Yachting: Protests fly as finals contenders turn on fireworks

By SUZANNE McFADDEN

After an explosion of verbal and visual fireworks on the Hauraki Gulf yesterday, Paul Cayard turned to his America's Cup crew and warned: "It's just a little preview of what's to come guys, just a little preview."

There was screaming and swearing, boat blurring into boat amidst a flurry of protest flags, as AmericaOne and Prada were caught up in the showdown of the Louis Vuitton Cup semifinals.

Yesterday, it was Cayard's AmericaOne who triumphed, by a mere 8s. But should these two campaigns meet in the challenger finals in less than a fortnight, be prepared for even more fiery encounters.

The outcome yesterday was not without controversy. Prada tactician Torben Grael was adamant last night that they were wrongly given a penalty in the spectacular sail-to-sail run to the finish, when he believed AmericaOne had erred.

Grael's anguish was understandable. Prada's probability of making the final has been knocked askew with the loss.

Cayard, however, reckoned the Italians were "playing with fire", as both teams screamed at the umpires following alongside and threw up 20 protest flags on the final leg.

On the heated run to the finish, AmericaOne came up on Luna Rossa's left hip.

That's when the yelling began. On board Prada, Grael waved the red and yellow chequered flag and skipper Francesco de Angelis joined in the chorus, claiming AmericaOne was not sailing their proper course to the finish line.

Cayard and his tactician John Kostecki screamed even louder, that Prada had to get out of their way. The umpires eventually saw it AmericaOne's way and penalised the Italians.

As Cayard attempted to cross behind Prada, his spinnaker rubbed across Luna Rossa's backstays - so the penalties were cancelled out.

But AmericaOne, now on Prada's starboard side, nosed ahead at the finish line to claim one more point.

It was matchracing at its most spine-tingling, but world champion Peter Gilmour proved he could do it too in Nippon's brilliant start against America True.

The Japanese boat pushed the Trues across the start line early, forcing them around the back of the committee boat, where Gilmour was waiting to pounce again. The pair started almost a minute late, but Nippon's edge there led to a 1m 20s victory.