Alinghi win again, Prada snatch victory on last leg

4.00pm - By JULIE ASH

For the second day in a row Russell Coutts Alinghi had no problems dismissing Chris Dickson's Oracle BMW racing in the semifinal of the Louis Vuitton challenger series.

In the other match Prada scored a vital win over Seattle syndicate OneWorld.

In wet, foggy and shifty conditions - day two was a real challenge for the crews' afterguard members.

After a fairly even start with both sides vying for the right Alinghi held a narrow 1s advantage over the start.

On the first beat it appeared Alinghi had a slight boat speed advantage over Oracle even though Oracle secured the favoured right hand position.

Alinghi rounded the first mark 22s ahead and almost doubled their lead on the first downwind leg rounding the second mark 42s ahead.

Their lead was further extended in the next two legs - the Swiss lead by 49s at the third mark and 1m and five seconds at the fourth mark.

Oracle pegged back nearly half a minute on the last beat rounding the fifth mark 38s behind.

That gap was closed further on the last run - but Alinghi were too far ahead and sailed away with a 29s win.

Alinghi are now 2-0 up in the best of seven series.

Like yesterday the OneWorld and Prada match was closely fought.

After what was also an even start OneWorld powered over the line first and took control early.

OneWorld lead up the first beat and rounded the first windward mark 21s ahead.

The Seattle syndicate led around the next three marks by 17s, 29s, 38s before relinquishing the lead in the last leg after failing to cover Prada who capitalised on a big left-hand shift.

The Italians rounded the last mark 28s ahead before winning by 20s.

Day three is scheduled to start tomorrow at 1.15pm. Race organisers have predicted strong northerly winds and rain.

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