No racing, but contenders can't keep off water

By HELEN TUNNAH

Foul weather forced organisers to postpone yesterday's Louis Vuitton Cup quarter-finals but the top contenders still found time to head for the Hauraki Gulf.

Alinghi, Prada and OneWorld Challenge all went sailing, despite howling winds which gusted over 30 knots.

Russell Coutts' Swiss team had left the Viaduct Harbour with one of their boats by 7am, an hour before the afternoon's racing was officially called off, and trained on the gulf until mid-morning.

Their quarter-final rivals Prada, of Italy, followed at a more leisurely hour, and stayed inside the inner harbour, running through a few gentle manoeuvres on ITA74 before heading back to base after about half an hour.

OneWorld followed Alinghi out to the gulf, also with only one of their boats.

Alinghi spokesman Bernard Schopfer said the Swiss were not trying to play mind games with Prada by heading out in the bad weather.

"Not at all. Everybody has their own programme," he said. "There haven't been many days since the end of the round robin and we wanted to go testing."

After losing just two races on the water in the two round robins, Alinghi remain favourites to win the challenger series and race Team New Zealand for the America's Cup.

The best-of-seven-races quarter-finals are due to be finished in a week, and there are only two spare days before the quarter-final repechage round, set to start on November 23.

The two winning teams from the top half of the draw qualify directly for the semifinals, beginning on December 9, while the two losing teams drop to the repechage series to race the winners from the bottom half of the draw.

nzherald.co.nz/americascup

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