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And they're off New Zealand defeats Prada in initial America's Cup race
Posted: Sunday February 20, 2000 10:54 AM
AUCKLAND (Reuters) -- Team New Zealand scored a telling win over Italian challenger Prada in the first race of a historic 30th America's Cup match on Sunday. New Zealand's emphatic 77-second win in the initial race of the first-to-five series gave encouraging signs that it could become the first non-American boat to successfully defend the America's Cup in the event's 149-year history. The defeat stunned the Italians, whose boat had been clearly the best in the Louis Vuitton Cup challengers' series and who are trying to become the first Europeans to win the America's Cup. Prada beat Paul Cayard's AmericaOne 5-4 in the challenger elimination finals to ensure that no American boat would contest the America's Cup for the first time since the regatta was first sailed in 1851. But against New Zealand, Prada skipper Francesco de Angelis found a boat and crew working at a higher standard. Team New Zealand showed it had used its time well in the five years it took to prepare its defense. The crew work was slick, the tactics expert and the use of the conditions faultless. A particularly worrying sign for the Italians was that New Zealand was clearly faster in light conditions, which should have suited Prada. The race, which had been canceled on Saturday for lack of wind, started in southerly winds of about 10 knots. The black New Zealand boat lost the start to the Italians by three seconds but posted significant gains in a tacking duel on the first windward leg and led by 22 seconds at the first mark. Skipper Russell Coutts then extended his boat's lead on the second leg, sailing fast downwind to push the margin out to 36 seconds at the second mark. New Zealand blew its lead out to 63 seconds by the halfway point of the six-leg, 18.5 nautical mile course. The New Zealanders sailed conservatively after that to cover the Italians, while Prada picked up a slight wind shift on the fourth leg to cut the margin to 25 seconds at the fourth mark. But New Zealand then put almost a minute on Prada on the fifth leg to reinforce its superiority. Little had been known about the New Zealand boat, which had trained quietly away from the glare of publicity while 11 yachts from seven countries contested the challengers' series, which started in October. Team New Zealand, however, appeared faster upwind and Downwind, and the Italians now can only hope their opponents are not even quicker in heavier conditions.
Copyright 2003 Reuters Limited. All rights reserved.
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