Seagull gives luck to Oracle

By JULIE ASH

An emphatic win over OneWorld yesterday showed that Oracle BMW Racing are far from down and out in the Louis Vuitton challenger series.

"Yeah, baby," were the words Oracle afterguard member Ian Burns bellowed as his team crossed the line 40s ahead of OneWorld.

Race organisers successfully completed seven races yesterday in the 12 to 20-knot winds.

In other flight six results, GBR Challenge were too strong for Mascalzone Latino, winning by 1m 40s.

The Latin Rascals awoke to news that helmsman Paolo Cian did not want to be on the boat for the day's racing.

Cian, considered one of Italy's top sailors, had been at the helm of Mascalzone for all their races bar one - Wednesday's match against Prada when tactician Flavio Favini took the helm after the start.

Mascalzone Latino skipper Vincenzo Onorato said Cian and the rest of the team were devastated after their loss to Prada on Wednesday which they could have won had they not botched a gybe on the last leg.

"I would not be sincere if I didn't say that loss created a breakdown in us. We were so frustrated because of our mistake.

"Paolo was not in the right shape to sail with us today, but I think after a good night's sleep he will be back on the boat."

After a tight battle, Prada beat Victory Challenge down the home straight yesterday to win by a narrow 10s.

Team Dennis Conner comfortably beat Le Defi Areva by 1m 12s and secured their first win in the second round.

Le Defi damaged their yacht and were allowed to postpone their afternoon race against Oracle.

Flight seven brought no surprises.

OneWorld beat Victory Challenge by 21s and Alinghi had no trouble shaking Team Dennis Conner, winning by 49s.

Alinghi welcomed back strategist/ mainsail traveller Murray Jones who missed the first round after breaking his foot in August.

GBR Challenge started strongly but could not keep up with Prada who won by 16s to claim their sixth consecutive win in the second round.

It was also the fourth time Prada had to come from behind to win.

"I am very satisfied with the way the boat went and how the crew performed," said Prada skipper Francesco de Angelis.

"We still have two races to go before the end of round-robin two. We will face two very fast and strong teams in Alinghi and OneWorld."

But the Oracle and OneWorld encounter was the clash of the day.

After an aggressive pre-start tussle, the two sides clashed sterns.

Oracle incurred a yellow flag penalty for tacking too close to their opponents, which required them to complete a 270-degree turn during the race.

With Peter Holmberg, John Cutler, Ian Burns, Chris Dickson and Tomasso Chiefi in the afterguard, Oracle led OneWorld around the first mark by 34s, and by 28s at the second.

Oracle stormed ahead in the second beat and were far enough ahead to complete the penalty turn and still hold on to a comfortable lead, which they never surrendered.

"Today was an important race and we were pretty fired up in the pre-start," said Oracle tactician John Cutler.

"We had a good vibe from our weather team who were sitting on the catamaran and a big seagull came over and shat on their boat. They told us that was good luck and we believed their call and off we went."

For Oracle, yesterday's result suggests that after a little fine tuning of USA76, plus Dickson's return and possibly syndicate head Larry Ellison's sidelining this week, Oracle are back in the running.

"I think we have just been waiting for things to go our way," Cutler said.

Unbeaten in the first round, OneWorld have now chalked up losses against Alinghi and Oracle.

"I would say teams are sailing a little better this round than they were in the last round," said OneWorld tactician Charlie McKee.

"We are just trying to do our thing and we take our hats off to Oracle. They came out aggressive and sailed a great race."

Alingi lead the fleet with 12 points, followed by Prada and OneWorld on 10.

Flight eight and the final flight four matches are scheduled to be raced today.

The remaining flight five and flight seven races are scheduled for tomorrow, while flight nine is on Sunday.

Race organisers predict 15 to 22-knot winds gusting to 30 knots today.

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