Tears as Prada's dream ends

By JULIE ASH

Prada's ambitions of repeating their last America's Cup effort and sailing off for the cup ended in tears last night.

The Italian challenge bowed out of the regatta after losing their semifinal series 3-2 to OneWorld. The defending Louis Vuitton Cup champions, who captured New Zealand hearts in the 2000 regatta, beat OneWorld by 17m 46s in a bizarre finale yesterday, but it was too little, too late.

They needed to have two races sailed yesterday and win them both to stay in the event.

Light winds delayed racing for five and a half hours yesterday. As time slipped by, Prada's chances of progressing to the semifinal repechage flickered and died.

Tears flowed as Prada skipper Francesco de Angelis and his team returned to their base aboard ITA74 for the last time, their faces as grey as the hulls on their Luna Rossa yachts.

The horns of the supporting yachts sounded as Prada pulled into the Viaduct.

The crew waved to their band of supporters who bellowed, "We love you, Prada".

As they bid their supporters farewell, de Angelis was still coming to grips last night with his team's elimination.

"It was not something I was prepared for. I am still trying to regroup a little. But that is the world of sport.

"We have to take some time now to go back through the campaign itself."

When asked if Prada would be back, de Angelis said no decision had been made.

"The future of this campaign is in the hands of Mr [Patrizio] Bertelli," Prada's syndicate head.

Tactician Torben Grael said there was no one reason for Prada's early elimination.

"When we got to Auckland we didn't expect to have the performance we had in the first races.

"A lot of effort from the team went to make the boat go faster and a lot of time was lost on the water practising starts and manoeuvres and maybe we paid for that."

Before the race, supporters and friends spoke of their hopes and prayers that the team could pull off a last-minute victory.

"As we say, hope is the last to die. In other words, it never dies," said one.

But a few hours later it did.

Aucklanders, who had cheered the Italians during the America's Cup parades in 2000, were also disappointed at their exit.

One fan said: "I think Auckland got behind them - and possibly New Zealand too - because they seemed a good-spirited team."

With their handsome sailors, flash clothes and nifty motor scooters, Prada flew through the first round of the 2000 challenger series unbeaten on the road to being crowned champions.

After they were beaten 5-0 by Team New Zealand in the cup match, the Italians vowed they would be back.

Going into this series, they rightfully took their place as one of the hot favourites. With virtually the same crew and designers from last time, and bases already established in Auckland and Italy, Prada could spend more of their $190 million budget on research and development than others.

After five years of training in Auckland, Prada looked indestructible. But after a shaky start to the competition it was soon clear all was not well in the Prada camp.

First, there was talk the team's second yacht, ITA80, had structural problems, which Mr Bertelli denied.

Then it was rumoured New Zealand sailor Gavin Brady was on the brink of being fired - something Prada also denied, saying Brady's contract was simply being "renegotiated".

However, in the first bombshell of the cup, the Italians "demoted" head designer Doug Peterson just a few days into the competition.

As a result, Prada's yachts, ITA74 and ITA80, underwent extensive modifications, with new knuckle bows fitted to both boats.

In the semifinal series, Prada's crew work was often sloppy. Going into the series, de Angelis said the game had moved up several notches and his team's result in the last regatta counted for little.

"Every time you take part in a sporting event you need to start from scratch with the intent of improving yourself and your previous effort," he said.

"We learned from the racing side and the technical side but, in reality, what we learned was learned by everyone else."

It now seems everyone else just learned a little more.

nzherald.co.nz/americascup

Racing schedule, results and standings