Yachting: Young Aussies granted their wish

Two minutes before the midday deadline yesterday, the Young Australians entered their "new-old" America's Cup boat into the fray.

The Australians got the go-ahead from the Cup powers-that-be just before time ran out for the challengers to nominate which boat they will sail in the second round-robin of the Louis Vuitton Cup, starting today.

So while the rest of the fleet return to the racecourse today, the Australians, who have a fortuitous bye, will take possession of AUS31, the 1995 OneAustralia, towing it across the Viaduct Basin from AmericaOne to their floating crane.

And as one boat leaves AmericaOne, another will arrive. Paul Cayard's second boat - the last of the new generation Cup yachts - will be flown across the Pacific on Monday. AmericaOne, who chartered OneAustralia from Australian cup veteran Iain Murray, went out of their way to get the boat to the Aussies before the charter ran out.

"I was happy to give it to the kids," Cayard said.

"A lot of my guys worked hard on it to get it ready for them.

"It doesn't help us win the America's Cup. But I think it helps the cup - it will make the competition better."

For Young Australia skipper James Spithill it was a six-month dream come true.

"Since day one of this campaign I've been hassling everyone to try to get OneAustralia," he said.

"Finally it's come off. The guys would have been so disappointed if it hadn't."

So AUS29, the boat which finished last in the 1995 challenger series, finally gets to retire from Cup racing.

The boys reckon OneAustralia could bring them a few wins in round two, after they scored just one in the opening stanza.

"Around the racetrack, we'll pick up speed in a whole lot of little areas, which should add up to a big margin at the finishline," Spithill said.

"The boys won't be able to sleep just waiting to race this boat."

But the other boats haven't been sitting idle in the last nine days. All but one, the radical Swiss Be Happy, have been altered and had to be remeasured before today's start.

Where the French openly showed off how they have changed their boat, the big guns like Prada, Young America and AmericaOne would not reveal a stitch about their modifications.

Said Cayard: "We're not about to tell our competitors what we're doing.

"The change we've made has a lot to do with the damage we had to repair at the back of our boat. It's visual, and you'll notice it after a few days.

"The sad part about getting run into was that we've had to add 15 or 20 kilos to the boat's weight." That should not matter in the long run - the new USA61 is shaping up to be AmericaOne's No 1 weapon, and will probably sail in round robin three.

Today's racing (12.20pm start).- Atlantic fleet: America True v Young America, Abracadabra v Nippon, Prada v Fast2000.

Pacific fleet: Stars & Stripes v Le Defi France, Spanish Challenge v AmericaOne.

Tomorrow (12.20pm).- Atlantic fleet: Nippon v Prada, Young America v Spanish Challenge, AmericaOne v America True.

Pacific fleet: Le Defi France v Young Australia, Fast2000 v Abracadabra.