Cayard's number-one Cup priority already achieved

By Suzanne McFadden

Paul Cayard has won his first race of the 1999 America's Cup - to get the sail number he wanted for his new cup boat.

Cayard, runner-up helmsman in the last two cups, has grabbed USA 49 for the America One campaign yacht - one of five challengers who have made the next significant step towards racing in Auckland in October.

Both San Francisco campaigns - America One and Dawn Riley's America True - were keen to be 49ers, like the city's gridiron team.

But Cayard, whose first cup boat in 1987 had the same number, won out. America True have been issued USA 51.

Five campaigns have been issued sail numbers by the International America's Cup Class.

Sail numbers are usually a sign of campaigns certain to race in the challenger series.

They are handed out when the first carbon fibre skin of a cup boat is laid.

America True's boat will be completed in May, and shipped to New Zealand by July.

Japan's Nippon Challenge and the Swiss Fast 2000 are deep in the boat building process.

The Swiss have packed up and left Auckland after two month's training in their yellow practice boat. The yacht, a French boat built for the 1995 cup, has been left on the hard at their base in the America's Cup Village. The crew may return before the summer is out.

The challengers will hold a conference call next week to settle the race conditions for the Louis Vuitton challenger series starting in October.

Cup veteran Dennis Conner was vocal in his concern that the rules that affected the design of the boats were being altered at the last minute, when yachts were already under construction.

The major discussion will centre around the wind limits on the course. The draft rule says no race will start in over 18 knots of wind, but if a race starts in 15 knots, it will continue until the breeze hits 23 knots.

The America's Cup Challenge Association has verified that the challenger semifinals will be a six-boat competition.