By JULIE ASH
Drama appeared left, right and centre on the last day of the first round of the Louis Vuitton challenger series yesterday.
Only five outstanding races needed to be completed to wrap up the round, but the weather gods opted not to co-operate. The Hauraki Gulf was hit
with 12 to 18-knot winds and gusts that exceeded the 23-knot maximum.
In the first session of racing, which got underway yesterday morning on a shortened course, GBR Challenge secured a 54s win over Mascalzone Latino.
The Italians ran into trouble when their mast track fitting broke on the first run, which meant they were unable to use their spinnaker pole for the rest of the race.
Mascalzone Latino were scheduled to race Prada yesterday afternoon, but because they were not able to repair their boat in time and because it was their second race of the day, they were able to request postponement.
That match is now the only outstanding from the first round and will be raced on the first day of the second round next Tuesday.
In the battle of the American heavyweights, OneWorld Challenge beat Oracle BMW Racing to complete the first round unbeaten.
With James Spithill at the helm for OneWorld and Peter Holmberg for Oracle, the pair produced the best pre-start manoeuvres so far, with neither willing to give the other a centimetre.
After an even start, OneWorld, who have performed faultlessly throughout the first round, crossed ahead of Oracle and rounded the first mark 22s ahead.
OneWorld extended their lead to 46s at the second mark and 1m 04s at the third mark before winning by 40s.
OneWorld skipper Peter Gilmour said the start looked pretty dangerous for a while.
"I take my hat off to Jimmy [James Spithill], he worked very hard in this start. With someone like me breathing over his shoulder he has been very patient and very mature."
Oracle turned their loss to OneWorld around yesterday afternoon, overwhelming Victory Challenge by 10m 45s.
The Swedes had trouble hoisting their headsail in the first beat and were forced to compete with just the mainsail for most of the race.
The French Challenge Le Defi Areva also ran into technical difficulties in their match against Team Dennis Conner.
The pair were relatively close before the French team's forestay collapsed on the second upwind run.
The match was abandoned shortly afterwards because the wind exceeded the 23-knot limit.
The race was rescheduled for later in the afternoon, but the French had to withdraw because they did not have enough time for repairs. Dennis Conner took the win and point.
With just one race left to complete the first round, OneWorld and Russell Coutts' Alinghi appear to be the boats to beat.
Both have proved they have adequate speed downwind and in a range of upwind conditions.
"We have focused on doing a lot of starts and racing out here which I think prepared us well for the first round,' Gilmour said.
"As racing has gone on, I think people have learned from each other and it has closed up a bit."
Coutts said his team was happy with their first-round efforts .
"We haven't put our top 16 on the boat yet," he said.
"I am pretty happy where our boats sit against the opposition. The second round robin will be a lot tougher - some of the teams are planning major changes, but we aren't at this stage.
"We feel we are near the top of our group, but to stay there we have to work very hard.
"OneWorld are out front, so we need to figure out a way of closing the gap."
nzherald.co.nz/americascup
Racing schedule, results and standings
By JULIE ASH
Drama appeared left, right and centre on the last day of the first round of the Louis Vuitton challenger series yesterday.
Only five outstanding races needed to be completed to wrap up the round, but the weather gods opted not to co-operate. The Hauraki Gulf was hit
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