5.00pm
The valiant Victory Challenge finally came to an end today at the hands of an ever-improving Prada team in the quarterfinal repechage of the Louis Vuitton Cup.
Despite a change of helm, with Magnus Holmberg stepping up to steer in place of Jesper Bank, Swedish fortunes did not change as Rod
Davis did a great job as starting helm on Prada to win the start at the pin end.
Prada will now advance to the semifinals of the Louis Vuitton Cup, while the Swedes are eliminated.
After a 'dial up' in the pre-start, Prada ITA-74 was able to gain the initiative by accelerating away faster, while Orm SWE-73 was left wallowing in the water after the boat stalled, as it tried to pick up speed on port tack.
Prada, led by Francesco de Angelis, won the favoured lefthand side and crossed the line at speed and swiftly tacked onto port to cover the Swedish boat.
Initial gains on the right helped Orm to a slight lead but Prada kept its faith in the left and gained from a shift as it approached the port lay line and rounded the windward mark 15 seconds ahead. Holmberg guided Orm straight into a gybe set and Prada gybed to cover immediately.
Thereafter Prada's superior downwind speed prevailed and the Italian boat was able to slowly extend to get to round the leeward mark 26 seconds ahead.
Disaster struck Victory Challenge on the final beat when the genoa halyard shackle broke. The foredeck team on Orm were very quick to tackle the problem, but the breakage acted as the final 'nail in the coffin' as boat speed dropped by two knots until a repair was effected, leaving Prada to inexorably extend its lead and sail into the semfinals.
Results could be thrown into doubt however, as Team Dennis Conner has protested OneWorld to the International Jury, alleging a breach of Rule 2 - Fair Sailing.
In association with Prada, Team Dennis Conner has also brought a case against OneWorld before the America's Cup Arbitration Panel.
Decisions on these are expected before the start of the
semfinals on December 9th.
The Seattle Yacht Club's OneWorld Challenge, and the Italian Prada Challenge, representing the Yacht Club Punta Ala, now provisionally advance to the semifinals of the Louis Vuitton Cup where they will race each other.
Winning margin: 01.37
Prada wins the best-of-seven quarterfinal repechage 4-0.
nzherald.co.nz/americascup
Racing schedule, results and standings
5.00pm
The valiant Victory Challenge finally came to an end today at the hands of an ever-improving Prada team in the quarterfinal repechage of the Louis Vuitton Cup.
Despite a change of helm, with Magnus Holmberg stepping up to steer in place of Jesper Bank, Swedish fortunes did not change as Rod
AdvertisementAdvertise with NZME.