By JULIE ASH
It brought a smile to the faces of many, but Alinghi certainly weren't grinning after their loss to OneWorld Challenge on the second day of the Louis Vuitton challenger series.
The much-awaited clash between two big-budget syndicates finally got underway yesterday in shifty winds ranging between 12-15 knots.
The
race was scheduled for Wednesday, but strong winds delayed the second day of racing in the challenger series until yesterday.
With at least 12 New Zealanders between them, the clash between the OneWorld and Alinghi crews lived up to pre-race expectations.
Helmsman James Spithill got OneWorld Challenge off to the better start after rounding up into the breeze while Alinghi opted to dial down and into a gybe.
Alinghi helmsman Russell Coutts pushed Spithill all the way to the line before the boats split tacks with just seconds to go.
OneWorld took an early 8s led at the start and extended it to 22s at the first windward and leeward marks.
Alinghi closed the gap around the next two marks, coming within 10s of the Americans at the second leeward mark, but OneWorld had extended their lead to 22s at the third windward mark.
Alinghi attacked at every opportunity, but OneWorld held on to claim a narrow 10s victory.
For former Team New Zealand sailors Russell Coutts and Brad Butterworth it was their first loss in an America's Cup race since April 12, 1995, when Team New Zealand went down to One Australia.
Alinghi tactican Brad Butterworth said it was a great race and gave full credit to OneWorld.
"They sailed really well and deserved to win. They revealed some speed out there and showed they knew their way around the gulf. We certainly learnt a lot."
Butterworth admitted Alinghi's start did not exactly go to plan.
"It wasn't what we wanted to do for sure. Our communication wasn't that good.
"We made a few mistakes in the timing in the pre-start and it was costly for us.
"James did a good job in setting up in front of us and we didn't have much time to kill to the start line and it turned into a bit of a horror show for us.
"So we were battling from about a minute to go when we knew we were going to be late and we were battling from then on."
Overall, it was another good day for the American syndicates. Adding to OneWorld's victory, Team Dennis Conner beat Prada and Oracle BMW Racing trounced the second Italian challenge, Mascalzone Latino.
"We were fortunate to be able to use an opening lead to introduce [billionaire] Larry Ellison to the helm a couple of minutes after we crossed the start line," said Oracle's starting helmsman, Peter Holmberg.
"It did not take him long to warm up and ease into the helming role. Ellison's performance only improved as the day progressed," he said.
Sweden's Victory Challenge was the other big winner, beating the French challenge Le Defi Areva by just over a minute.
Race organiser predict similar conditions, with 9-12-knot winds, for today which sees OneWorld against GBR and Victory Challenge meeting Team Dennis Conner on Course Romeo and Mascalzone Latino clashing with Alinghi and Le Defi Areva up against Prada. Oracle have the bye.
nzherald.co.nz/americascup
Racing schedule, results and standings
By JULIE ASH
It brought a smile to the faces of many, but Alinghi certainly weren't grinning after their loss to OneWorld Challenge on the second day of the Louis Vuitton challenger series.
The much-awaited clash between two big-budget syndicates finally got underway yesterday in shifty winds ranging between 12-15 knots.
The
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