Same Old Story: New Zealand, 3-0 : America’s Cup: Loose Kiwis defeat Conner by 1:51, can end it by Saturday.

Team New Zealand might have the fastest America’s Cup boat, the best crew, the best racing record and an almost certain grip on the grandest trophy in international sailing. But they can’t play basketball, and their security is going to the dogs.

As the soaring Kiwis prepared to put to sea Tuesday morning en route to a third straight drubbing of Team Stars & Stripes, a dozen visitors wandered through their compound unescorted and all but unnoticed, dodging Kiwis on last-minute work details and enjoying a rare view of keels, rudders and sleek black hulls. One visitor even jumped into an impromptu basketball game with mastman Matthew Mason and jib trimmer Simon Daubney, and you can take this to the bank: Neither will ever make it to the NBA.

The prerace hoops game and the relaxed atmosphere that allowed it are hints of just how close the Kiwis are to completing the quest started nearly a decade ago--to win the America’s Cup.

Within a few hours, they were again romping away from Dennis Conner’s struggling defender, Young America, and putting another race in the best-of-nine series out of reach.

Team New Zealand’s 1-minute 51-second victory on a sunsplashed, breezy day gave it a 3-0 lead; the whole affair can be wrapped up with Kiwi victories Thursday and Saturday.

How bad is it for the Americans, who have not stuck their nose out front of the Kiwis’ Black Magic since the opening gun of the opening race?

“It’s getting to the point we have to try something,” helmsman Paul Cayard said. “Our testing days are getting fewer and fewer.” By race’s end, he was saying the only hope left for Young America is “to pray for 17 knots of wind and flat water,” which is like praying for bright sunshine and three inches of rain.

Cayard is now clearly in charge of Young America, skipper Conner having all but vanished from the picture. Conner goes along for the ride but hasn’t attended a postrace news conference and ducks TV interviewers.

“Until we actually cross the finish line in that final race,” New Zealand syndicate chief Peter Blake said, “we’ve done nothing.”

New Zealand, a nation of 3.5 million, is on the verge of capturing from a superpower nearly 100 times its size a trophy that represents the zenith of sailing excellence and technological genius.

Glenn Sowery, who broadcasts race reports home via TV New Zealand, said 86% of television sets switched on at 8 a.m., when live racing begins there, are tuned to the sailing.

Sowery reckons that Blake will be a shoo-in for knighthood if he wins.

Against that backdrop, the New Zealanders looked remarkably calm as they set out this morning, and no less so as they battled for an equal start against Cayard when the gun sounded to start the race.

Cayard threw everything at them in a bid to take the favored left side of the start line. For the third straight time he got his way, but again New Zealand helmsman Russell Coutts headed right, benefited from a slight shift in wind direction and crossed just ahead of Young America the first time the two converged.

Coutts tacked just in front of his rival with the mermaid painted down the side, employed sailing’s equivalent of a slam-dunk to block Cayard’s wind and forced the Americans to tack to the left again.

Cayard had promised to battle at close quarters as long as he could, hoping to profit from superior maneuvering ability since he lacks the edge in straight-line speed. He threw a half-dozen tacks at the black New Zealand racer before Coutts broke off the engagement and sailed away to the right.

“They realize match-racing is not their deal and went their own way,” Cayard said. But again the Kiwi nose for a breeze paid off. Coutts cashed in on another right-hand wind shift, and the next time the boats converged, he was four lengths ahead.

As the day progressed from a morning sea breeze of eight knots to a bracing, afternoon wind of 14 knots, Young America seemed more competitive. New Zealand settled into a lead of just under 1 1/2 minutes by the midway point and sat on it.

That was a change from Monday, when the Kiwis built the lead on each leg to a final margin of more than 4 minutes. But when the gun sounded, the result was the same: New Zealand. Only one previous challenger has won the first three races of a match. That was Conner, on his way to a 4-0 shutout of Kookaburra in 1987 off Perth, Australia.