Italy’s Navigator Takes Blame for Start : Challengers: Hopkins says he misjudged current, which pushed Il Moro over the starting line too soon.

Apparently, being the favorite didn’t sit well with Il Moro di Venezia on the first day of the America’s Cup finals.

So to get back to earning the underdog role in which it seems to thrive, Il Moro’s crew made a false start, botched a first-leg spinnaker change and was beset by several other snafus while losing to America 3 by 30 seconds.

But the Italians said they’ll be back and in good spirits today.

“We seem to like to lose the first race of a series,” navigator Robert Hopkins said with a smile.

The other American in the Il Moro afterguard--along with skipper Paul Cayard--Hopkins said the unpredictable wind and sea conditions and jitters contributed to the Italians’ poor start.

“I think we had a little first-day America’s Cup troubles,” he said. “Starting a race is a complicated thing--everything has to work well, there has to be a lot of communication. It didn’t go as well today as it usually does.

“We had trouble in the morning settling on a mainsail. We only settled on what we thought the day would be like a few minutes before the start. There’s a new race committee style to get used to--the boats look different, the marks look different. One of the effects was we didn’t start well.”

Hopkins took the blame for the bad start, which necessitated Il Moro retracing its course and starting over.

As navigator, Hopkins has to watch for signals from his bowman--in this case Alberto Fantini--and monitor a screen in the back of the boat to let Cayard know precisely when to hit the line.

Saturday, Hopkins said, he misjudged the water conditions, which were pushing the boat toward the line.

“The guy at the bow calls how many lengths (to the line). I do too,” Hopkins said. “I’m also figuring where is the boat, how much current there is. Today the current was quite strong pushing us over the line. The bowman signals with his fingers and his numbers were generally the same as mine. On my part I underestimated the current. It was my mistake.”

Because of the large spectator fleet, Hopkins said Cayard also had trouble seeing the starting buoy. “We were a little disoriented. I haven’t seen the TV (replay) yet so I don’t know how stupid we looked.”

Hopkins recalled a similar incident in the challenger finals: “The first race of the finals I also lost by underestimating the current. It must’ve been increasing in the half-hour before the race, because I (estimated) it at about a half-knot, and it was more like a knot at the start.”

He wryly added, “I’ve also done some things to help us win some races, too.”

Despite the stumble, Hopkins said the Il Moro crew remains as optimistic.

“I thought (America 3) would be plenty faster than us. They’re a little faster than us, but it looked pretty even,” he said. “The boats are close enough that I’m sure if we sail well enough we can win it. You’ve seen our behavior through the ups and downs of four months. We have the ability to go out every day and believe we can win the race. I don’t put a lot of credit into one day of testing.”

On the other hand, Hopkins doesn’t put much stock in polls that tabbed Il Moro the favorite, either.

“They’ve been wrong all the way,” he said. “If I was to start believing ‘em now I’d be in trouble.”

The Italians hardly even consider an 0-1 start a setback.