Oracle, of San Francisco, beat Seattle's OneWorld by 12sec in the first race of their best-of-seven Louis Vuitton challenger yachting quarter final series today, after trailing by about 65m on the third upwind leg.
The match featured a rather subdued pre-start with OneWorld helmsman James Spithill tacking USA-65 away from hisopponents before the start gun fired.
Oracle skipper Chris Dickson took USA-76 to the left side of the course and worked a minor windshift into a slim 10-second lead at the top mark.
On the first run, the boats split away several times, and eventually OneWorld closed up, with both boats running on port tack, OneWorld slightly behind.
Spithill gybed onto starboard and forced Dickson to gybe in response. The umpires ruled OneWorld hadn't given USA-76 enough room to keep clear and assessed Spithill a penalty.
OneWorld went on to take a narrow lead, but could never extend to a comfortable distance to offload the penalty. Finally, approaching the windward mark for the last time, and enjoying its biggest lead of the match, the OneWorld crew executed their penalty turn, allowing USA-76 to take a 14-second lead onto the final run.
OneWorld came close to regaining the lead, but Dickson managed to hold on for the win.
OneWorld had the second-best record of the nine teams during the preliminary round robins, with 13 wins and 3 losses. But the team opted to switch boats from USA-67 to USA-65 for the quarter final series.
Oracle is enjoying a revival of its fortunes after New Zealander Chris Dickson was brought in as skipper midway through the round robins, replacing team boss Larry Ellison. Oracle has won all eight of its races since Dickson's return.
