Delight for Conner as Prada toppled

By Suzanne McFadden

It's hard to say which was louder on the Hauraki Gulf yesterday: the sickening crack of Nippon's mast snapping, or the boom of Dennis Conner's cannon exploding in jubilation.

As Stars & Stripes ended Prada's supremacy in the Louis Vuitton Cup yesterday, Conner, captain of America's Cup's past, fired his cannon from their chaseboat.

While Dennis and his wife Daintry were jumping up and down at their boat's shock victory, the Japanese bowed their heads in disbelief as their rig dragged through the water in a snarl of ragged sails and broken wire. Such are the extreme emotions of the America's Cup.

Millions of dollars have already been lost in damage in just over a fortnight at sea - and yesterday was another day of costly carnage.

The winds rose and fell between nine knots and 30, wildly swinging around the dial. The challengers cannot complain that they weren't warned about Auckland's volatile weather - maybe they just didn't understand.

As Stars & Stripes helmsman Ken Read said: "Someone told me Auckland was tough - but no one said it was THIS tough."

It is the third time in as many races that Nippon have been caught up in some disaster or another - losing control of their mainsail after leading Prada, watching Young America fold in half, and then yesterday's calamity.

But Japan's downfall yesterday couldn't be blamed on weather. The mast shattered as leader Asura got too close to AmericaOne in a gybe before rounding the final bottom mark. The rope controlling the runner whipped off the winch, and the rig toppled.

All the while, Stars & Stripes - the most damage-free boat in the fleet - was pummelling Prada, dealing the Italians their first loss in 14 starts.

It all came down to a calculated stab in the dark by Stars & Stripes navigator Peter Isler. A nasty rain squall swept over the two boats as they neared the bottom mark for the first time, Prada leading. But the downpour was so thick and gloomy, neither crew could see where they were going.

Isler had worked out where the mark was, and when the rain cleared, a disoriented Prada were left watching Stars & Stripes out in front. Read and his delegation of tactical men continued to play the windshifts like a violin, and glided to a 1m 51s win.

Read said his team, seventh of 11 before yesterday's upset, needed a boost.

"After losing by three seconds in our last race, everyone was disheartened and took it personally," he said. "No one in Team Dennis Conner is used to losing. We deserved this."

In a day of carnage, Young Australia blew a headsail in a 30 knot gust when they were already two minutes behind Abracadabra on the final upwind leg.

Last night the Australians protested that the winds were too high and the race should have been called off. The protest was dismissed.

Le Defi France had been in the hunt with America True on the first leg, but then snapped their spinnaker pole. They managed to ride in on a huge windshift to the finish to make up three minutes on the Trues, but still lost by 57s.