AMERICA’S CUP ’92 : Conner Takes Advantage of Defiant Error : Sailing: Stars & Stripes wins third-round defender race by 2 minutes 15 seconds.

SAN DIEGO — America 3’s Bill Koch noted in matching the Italians’ exotic new sails last week that “American technology is alive and well” in the America’s Cup.

So, thankfully, is the human factor. His Defiant crew from America 3 demonstrated that Wednesday in losing to Dennis Conner’s Stars & Stripes by 2 minutes 15 seconds in the third round of defender trials.

The difference was people, not speed. People still sail the boats, and with the pressure on in a close race, Conner’s people did a better job than Koch’s people this time. All the carbon-fiber, liquid crystal and secret high-molecular polymers in the world are just so much flotsam on a sea of despair when a spinnaker pole breaks and a sail change turns into an “I Love Lucy” re-run.

Other than that, it was a nice day for sailing for the Cubens--sunny, with a brisk westerly breeze of 12 to 14 knots, conditions when the new International America’s Cup Class boats stretch their legs. They led Stars & Stripes in a toe-to-toe fight up the first, windward leg before their race started falling apart.

With Conner’s bow nipping at their stern, they rounded the mark 16 seconds in front. But when they tried to set their spinnaker pole for the downwind run . . . well, let helmsman Buddy Melges tell it:

“Our afterguy (control line) didn’t get to the pole quickly enough, and Melges didn’t turn the helm down quickly enough, and the trimmer maybe didn’t ease out the sail quickly enough, but the pole broke quickly enough.”

Translation: Because the afterguy failed to move the pole away from the headstay before the big sail filled, the carbon-fiber pole broke from the sudden pressure like snapping a twig over one’s knee.

The crew had a spare pole below decks, but by the time they got it up four minutes later Conner, seeing their predicament, had pounced past them into a boat-length lead--hardly an insurmountable margin. But there was more misfortune to come.

Conner led by only two to three boat lengths at the next three marks, and then at the first reach, or wing, mark his crew was especially slick in dropping one gennaker while raising another as Stars & Stripes slipped around without missing a beat.

The new sail, ominously, was a reproduction of one of Conner’s sailing paintings, “In Command.”

Defiant, about three lengths behind, tried a similar move, but it was disastrous. The shackle on the genoa headsail they planned to raise opened and the head of the sail slipped out of the sail track and fell into the water, as the gennaker they planned to lower wrapped itself on the mast like a bad case of static cling.

By the time they got that mess sorted out, Stars & Stripes was so far away that they couldn’t even read the advertising on its mainsail or appreciate Conner’s artwork on the headsail.

“It was a coincidence that we had that sail up when the race changed for us to be in command,” Conner said.

The flub resulted in a 58-second gain for Conner on that leg, and the race was his.

“It was really unfortunate because it ruined a great race,” Melges said.

Melges wasn’t sure whether the shackle opened accidentally or wasn’t snapped shut properly by human hands.

Tactician Dave Dellenbaugh said, “I think our crew work has been pretty good all along. But we have 16 guys that are basically new to sailing together for the last two weeks.”

Actually, on Defiant for this round it’s 15 guys and “pitman” Dawn Riley, the only woman sailing on a boat in this event. She had no hand in Wednesday’s mishaps, but America 3 has been shuffling two complete crews between its two boats, delaying the day when it must commit to a first string.

Stars & Stripes has no such problems. One boat. One crew.

And Conner said, “Those of you who have watched the crew work on Stars & Stripes the last few days would concede that it’s starting to look like the Stars & Stripes crew work you’re used to seeing out there.”

Conner’s only problems were with the on-water umpires.

“Every time we looked they had their (protest) flag up,” Dellenbaugh said.

Four times Conner waved his red and yellow flag, protesting right-of-way infringements by Defiant. Four times the umpires answered with green flags, signifying no foul.

“I think the only flags the umpires have are green,” Conner said.