GBR Challenge, Le Défi out of Cup

Britain and France were knocked out of the America's Cup challengers' series on the Hauraki Gulf today.

Both lost 4-1 in the best-of-seven quarterfinals of the Louis Vuitton Cup to decide who will challenge Team New Zealand for the America's Cup in February.

Britain's GBR Challenge went down by one minute 42 seconds to Team Dennis Conner, and France's Le Défi lost by 2min 34sec to Sweden's Victory Challenge.

Team Dennis Conner and Victory now go through to the quarterfinal repechage, which will also feature OneWorld and Prada -- the losers from the top four challenger quarterfinals -- starting on Saturday.

OneWorld, the top-scoring team among the repechage group after the two round-robins, have until 7pm tomorrow to choose their opponents for the best-of-seven contests to find the semifinalists for the Louis Vuitton Cup.

Light winds early this afternoon forced a 55-minute postponement of the first warning gun and then a procedural error by the race committee delayed it another 20 minutes. But when racing started the breeze was blowing 15 knots and it ranged up to 20 knots by the end of the day.

There were big windshifts to contend with in each race. The wind shifted 20 degrees to the right, necessitating course changes on the first run and second beat.

Victory and Team Dennis Conner handled the oscillations with aplomb. Each team held the upper hand in the first cross and led around the first windward mark.

As the breeze built, some of the teams experienced gear troubles. Team Dennis Conner broke a genoa sheet on the second beat. GBR Challenge had troubles setting the spinnaker at the second windward mark. Le Défi had spinnaker halyard and top-mast backstay troubles at the second windward mark and blew out a spinnaker on the last run.

After today's races, Stars and Stripes helmsman Ken Read said he was fired up by some British press stories suggesting he had not been doing a good job of starting the Team Dennis Conner boat.

"Maybe that was what I needed to get aggressive again," he said.

Stars and Stripes had changed boats for the quarterfinals, using their newer boat USA-77 which, Read said, provided a little extra speed.

"I can't tell you how that (a little extra boat speed) made an unbelievable difference to how we're sailing the boat," he said.

Stars & Stripes afterguard member Tom Whidden said today's conditions were tricky, which had made racing difficult.

"We made it look easy today but it wasn't," Whidden said.

Stars and Stripes started strongly today while GBR Challenge showed problems with manoeuvring and acceleration.

In shifty south westerlies ranging from 12-20 knots, Team Dennis Conner, representing the New York Yacht Club, were out to a 42sec lead at the first mark, before GBR showed good downwind speed to close the gap up to 22sec by the second mark.

A big right windshift on the third leg took Stars and Stripes out to a 1min 15sec lead at the third mark, where the British team's problems were compounded by a ripped spinnaker.

Le Défi also had spinnaker trouble rounding the third mark, and were unable to raise the sail for several minutes.

At the mark Victory were 52sec ahead, having extended their lead on the other two legs. By the fourth mark they were ahead by 1min 37sec and then a big windshift took them ahead to 2min 14sec at the final turn.

Le Défi's day was summed up at that point, as their spinnaker blew out and had to be replaced.

Leaving the Louis Vuitton Cup regatta was an enormous disappointment for the entire team said Le Défi general manager Xavier de Lesquen.

"We have had the opportunity to represent France in this wonderful competition, and that has been an amazing experience. We were hoping to go further but the timing and the size of the budget has been a problem every step of the way."

Saling manager Pierre Mas said the team remained motivated for the next challenge.

"We are going to have to analyse our strengths and weaknesses to decide the best way forward but we are still motivated by our original objective – to one day bring the America's Cup home to France. What structure and format the ongoing project will take is now open to discussion."

The French team will take some time out over the next 72 hours, before regrouping to consider its approach to the next project.

- NZPA, HERALD STAFF

nzherald.co.nz/americascup

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