AMERICA’S CUP : Koch Earns a Chance to Crow

And it seemed weirdness had taken a holiday at the America’s Cup . . .

“We had a medicine man today present us with a crow’s feather that carries messages to the wind,” Bill Koch said after his America 3beat Dennis Conner’s Stars & Stripes by 2 minutes 9 seconds in the first race of the best-of-13 defender trials.

The medicine man was Curtis Kekahbah of the Kaw Indian nation. The crow is regarded as a messenger of God. Koch, from Kansas, is heavily interested in Indian culture. He named his other boat, Kanza, for the “wind people.”

“These days I’ll take help from anywhere I can get it,” Koch said.

The wind was eight to 10 knots for most of the race, slightly too strong for Stars & Stripes to be at her best.

And the seas were abnormally rough for the wind strength--and, as Conner concedes, “The America 3boat seems to go awfully well when we have a bigger sea . . . (and) our boat doesn’t like anything more than smooth water.”

So despite a false start by America 3helmsman Buddy Melges that gave Stars & Stripes a 31-second head start, the boat with the eagle on the sides--or is it a crow?--overtook Stars & Stripes on the second, downwind leg and never looked back.

To keep it close, Melges even let Koch steer the last five legs.

If Conner had been able to get close enough, he might have tried Il Moro di Venezia skipper Paul Cayard’s clever but futile ploy in losing to New Zealand by 1:32 in the first race of the challengers’ best-of-nine finals.

It was close until the halfway mark, when Il Moro lost 33 seconds on the second reach because it used too small a headsail. The Italians anticipated different wind conditions and didn’t have the right one on board.

That let New Zealand extend its lead from 24 to 57 seconds and break the race open, although the Italians had one last shot to pull it out. Coming into the leeward mark on the right-of-way starboard tack, they cut their large gennaker free as New Zealand, on port tack, was passing by on its way upwind from the mark.

The sail blew toward the Kiwis, and if it had touched them Cayard would have protested--”Absolutely,” he said.

The sail was left behind because, Cayard said, the takedown had been so fouled up that “we definitely weren’t going to get that sail on board.”

But if it had by chance hit the Kiwi boat . . . well, it was worth a try.

New Zealand is now 5-2 against Il Moro in the three months of racing. America 3is 9-3 against Stars & Stripes. Racing will continue today in both series.