Yachting: French go puffing for wind

By SUZANNE McFADDEN

The French America's Cup crew began lighting up cigarettes on Sixieme Sens yesterday - not only in frustration but to find out where the slightest breath of breeze was coming from.

When the smoke showed them which way to go, it was too late - their chance of an upset victory denied by the clock and Auckland's devilish winds.

For more than an hour, the entire fleet in the Louis Vuitton Cup sat virtually motionless on the glassy Hauraki Gulf, not a ripple in sight.

Only two races made it to the finishline before the time limit - the winners of this lottery creating an upheaval at the top of the leaderboard.

Prada, who have been primissimo since day one two months ago, have been jolted to third - behind their winning opponents yesterday, Nippon, and new leaders AmericaOne.

But the pecking order means very little. Once the top six are found for the semifinals, all points are wiped.

The true battle is now for survival in the middle of the table. The French still have an outside chance of staying on in Auckland for the new millennium, and a win over Young America yesterday would have boosted their cause.

But yesterday was the second time in this event that Le Defi France were in front of a major player when time ran out.

When Sixieme Sens and the New Yorkers were parked short of the top mark, the French whipped out a pack of cigarettes. Somehow the boat sneaked away, out to the right, but it was at crawling pace, and they never reached the third mark before the 2h 25m deadline. The race will now be resailed on the final day of the round.

The wooden-spooner Young Australians, too, were bitterly disappointed - they were leading top-four boat America True when their race was blown up.

They meet again today, when Stars & Stripes return to the racecourse with a rebuilt stern for their crucial clash with Young America.

Two races made it to the finish yesterday - but their winning margins were irrelevant. After languishing in zero knots for so long, the survivors were pushed across the finishline by gusts up to 30 knots.

The big match-up between Nippon and Prada turned into a dud, when it promised so much in the pre-start. Japan's new Idaten was clearly superior at the start, leaving Luna Rossa three boatlengths behind at the line.

The winds were all over the show - the Japanese ahead by two minutes at the first mark, Italy closing to 20s behind at the end of the run. But on the second run, the breeze disappeared altogether. Nippon went left, Prada went out to the right, then no-one went anywhere for almost an hour.

When the new breeze finally arrived from the south, Idaten caught it first, rounding the mark 12 minutes before Prada. The Italians made up ground to finish 3m 13s behind, but it was still Italy's second loss in a row.

AmericaOne, now leaders by 6.5 points, left the Spanish to come home with Idaten, almost 12 minutes later.