AMERICA’S CUP UPDATE : NOTEBOOK : Koch Says Cubens’ Welcome Has Not Always Been Warm

Bill Koch says that some of the same people who rolled out the welcome for him in San Diego are now trying to pull it out from under him.

“Sometimes we come in after winning a race and a number of boats will come by full of spectators giving us the finger,” the America 3 syndicate boss said Wednesday night.

And at the host San Diego Yacht Club, he said, “We’ve had some of our crew refused a table . . . a bartender turned his back on one of our people.

“I don’t think it’s anything evil. I’ve had other people come up and say, ‘Gosh, Dennis (Conner) is so unpopular here I hope you beat him.’ ”

Others, Koch feels, dislike his team for trying to beat the local hero.

“Some of it is that we’re a bunch of rich kids from the East Coast trying to take the Cup away from San Diego. We can’t. It’s the wrong perspective.”

Even if Koch beats Conner in the finals and goes on to successfully defend the Cup, it will remain in the custody of SDYC.

“We come here,” Koch said, “we’ve devoted our lives to the event, we’re spending a fortune in this town . . . you’re doing all that and people are thumbing their noses at you or saying nasty things . . . I don’t need this kind of stuff.

“The other thing that has been a real disappointment is that a lot of people have been maneuvering to put a lot of pressure on us to give Dennis the boat (if he advances), and I must admit I find that offensive--not just media, other people.

“There has been a lot of political maneuvering to try to box us in and make it an embarrassing situation for us. It upsets my crew. It upsets me. I finally came out and said, ‘No, we’re not going to.’ ”

The same people, Koch said, want him to give his boat to Conner even if America 3 wins the right to defend the Cup.

“How would my crew feel if we go through all this hard work and I say, ‘OK, now we’ll bring Dennis and his crew over to sail the boat?’ “On the other hand, it’s been good, because our guys have gathered together like we have a little bit of a fortress mentality, which has been helpful to us. And I’ve had a lot of good personal experiences here.

“If it weren’t for the California tax laws, I’d want to live here in San Diego.”

ESPN commentator Gary Jobson, who hired most of the America 3 crew before he left the syndicate, had been saying that Koch’s constant crew rotation hurt the boat’s efficiency. He also suggested that Koch’s presence on the boat was unsettling.

Near the end of Wednesday’s victory, Koch said to helmsman Buddy Melges, “You and I shouldn’t be on the boat, Buddy. We caused a lot of problems today. You’re too old and I’m too inexperienced.”

Koch also noted, “I think Peter Isler (also of ESPN) has been very fair.”

Koch said earlier, “Gary has been trying to get me off the boat for years. Gary wanted to run my Matador (maxi-boat) programs. I like Gary. I really do. He’s a very good sailor. He wants to be a skipper of a boat, and he should be. But he should do it with his own money.”

Aside from whatever else might be thought of Koch, he still has a sense of humor. He says he isn’t under as much pressure as outsiders might think.

“The kind of stress here is far less than what I’ve been under in my life. I was in a billion-dollar battle with my brothers and had $3 million cash in the bank, and lawyers can eat that up pretty fast. It was more stressful getting my doctorate.”

Koch couldn’t get over how lucky Conner has been this week in getting the only conditions--he believes--in which Stars & Stripes could beat America 3.

“Who would have believed that you could design an America’s Cup boat for 5 knots and flat seas and get that?” he said. “He was forced into a very tight corner.

“The rumor we hear is that he doesn’t check the weather anymore. He checks the surfing reports.”