By JULIE ASH
The performance of OneWorld's USA65 will come under the microscope today when the Seattle syndicate line up against fellow Americans Oracle BMW Racing in the quarter-finals of the Louis Vuitton challenger series.
OneWorld used their second yacht, USA67, throughout the round-robin competition, but have opted to introduce
USA65 for the quarter-finals, the best of seven races.
OneWorld executive director Bob Ratliffe said the decision to race USA65 in the quarter-finals was not new.
"It was made several weeks ago. I couldn't say it was a long-term strategy.
"But in round robin two we were pleased with where we had come with USA65, so that is why the decision was made."
OneWorld finished the first round unbeaten, but their dream run crashed in the second round when they were beaten by Alinghi, Oracle BMW Racing and Le Defi Areva.
"In the first round everything went our way, the starts, the wind shifts, but we know it is not always going to be like that," Ratliffe said.
"It went mostly well in the second round - it is not like the second round was a disaster.
"We made some changes to USA67 between the round robins and we didn't feel completely pleased with every change.
"But it was a learning opportunity for us and helped us to bring the boats along further."
Racing against Oracle had not come into the equation when deciding which yacht to sail, he said.
"All three of these top four challengers [Oracle, Prada and Alinghi] are equally as competitive.
"We are going to take races off them and we are going to lose races, and that is just the reality of it. We have had a long programme, we know where we are going and we are right where we want to be."
There had been wide speculation that there was not a lot of difference between OneWorld's Laurie Davidson-designed yachts, but Ratliffe said it was just that, speculation.
"Nobody knows that really. Only our design team and their hairdressers know for sure," he joked.
"The fact of the matter is, if you look at them, they are not dramatically different.
"They have the same bow, same basic concept, but they are different and you don't know what is going on under the waterline.
"If we didn't think USA65 was faster we wouldn't be racing it, and I don't think you have seen the end of USA67.
"Our hope is that we can continue to have some breakthrough thinking so we still have things to pull out of our pocket for the America's Cup should we be so lucky to get there."
Oracle and OneWorld have a win and a loss against each other and while today will undoubtably be a tight race, all eyes will be on the start when two of the world's best - OneWorld's James Spithill and Oracle's Peter Holmberg - go head-to-head.
"James is totally focused, the guy appears to have tremendous skill and nerve," Radcliffe said.
"He looks impossible to disrupt emotionally or psychologically.
"Oracle has a great team of fantastic sailors, but we think we are a great team of fantastic sailors.
"We both have great boats so we are just going to have to go out there and give it our best and take every race as a new one."
nzherald.co.nz/americascup
Racing schedule, results and standings
By JULIE ASH
The performance of OneWorld's USA65 will come under the microscope today when the Seattle syndicate line up against fellow Americans Oracle BMW Racing in the quarter-finals of the Louis Vuitton challenger series.
OneWorld used their second yacht, USA67, throughout the round-robin competition, but have opted to introduce
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