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Italy or New Zealand? U.S. boats absent in America's Cup finals
Posted: Friday February 18, 2000 09:02 PM
AUCKLAND, New Zealand (AP) -- The America's Cup has traveled widely since being uprooted from its long-time home in the New York Yacht Club. It went to Australia after that country won in 1983, to San Diego after America won it back in 1987 and Auckland after New Zealand won it in 1995. Next stop, Italy? The competition that will decide that begins Feb. 19 when the best-of-9 America's Cup finals begin between Team New Zealand and Prada. The Italian boat made it by winning the best-of-9 challenger finals 5-4 over AmericaOne, skippered by Paul Cayard. "Obviously, they're a great team [with] great boat speed," AmericaOne tactician John Kostecki said after Prada capped its comeback from a 4-3 deficit with a 49-second, wire-to-wire win Sunday on the Hauraki Gulf. "It's pretty unknown what Team New Zealand has and so it's a tough call right now. I think [Prada's] strong in all [wind] conditions -- light, medium and heavy -- so I think they're going to be tough to beat." While 11 challengers from seven nations competed in the challenger trials that began Oct. 18, the Kiwis practiced among themselves, using their two boats. Neither team has a detailed idea of how their boats match up, although New Zealand's are believed to be better in strong winds of 20 knots and up. In the challenger finals, most of the nine races were contested in lighter winds. Prada's victory meant that for the first time since the competition began in 1851, no American boat will be in the finals. U.S. boats won the first 25 competitions before losing three of the last six. Patrizio Bertelli, head of the Prada syndicate, enjoyed the moment of triumph. He boarded the boat moments after it crossed the finish line Sunday and shook hands with his successful skipper, Francesco de Angelis. Then the man who funded the most expensive campaign in the competition started thinking about the Italian boat's next opponent. "Of course, I felt a lot of emotion when we got to the finish line, but the emotion is kind of going away now because I'm thinking of what we're going to do in the next few days," Bertelli said. The crew of Prada had the day off Monday and planned to resume preparations Tuesday. Italy is competing in its fifth America's Cup, but never has won. Its best performance came in 1992 when Cayard skippered Il Moro di Venezia into the finals in San Diego where it lost 4-1 to America3. No Italian boat entered in 1995 when New Zealand swept Cayard's Young America 5-0, moving the Cup to the Southern Hemisphere for the second time. Cayard hasn't won the America's Cup in five campaigns, three as helmsman. De Angelis has a chance in his first shot at the Cup. "He's a great sailor and he's a friend, and since he's a friend I'm happy he's doing so well," Cayard said. AmericaOne's crew had more experience in match racing. So when the Italians blew a 3-1 lead and fell behind 4-3, it seemed a longshot that they could rally. But with Brazilian tactician Torben Grael, the only non-Italian on the team, doing a masterful job, Prada came back to win the final two races. As it headed back for port Sunday, a swarm of spectator boats, large and small, waited. A helicopter dangled a large Italian flag from a cable. But Prada and de Angelis aren't finished. He still has to beat a New Zealand team expected to be formidable. An Italian victory would bring the Cup competition to Europe for the first time. Bertelli didn't want to think about that yet. "It's a bit premature," he said. "Why don't we talk about that in early March?"
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