Yachting: Prada punish single error

By SUZANNE McFADDEN

Prada tactician Torben Grael may have been knocked down by an Auckland motorist, but he retaliated by driving over Young America yesterday in the Italians' new America's Cup boat.

Grael, the talented Brazilian race strategist, was covered in cuts and bruises yesterday after being hit by a car while he was riding his bicycle.

But he was still able to call all the right shots yesterday in the opening stanza of the Louis Vuitton Cup third round - keeping Prada at the top of the semifinal contenders, and pushing Young America just out of the top six.

With a win now worth nine points in the final dash to avoid being cut from the regatta, there were a few shuffles in the leaderboard yesterday. The biggest mover was Abracadabra, who leapfrogged the New Yorkers - jumping from eighth to sixth.

But yesterday was the first of 11 days at sea in this deciding round, and that's a long time in an America's Cup.

The tormented Young Americans, desperate to prove themselves after round two's mechanical disasters, looked snappy at the start of yesterday's showdown with the Italians.

They rushed to the right side of the course after the startline and powered to a 20s lead at the second mark over the new Luna Rossa, ITA48.

But then Young America failed to follow the golden rule of America's Cup sailing - to cover their opponent. The mystery of why demanded an answer from skipper Ed Baird when he stepped ashore.

"In hindsight that's the big question," Baird said. "The wind direction was very shifty today. We came around the first windward mark and felt we were in a very strong shift on the right that we expected to turn back to the left.

"We made an error in judgment to play the windshift, not the competitor.

"When you are leading in a matchrace, you have to have a balance between paranoia and confidence. Today we were overconfident when we should have been paranoid."

Grael had picked the right side as the place to be, and at the next mark, Prada were 25s up. Young America proved they had equal speed and stayed roughly that distance behind for the rest of the race.

Abracadabra's new boat, USA50, also pulled off a come-from-behind win to put them in semifinal contention for the first time - the beauty of a nine-point bonus.

Their opponents, the Spanish, turned up without skipper Pedro Campos and a new brains trust of the Doreste brothers.

It was a battle of wits up the first beat, with Spain seeming to have an advantage approaching the mark. But the Hawaiians grabbed the inside lane as they rounded the buoy, and held on to win by 27s.

Abracadabra had numerous changes in their afterguard during the race - Chris Larsen steering at the start, skipper John Kolius taking the wheel later, and newcomer American John Bertrand moving from grinding winches to calling tactics as the race progressed.

Nippon's new boat, Idaten, promised much in its first outing, crushing Le Defi France by over 3m. Stars & Stripes continued their winning streak, beating Young Australia by 1m 14s to move into second place, overtaking America True who had a day off.

The top two Americans will meet on the water today, if the forecast of 20-plus knots of breeze does not eventuate.

* The Maritime Safety Authority is inquiring into three collisions yesterday between a media catamaran and a boat chartered to the Prada syndicate.