By JULIE ASH
The Swedes won on the water yesterday but face more anxious times today as they wait to see who they will face next in their on-going battle for survival in the Louis Vuitton challenger series.
Le Defi Areva and GBR Challenge were bid farewell yesterday, losing to Sweden's
Victory Challenge and Team Dennis Conner, who will now join OneWorld and Prada in the quarter-final repechages that start on Saturday.
Because of their solid record in the round-robin competition, OneWorld have the right to choose who they will race in the best of seven series - likely to be the Swedes' Victory Challenge - leaving the other two to pair off.
Team Dennis Conner have improved tremendously since switching to their second yacht USA77 for the quarter-finals.
For that reason OneWorld are likely to choose the Swedes, leaving Prada to race Team Dennis Conner.
Victory Challenge helmsman Jesper Bank said the next step was going to be tough no matter whom they met.
"The late [syndicate head] Jan Stenbeck told us to go out there and win and celebrate heavily and we are in the middle of that," Bank joked.
"At the same time, we are not forgetting this is just a step and going up against the top four is a very big challenge.
"We believe that we are going the right way, but it is hard to know what the other guys are going to come up with. I think we have done okay so far but we still need to improve a little bit.
"I don't have any influence who OneWorld will pick, but it would make us feel better if they didn't pick us."
OneWorld and Prada have had a week to prepare for the repechage, but Team Dennis Conner and the Swedes have just five days.
"The format is a disadvantage to our side of the bracket," said Team Dennis Conner helmsman Ken Read.
"If we wanted to throw another keel on or bulb or change the position of our mast, whatever you could do if you had three weeks like Oracle and Alinghi - we'd love to do that. But on the other side of the coin, we get to go out and get race tough.
"USA66 is already under the knife and we have some plans for USA77. We just have to do with what we have got. We have to go racing on Saturday."
He said his team had been happy with the progress of USA77, the yacht which sank off Long Beach.
"We were very fortunate to get our race boat back. The Dennis Conner programme is not used to losing. Our team had many chances to self-destruct but none of our team allowed that to happen.
"We are still surviving because of the experience of our programme. A little bit of boat speed makes you look pretty smart."
After a delay of well over an hour, the fifth day in the quarter-finals started yesterday afternoon.
In the Team Dennis Conner v GBR Challenge match, Team Dennis Conner won the start and accelerated up the first beat.
The Americans rounded the first mark 42s ahead but lost 20s on the downwind leg.
But then it was all downhill for the Ian Walker-skippered British challenge as Team Dennis Conner rounded the third mark 1m 15s ahead and increased that to 1m 35s at the next mark.
GBR closed the gap slightly at the last mark but Team Dennis Conner stormed home to win by 1m 42s.
In the Le Defi Areva v Victory Challenge match, the French were the first over at the start but soon proved they were no match for the Swedes' superior boat speed.
The Swedes led around every mark - 33s, 43s, 52s, 1m 37s and 2m 14s - before winning by 2m 34s.
After the elimination of the French and British, just six from nine teams remain in the competition.
Alinghi and Oracle BMW Racing have advanced directly to the semifinals, which start on December 9.
nzherald.co.nz/americascup
Racing schedule, results and standings
By JULIE ASH
The Swedes won on the water yesterday but face more anxious times today as they wait to see who they will face next in their on-going battle for survival in the Louis Vuitton challenger series.
Le Defi Areva and GBR Challenge were bid farewell yesterday, losing to Sweden's
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