Conner’s Bag of Tricks Sacks America 3 : America’s Cup: Italians blow big lead, lose and protest Kiwis’ use of bowsprit.

Buddy Melges, who trains hunting dogs, has seen it all in sailboat racing, but old dog Dennis Conner showed the veteran America 3 helmsman a couple of old tricks to stay on the scent of another America’s Cup Saturday.

Conner’s bold port crossing of America 3 and subsequent sequence of three aggressive luffs, all on the first leg, gave him enough of a lead to hold off his newer and faster rival and win by 2 minutes 18 seconds as the wind died over the last 17 miles of the 20-mile race.

That left Stars & Stripes still trailing 4-2 in the best-of-13 defender finals, but Conner isn’t going quietly, old boat or not. If Melges is the Wizard of Zenda (Wis.), Conner must be the Sorcerer of San Diego.

At times sitting down to rest his injured knee, he admitted it wasn’t a relaxing way to make a living.

“Is there such a thing as an easy win against this boat?” Conner asked, looking over his shoulder at America 3 when he finally started to feel secure near the finish. “Actually, I’m only 31, but because of races like this I’m 49.”

New Zealand also pulled a win out of the wisps off Point Loma, coming from 4:20 behind Il Moro di Venezia at the last mark to drift across the finish with the current 2:38 ahead--a crushing loss for the Italians, who trail 4-1 and now must win four straight in the best-of-9 challenger finals to survive to the Cup match next month.

Their best recourse may be through the jury room, where they were persistently pushing the issue of New Zealand’s bowsprit late Saturday night.

As the round opened a week ago, Il Moro skipper Paul Cayard said he had temporarily revived his longtime objections to the way the Kiwis use the bowsprit when turning and resetting their gennaker headsail downwind but that it was now “a dead issue.”

However, he stirred it Thursday when Il Moro raised a red flag for a technical protest during New Zealand’s third victory. Cayard took down the flag that time, but he had it up all the way Saturday and pursued it after the race when he and New Zealand skipper Rod Davis went aboard the committee boat to start meeting with the jury immediately after the race.

Later they were joined by their lawyers and rules advisers, so nobody expected a snap decision.

The problem is that while New Zealand altered its technique to conform to the challenger jury’s rulings after the first round in February, those views remain in conflict with the match jury that will assume jurisdiction May 9.

Beyond that, Il Moro spokesman Stefano Roberti said, “We feel that New Zealand is not even in compliance with the (challenger) jury’s ruling now . . . (that) they’ve gone back to the way they used it in the first round.”

During the race Cayard and navigator Robert Hopkins waved their arms and pointed at the Kiwi boat, trying to indicate the perceived violation to the on-water umpires. After the finish when the umpires came alongside Cayard told them he was protesting under “Rule 64.4 (of the racing rules) and 8.9 of the (regatta) conditions”--both points related to the use of a bowsprit.

The issue also is being driven by Tom Ehman, general manager of the America’s Cup Organizing Committee, who wrote Challenger of Record Committee chairman Stan Reid Saturday that “if such a protest were upheld during the Match (in May), the credibility of the entire (challenger trials) would be called into question.”

Of course, the Kiwis would re-adjust their technique to comply with those rules, but Il Moro feels it’s unfair to let the Kiwis beat them with an advantage they wouldn’t be able to use in the Cup match.

New Zealand team manager Peter Blake said, “I don’t know when this is going to go away. There is absolutely no question (that) New Zealand is sailing to the rules. It’s time Paul Cayard accepted this and concentrated on what is happening on the water.”

Conner and Melges settled their dispute on the water Saturday. They sailed off in opposite directions at the start, and the fourth time they converged Conner,port tack without the right of way, drove across Americac,63’s bow with about an armspread to spare to take control.

A few minutes later Melges had caught up off Stars & Stripes’ windward hip, but Conner--now owning the right of way as the leeward boat--turned upwind and luffed America 3 hard three times, forcing Melges up and slowing him down enough to fall behind to the first mark, where Conner led by 34 seconds.

Conner said if he hadn’t luffed, “he might have been able to go right over the top of us.”

America 3 owner-skippper Bill Koch noted again that superior boat speed isn’t always enough to overcome his crew’s mistakes.

“We got into the luffing match with Dennis, which we shouldn’t have, and that cost us about 30 seconds. And we had one bad mistake at the last windward mark. We tried to hoist our gennaker as late as possible and didn’t hook up the pole.”

The lines attached to the sail went under the boat, dragging the sail with them, and Stars & Stripes extended its lead while the America 3 crew hack the sail away and struggled to raise another.

“We had what we call a Samurai takedown,” Koch said. “Our grinders were out with all their knives slashing to cut the sail away, and ended up slashing our sewerman’s hand. (John Spence) had to have about 10 stitches.”

Both series are scheduled to continue today and Tuesday--if necessary for the challengers--with Monday off.