AMERICA’S CUP DAILY REPORT : CHALLENGER, DEFENDER TRIALS : Koch Wins in a Demolition Derby

Stars & Stripes crashed into America 3, New Zealand collided with Spirit of Australia, and Ville de Paris’ crew spent one leg patching its spinnaker pole with duct tape.

It was that kind of day in the America’s Cup Sunday.

Repairs didn’t do the French (5-3) any good. They already trailed Chris Dickson’s Nippon (7-1) and lost the featured race on the first day of the second round of the challenger trials by one minute 42 seconds.

On the defenders’ course, both boats protested after Dennis Conner’s collision with Bill Koch’s America 3in the pre-start sequence, but the umpires ruled no foul.

America 3, with Koch steering after Buddy Melges handled the start, took a shift to the left, gained control and won by 4:33.

That was better than previous losses to America 3by 6:23 and 6:00 but might have sobered hopes raised by Stars & Stripes’ victory over Koch’s older Defiant last week that a keel change had made it competitive again.

The rebuilt Spirit of Australia (3-5) lost to New Zealand (7-1) by 12:12. They also collided before the start, with New Zealand on port tack and Spirit on starboard, which normally has right of way. But the umpires ruled that Peter Gilmour didn’t give Kiwi skipper Rod Davis room to keep clear.

Other challenger winners were Il Moro di Venezia (6-2), with owner Raul Gardini on board for the first time, over Sweden’s hapless Tre Kronor (1-7) by 13:32; and Espana ’92 (3-5) by 5:46 over winless Challenge Australia.