Yachting: Young Frenchmen meet Conner

By Suzanne McFadden

A new keel made of Kiwi lead won't come fast enough for the Le Defi France team as they go into the America's Cup battle against cup legend Dennis Conner in Monday's opening race.

The young French team last night drew Stars & Stripes in their first race of the Louis Vuitton Cup challenger series, but they will have to wait until round robin two before they get their special weapon keel.

The head of Le Defi, Xavier de Lesquen, said it had grown obvious during the lead-up to the start of the cup regatta that they needed a new bulb for their only boat, Sixieme Sens. So they have bought some New Zealand lead and are fashioning it into a new keel.

"We did some studies in France over the summer, and we knew we needed it after we competed against the other challengers in training races," he said.

The French, who have been racing their boat against anybody who was willing in the last fortnight, will meet a Stars & Stripes crew who have purposely avoided any confrontations with rival challengers.

Stars & Stripes helmsman Ken Read said he was happy to finally meet another yacht after weeks of racing against the syndicate's motorboat - wanting to make sure they did not do any damage before race one.

"It's great to finally be able to go sailing against somebody," Read said. "The French are in a similar spot to us. They're a one-boat campaign who have been working really hard to get up to speed, just like us.

"But they've been sailing really aggressively in the last couple of weeks against any match they could possibly put together. I think they will be a lot more hardened than us."

Stars & Stripes suffered more embarrassment than damage on Thursday morning, when their boom crashed onto the boat's deck as it was being lowered into the water from their base.

The first meeting of the giants will be on Monday afternoon, when the big- budget Prada meet the quiet might of the Japanese Nippon.

America True, who won all three fleet races in the run-up to round robin one, have drawn two of their countrymen on day one - Young America and AmericaOne.

It's been a long wait for racing to finally begin for all of the syndicates, who are likely to have a last shakedown today. But everyone sees the first round, worth just one point a win, as more training in the new generation of cup boats.

The Australians, the only syndicate with a tried-and-true 1995 boat, were frustrated to draw a bye first-up, but will still hang around out on the racecourse in the morning waiting for their opening duel with Le Defi.

Joked crew mentor Rob Browne: "Maybe it will give us a bit more time to get another sponsor."

Day one, round robin one: Race one: Young America v America True, Nippon v Abracadabra 2000, Fast2000 v Prada, Le Defi v Stars & Stripes, AmericaOne v Spanish Challenge, Young Australia, the bye.

Race two: Prada v Nippon, Spanish v Young America, America True v AmericaOne, Young Australia v Le Defi, Abracadabra v Fast2000, Stars & Stripes the bye.