AMERICA’S CUP : Sailboats Don’t Sail Without Wind

What did Bill Koch say about wishing he had his money and Dennis Conner’s luck?

He may be ready to make a deal.

The moon, the tides, the weird winds--all were at work Saturday on sailing’s Far Side, otherwise known as the seas west of Point Loma, where the America’s Cup race courses are set.

When it seemed time was running out on Conner Saturday, the clock struck 12 for Koch. The race was called when time ran out, turning a probable victory for his America 3 to a non-race as the best-of-13 Defender finals got under way.

Koch said again: “I wish I had Dennis’ luck.”

Said Conner: “I’m sure he feels that way. I’ve always been lucky. I think luck is 99% skill. Today I got the 1%. But that race wasn’t over.”

Conner, driven by a following current, mis-timed his start badly and had Stars & Stripes well over the line at the gun. He returned to restart 46 seconds late.

“He’s over,” Koch was heard to say from America 3--and so, it seemed, was the race.

Stars & Stripes recovered to within three or four boat lengths, then fell back and was about 300 yards behind and going nowhere when the wind fell from seven knots to four and finally stilled.

But helmsman Buddy Melges was unable to coax America 3 around the second windward mark to beat the time limit of 2 hours 13 minutes for completing three of the eight legs of the 20.03-nautical mile course.

A committee boat tooted its horn three times to signal abandonment of the race, and Conner said to his crew: “Gee, we had him right where we wanted him.”

There were fears that many races would be lost to San Diego’s notorious zephyrs, but in three months of sailing this was the first of 146--challengers and defenders combined--to be called for lack of air.

Conner led America 3 up to the line but, with plenty of room to maneuver and burn off extra time, he wheeled his bow into the wind and headed across, as starting helmsman Dave Dellenbaugh took America 3 the other way.

Stars & Stripes was nearly a full boat length over and, struggling back against the current in light wind, took longer than normal to recover and take up the chase.

The problem was winds from opposing directions meeting.

“Where that happens it’s totally windless,” said Chris Bedford, Stars & Stripes’ meteorologist. “It happened to be at the windward mark today, which worked out well for us.”

Conner’s crew was happy.

“We made a nice comeback,” Conner said. “We were right on ‘em. That race wasn’t over even if they’d made it around in the time limit. I’m not sure he would have beat us around the mark.

“There was a knot and a quarter of wind,” Conner said. “Our boat speed was about the same, and that’s about what the current was.

“One of the problems was the spectator fleet. It was so close it took what existing wind there was.”