Yachting: Battered but unbowed

By Suzanne McFadden

Prada bowman Massimiliano Sirena spent yesterday in bed with a very sore head - but he should be back on the America's Cup frontline today.

Sirena , who gashed his head on the weed stick in Tuesday's race against Team New Zealand, is expected back on Luna Rossa today, with a bandage over his seven stitches.

Sirena's bright red blood smeared across the hull of the Italian boat made vivid newspaper and television images around the world.

He was checked out by doctors yesterday, who gave him an injection of iron after losing a lot of blood.

He was instructed to rest up yesterday, while the rest of the Prada crew went out training on the Hauraki Gulf.

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Team New Zealand will stay wired for sound for the rest of the America's Cup.

The crew have been given the go-ahead by the international jury to carry on wearing the earpieces which allow skipper Russell Coutts to talk to them above the din of the helicopters.

Prada had questioned whether the communication system was legal, and the jury was invited to inspect it on board Black Magic. Team New Zealand had to prove the signal from the loop system could be picked up only on the yacht, or a few metres outside it.

The jury ruled that communication systems being used on both boats were capable of receiving signals from outside, but was satisfied that they weren't using them for that purpose.

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Weather forecasts for the Hauraki Gulf are promising for racing today - but Team New Zealand's met-men are not so confident.

The forecast is for 15 knot south-easterlies - but winds from that direction are poor for sea breezes. The Team New Zealand weather team are uncertain whether a race will get underway today.

But both syndicates have agreed that they will stay an extra hour on the water - until 4pm - from now on, waiting for a race start.