Conner Plays Shift Perfectly in Victory : America’s Cup: Koch’s decision to put Melges exclusively on Kanza is second-guessed.

Kimo Worthington learned something about steering an America’s Cup boat Saturday: It’s hot back there.

The heat comes from the literati who, the sailors think, overemphasize who’s at the helm--such as Worthington and owner Bill Koch sailing America 3, the boat, in a 1-minute, 56-second loss to Dennis Conner’s Stars & Stripes, with their most experienced helmsman, Buddy Melges, on the beach.

The victory was Stars & Stripes’ fourth in this round, including a bonus win for placing second in the points rounds. That ties Kanza and, with four races remaining, reduced the magic number for clinching a berth in the defender finals to two--any combination of its wins or America 3 losses totaling two.

In the challengers’ semifinals, New Zealand (3-2) rebounded from Thursday’s heartbreaking loss to Il Moro di Venezia (3-2) on an umpire’s call to defeat Nippon (1-4) by 2:49, and Il Moro let Ville de Paris (3-2) get past in the tricky, dying winds on the final leg to lose by 1:56.

The skippers who won were the ones on best terms with Catalina Eddy, the occasional Southern California phenomenon of opposing offshore southerly and westerly winds swirling off Santa Catalina Island.

“The winds were battling,” Il Moro skipper Paul Cayard said. “It was a real casino bestiale. “

Loosely translated, Cayard meant it was a beastly day. The winds peaked at about 9 knots and finished at 4 and shifted wildly at times, causing Il Moro some final grief and Stars & Stripes and New Zealand considerable anxiety.

Only until he was a hundred yards from the finish did New Zealand skipper Rod Davis feel secure enough to munch on a candy bar and enjoy a laugh with his crew.

Stars & Stripes tactician Tom Whidden said, “We said the kind of day it was is why Dennis makes the big bucks . . . conditions where Dennis feels the most comfortable. I think he revels in the shifty up-and-down conditions. He feels more challenged, and he and I have worked together over the years on a lot of days like this, particularly off Newport (R.I.). This reminded me of a tough day off Newport.”

Koch, who has been sailing only eight years, isn’t in Conner’s class, and his steering was partly blamed for his boat’s losses in the first two races of this round.

Then Saturday, when he left Melges behind and had Worthington steer the first two legs, second-guessing was in full season.

Whidden said, “I hear everybody asking questions about steering ability, but there’s a lot more going on out there than that. There was a 50-degree shift on the first beat. And being the person who has to monitor the speed of Bill’s two boats, believe me, these guys are not sailing those boats slow. We might have had a little advantage today where the shift went our way, but those boats go along just fine.”

Worthington, 31, a member of the California Yacht Club in Marina del Rey, has sailed in other Cup campaigns but never as helmsman. But he has skippered ocean-racing boats in major international events, including victories in the Kenwood Cup in Hawaii in 1986 and ’90.

Koch said he asked the afterguard for suggestions to speed up his boats after losing successive races to Stars & Stripes.

“Buddy came back to me with the recommendation that we stop moving as many people as we have from boat to boat, in order to optimize the boats . . . learn how to sail ‘em in light air, in heavy air, learn how to switch gears,” Koch said. “Buddy said he wanted to stay with Kanza.”

Conner said, “We didn’t know (Melges) was off the boat until we looked over there and didn’t see him. They have a lot of depth and talent over there. It seems like their boat goes pretty fast no matter who’s driving it. I thought Kimo had the boat going as well as Bill or Buddy did.”

Worthington said he preferred the older boat because “I’ve sailed on America 3c,8.5 since it was launched.”

America 3 led Stars & Stripes off the starting line, then Dave Dellenbaugh handed the helm to Worthington, who steered the first three legs before turning it over to Koch for the three reaches and the third windward leg. That’s when Conner sailed into the big shift and went in front to stay.

Koch said, “We’re learning it’s hard to draw conclusions from who’s steering the boat. We’ve got to improve on shifting gears and picking the right spots. That’s where Dennis excels.”

New Zealand led Nippon throughout, although the Japanese closed to eight seconds at the first leeward mark when New Zealand dropped its spinnaker pole in the water.

Then the Kiwis got a break after tacking on top of the Japanese when they crossed on the second windward leg. Nippon skipper Chris Dickson started to tack out from underneath but was too close and turned away only three or four feet from crashing into the side of the Kiwi boat.

New Zealand protested, and umpires Neville Wittey and Graeme Owens ruled that Nippon had luffed illegally--Rule 38.2 (a)--trying to force New Zealand upwind. That wasn’t Dickson’s intent. He just wanted to tack, but he didn’t have room to do that, either--Rule 41.1--so Nippon had to do a 270-degree penalty turn just the same.

The Kiwis left Nippon behind for a while, but saw a 4:20 edge at the last mark shrink to six boat lengths before finding a fairer breeze to the finish.

Il Moro wasn’t so lucky. Ville de Paris skipper Marc Pajot fooled the Italians with a fake jibe coming off the last mark and claimed the better side of the course.

“We decided to jibe, anyway,” Cayard said, “but the boats weren’t sailing in the same wind for those three or four minutes we split. Once we went that way we weren’t in position to cover. Marc picked it right and we picked it wrong.”

In today’s races, America 3 will race Kanza, with New Zealand against Ville de Paris and Il Moro di Venezia against Nippon.