By TERRY MADDAFORD
Being picked by OneWorld Challenge as their opponents for the Louis Vuitton quarter-final repechage was a "humbling thing" for Team Dennis Conner.
"Nobody likes being picked," helmsman Ken Read said at the skipper s' media conference in Auckland yesterday.
"It's a humbling thing in a way, but at the
same time our team have taken it as a chance to get a little mad.
"You know, these guys think we're the worst of the heap, so let's go prove them wrong."
The loser of the best-of-seven all-American repechage will pack up in the next week or so, while the winner will join Alinghi and Oracle BMW and the victor of the Prada-Victory Challenge repechage in the semifinals.
Most interest yesterday centred on Prada and their race to have their boat ready in time.
Skipper Francesco de Angelis was out on the water early, testing the re-launched Luna Rossa ITA74 alongside ITA80.
After returning to the dock, Team Prada declared ITA74 - beaten 4-0 by Alinghi in the quarter-finals - as their boat for the repechage.
"It's been a tough week and the team worked really hard around the clock in order to reach an ambitious goal," navigator Matteo Plazzi said.
Questioned about the need to make changes to their boat, which had, after all, finished just 8s behind the fleet leader in three races, Marco Mercuriali, Prada's rules man, said: "For sure it wasn't an easy decision. We don't know if our choice is right or not. We'll see in the next week."
In de Angelis' absence, Mercuriali won the toss with Victory Challenge's Jesper Bank and opted for the starboard end of the line at the start today.
Asked why he had opted to face Team Dennis Conner, OneWorld's Peter Gilmour said: "I think that of those of us up here, none of us would like to race each other. I think if we could race some imaginary boat we would choose that. We all have great respect for each other."
Gilmour confirmed OneWorld would sail USA67 - which was not used in the 4-0 quarter-final tonking by Oracle - in the repechage, but would not be drawn further on the choice of opponent.
"There are certain unknowns ... so it was just a decision the team made," he said. "Let's move on."
He added that Conner's team "have a tremendous history in the America's Cup and seem to be a good starting point for us."
It appears Gilmour will again leave fellow Australian James Spithill at the helm. "He is doing such a good job. He has the respect and admiration of everyone in the team."
The Swedes, who will sail Orm (SWE73) against Prada, will have Bank at the helm.
"We have made that decision, but if I don't do well we have a good substitute ready," Bank said, referring to Magnus Holmberg.
Today's racing is scheduled to start at 1.15pm, with the second round tomorrow.
nzherald.co.nz/americascup
Racing schedule, results and standings
By TERRY MADDAFORD
Being picked by OneWorld Challenge as their opponents for the Louis Vuitton quarter-final repechage was a "humbling thing" for Team Dennis Conner.
"Nobody likes being picked," helmsman Ken Read said at the skipper s' media conference in Auckland yesterday.
"It's a humbling thing in a way, but at the
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