8.00pm
The defending Louis Vuitton Cup champions and the America's Cup Challenger of Record, Prada Challenge, was eliminated from further competition today when calm conditions meant only one race was sailed.
Prada needed two wins in the shortened 4-leg races to tie the score line in the Louis Vuitton Cup semifinals
and force a one-race sail-off on Wednesday.
It was a sad end for the Italian squad, who had proved to be a colourful, stylish and popular champion in 2000, both at home in Italy and with the New Zealand public.
For OneWorld, the 3-2 series victory is an impressive win. The Americans overcame a one-point penalty to vault into the semifinal repechage where they will now meet Chris Dickson's Oracle BMW team.
The winner of that Repechage will face the Swiss team Alinghi for the Louis Vuitton Cup, and the right to sail against Team New Zealand in the America's Cup match in February.
Prada, in a position where it needed two wins just to extend the series, started the day with a crew shake-up as Gavin Brady was promoted off the training boat, and on to the helm of Luna Rossa ITA-74. But at the 10.30am start time, the wind was well below the seven-knot minimum required by the challenger series rules.
Both crews waited patiently on the Hauraki Gulf for nearly six hours, before the Race Committee made a heroic effort to start racing, firing the warning signal just moments before the 4.00pm time limit.
Under normal circumstances, it is very unlikely racing would have started in such unstable conditions.
A 60 degree left hand shift just before the start, meant neither boat was able to lay the pin end after having passed close to the Committee Boat with one minute to go.
OneWorld USA-67 was able to lock out the Italian boat at the pin end on starboard tack after helmsman James Spithill tacked to cross the line well ahead of Luna Rossa.
The wind shifted 120 degrees to the right on the first beat and after both boats reached all the way down the second leg, the wind died altogether.
A split wind slowly crept across the Hauraki Gulf, with a large hole in the middle. Unfortunately for OneWorld, Peter Gilmour's team got caught in the middle and Prada were able to sail over the 'horizon' to win by the biggest margin of the 2002 Louis Vuitton Cup.
The win will end up as a hollow victory for Prada, as the Italians are in the odd position of being eliminated from the regatta on the back of a win.
Under the Louis Vuitton Cup conditions which all the Challengers agreed to, "if at the end of the scheduled and reserve days of each Semi Finals match, a yacht has not won four points, the winner shall be the yacht with the higher score." (Condition 8.3 (d) (iii))
OneWorld earned the important 3-1 lead with two wins over Prada yesterday.
The semifinal repechage starts on Friday.
Winds: light and variable
Winning margin: 17.46
nzherald.co.nz/americascup
Racing schedule, results and standings
8.00pm
The defending Louis Vuitton Cup champions and the America's Cup Challenger of Record, Prada Challenge, was eliminated from further competition today when calm conditions meant only one race was sailed.
Prada needed two wins in the shortened 4-leg races to tie the score line in the Louis Vuitton Cup semifinals
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