10.00pm
In a strategic move, Italy's Prada Challenge this evening pulled out of the remaining matches in its Louis Vuitton Cup quarterfinal series against Switzerland's Team Alinghi.
Prada had trailed the best-of-seven series 3-0.
By pulling out of its remaining matches, Prada conceded the series to Alinghi who became the first challenger to
advance to the semifinals of the regatta to determine who will race Team New Zealand for the America's Cup next February.
Team Alinghi awaits the outcome of the quarterfinal series between OneWorld and Oracle BMW Racing to know who their opponent will be in the semifinals beginning December 9th.
By losing the quarterfinal series, Prada must sail in the quarterfinal repechage, scheduled to begin November 23rd. Its opponent will be one of the two winners from the quarterfinals of the boats that finished in the bottom half of the preliminary round robins.
With a weather forecast that may preclude racing on the next three days, Prada gains valuable development time by conceding a series it was very likely to lose.
The 'no-change' period for both Prada and Alinghi ends immediately, freeing Prada to work on improving the performance of their two boats ITA-74 and ITA-80.
Although their losses to Alinghi have been narrow -- just eight seconds separated them in the last two quarterfinal races -- pulling the plug now means they have a week before the start of next Saturday's repechage which gives them time to regroup.
It also means less wear and tear on their equipment and in particular their precious sails as teams are only allowed to use 45 in the challenger series.
The darlings of the last America's Cup, Prada's campaign hasn't gone as sweetly as their 2000 programme.
After a shaky start to the round robin competition Bertelli fired head designer Doug Peterson. The syndicate then sent their second yacht ITA-80 to the boat yard for extensive hull modifications while ITA-74 was remodelled between rounds one and two.
After four wins and four losses in the first round, Prada's performance improved in the second round to seven wins and one loss (Alinghi forfeited their race against Prada in the second round).
nzherald.co.nz/americascup
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