Yachting: AmericaOne prepares to square up

By SUZANNE McFADDEN

The sailors of AmericaOne have donned boxing gloves in preparation for a brutal confrontation with the Italians.

The team's dawn fitness sessions have taken on a new bite. At yesterday morning's pool session, the crewmen sprinted through the water wearing boxing gloves, before hitting the punch bags.

It is not a threat of violence aimed at next-door neighbours Prada. It is a sign the San Franciscans expect exhausting on-the-water conflicts in the best-of-nine Louis Vuitton Cup final starting in five days time.

The crew are building up their stamina after several of the yachties were struck by illness and injury in the last round of racing.

Kiwi grinder Sean Clarkson was among the casualties - sailing through the round with tendonitis in both shoulders and both elbows.

Clarkson needed cortisone injections in his right shoulder to get through the day's racing.

"I turned 30 in November, and within a week I started falling to bits," he laughs.

"Most America's Cup grinders have these kind of injuries - all you're doing is rotating your shoulders all day.

"It's so physical out there now. Compared with San Diego, crew work in Auckland is so much more important to winning a race."

Clarkson, a veteran of three cup campaigns and two round-the-world races, suffered badly with the injury when he was helming Dennis Conner's Toshiba in the last Whitbread.

"Five years ago, I was told to give it up. Now, every time I go to see the physio they tell me I've got to take six months off," he said. "The next week I'm back out there. Racing here is so much fun I can't miss it."

AmericaOne are in the thick of their own two-boat race series this week, between USA61 and older boat USA49.

"We're spending whole days with the two boats just an inch and a half apart," Clarkson said.

"Pushing it like that is great for the confidence. Paul is getting so used to the feel of the boat now, judging where he can put it, like parking a car."