Yachting: Italians breathe again

By Suzanne McFadden

Prada believe they have been to the sandy bottom of the Hauraki Gulf, but they are kicking their way back up to the sunlight on the surface.

The past week has been a nightmare for the previously charmed Italians, who until now had never had a restless night in three months of the America's Cup.

In the past few days many of the sailing crew have been struck by a high-fever virus which saw the ill yachties kept in quarantine on the Prada chaseboat.

They lost to Stars & Stripes one day, lost their mast the next, and yesterday were staring a third straight defeat in the eye when they copped a double penalty for a professional foul in their semifinal match against Le Defi France.

But on their way up from the bottom of the ocean - figuratively speaking - they probably passed a sinking slab of carbon fibre off the French keel that definitely turned Prada's fortunes around.

When the Italians were faced with two 270-degree turns, their chances of victory seemed hopeless.

But instead, the French lost the race when the trim tab, a second rudder on the back of the keel, fell off. Skipper Bertrand Pace found it impossible to steer the narrow Sixieme Sens properly, and Prada simply sailed past, winning by 18s.

Prada skipper Francesco de Angelis admitted that for a few seconds, he feared the Italians' America's Cup challenge was in jeopardy.

But Prada boss Patrizio Bertelli said he had not shared the feeling: "I have never been afraid in my life."

Prada are now two-and-two on the scoreboard, equal with today's opponents, Nippon, in third place.

One place ahead are AmericaOne, who scored their third victory from four in another scorcher yesterday, beating the Japanese by 23s. It was a day the critics described as the best yet in this Louis Vuitton Cup series.

Stars & Stripes remain on top, unbeaten, but they could yet be docked a point if found guilty of using an illegal rudder.

The jury last night passed the protest on to the arbitration panel, who meet this morning to determine if Team Dennis Conner breached the nationality clause of Cup protocol by using an Australian-built rudder in their first semifinal win over Nippon.

Stars & Stripes tactician Tom Whidden said the syndicate was "totally surprised" by the allegation. "That's the problem now we are top - everyone tries to chop down the tall poppy."

Le Defi France must win their race against America True today to have a mathematical chance of staying in contention.

A frustrated Pace knows his boat is not "L'Escargot" (the snail) that it was nicknamed when it arrived in Auckland, but still they have no points - worse, they have minus 0.5 points after failing to avoid a crash with Stars & Stripes.

Yesterday they were within spitting distance of Prada for the first two legs, and at the bottom mark they almost touched. The Italians created an overlap and luffed Le Defi, but they had no rights, incurring a penalty.

Prada then headed for the mark, but because they had gained ground in their transgression, were smacked with another penalty to put them behind.

Le Defi protected their lead until the penultimate leg, when Pace realised something was wrong with the steering. Prada were oblivious to Sixieme Sens' trouble, and sailed on by.

Up ahead on the course, Paul Cayard on AmericaOne and world matchracing champion Peter Gilmour on Nippon were in their own knife-edge battle. AmericaOne grimly held on to the slight lead they established on the first beat, when they caught a windshift to the left after Nippon believed it was better to go right.