were a bit rusty. “He had a prior commitment he felt strongly about keeping. . . . The way our team is set up, we have backups at certain positions. So it worked out pretty well that he could go away and we gain some points for him.”

The victory was worth two points--which Conner swore earlier in the week weren’t mandatory for advancement to later rounds but points that nevertheless had eluded Stars & Stripes in three other races in this round.

Conner missed the race because he had places to go (Miami), people to see (some shoe executive types) and things to do (attend a boat show--it is believed he wasn’t buying).

The Bertrand victory raised the obvious question if afterguard changes are on the horizon. But Bertrand, who sailed with John Kolius on America II in 1986-87 and who is not to be confused with Australia’s John Bertrand (who won the Cup for Alan Bond’s campaign in 1983), dismissed that possibility.

“I don’t think there’s any question of who the helmsman of Stars & Stripes is,” he said. “Fund raising is still a big part of our effort. It’s important for Dennis when he makes a commitment, to fulfill it, and get the type of money we need to get through the program. I see this as maybe a one-shot deal or, if something like this happens again.”

Even the challengers would be hard-pressed to see that something like Thursday’s race transpired again. Minor keel problems aboard Defiant postponed the start of the race 45 minutes, as maintenance crews shuttled on and off the yacht and at least one diver could be seen exploring from below. But once they were off, it was a crapshoot.

Defiant pushed Stars & Stripes to the right side of the course at the start and rounded the first mark a minute in front. It was America 3’s largest lead of the day.

By the second windward mark, a gennaker change and a move to the left side of the course helped Stars & Stripes cut the deficit to 37 seconds, and Conner’s crew narrowed the margin to 19 seconds by the third reaching leg.

“(Defiant) was in bad air for awhile,” Stars & Strips tactician Tom Whidden said. “Then we tacked on starboard and started gaining on them. John changed his steering mode a little, I think he relaxed for the first time.”

Stars & Stripes seemed to get more competitive going downwind, and took a 47 second lead going into the final leg, where Defiant broke a gennaker.

“We were pretty close at that point, luckily their gennaker broke into pieces, and that was pretty much the end of the race,” Whidden said.

Buddy Melges, Dave Dellenbaugh and Koch all took turns at the helm of Defiant, but it was Dellenbaugh who appeared at the postrace conference.

“Everyone’s disappointed that we didn’t win the race,” Dellenbaugh said. “But like Bill said on the way in, we’re going to look back in a few weeks or a couple months at this day as the most important day of our campaign.

“Bill encouraged (Stars & Stripes) to go back to their regular configurations so that we wouldn’t have another four or five-minute lead. The fact that were were pushed today was exactly what Bill wanted to happen and it did happen. Win or lose, I think it’ll make us better in crew work for our defense of the Cup.”

Of the course’s eight legs, Stars & Stripes sailed six of the fastest, making it clear that the old keel doesn’t necessarily favor one wind direction. Bertrand and Whidden were quick to credit the crew with pulling an all-nighter, disposing with the new complicated keel and getting the one from Round 1 back on.

“The real heroes today aren’t the guys who sailed on the boat,” Bertrand said. “A lot of our support crew worked all night to get this keel on. To go out there and trail for a number of legs, and have the guts to come back and win the race in the end, I think really says a lot about all our crew members. The guys on the shore really don’t get the credit. This is dedicated to those guys. We’re all pretty happy.”