'OneWorld' wins again, 'Oracle' unbeaten run ended
Steve McMorran, Associated Press, Auckland
OneWorld of Seattle narrowly preserved its 6-0 record at the America's Cup off Auckland on Friday, while the four-race stretch of San Francisco's Oracle Racing team came to an emphatic end.
Oracle lost by 1 minute and 43 seconds to Switzerland's Alinghi and fell to third place behind the series-leading Swiss syndicate, 6-1, and OneWorld.
OneWorld beat Le Defi of France by 21 seconds and held second place in the nine-team standings, losing a point for a pre- regatta rules breach.
The Alinghi vs. Oracle match was spiced Friday by the presence on board each yacht of their billionaire supporters - biotech magnate Ernesto Bertarelli on Alinghi and software mogul Larry Ellison on Oracle.
Bertarelli navigates the low-slung black and red Swiss boat while Ellison shares the helm of the Oracle yacht with match racing world champion Peter Holmberg.
The loss was Ellison's first at this America's Cup and Holmberg said the Oracle chairman and CEO had taken defeat in his stride.
"He took it surprisingly well," Holmberg said. "I was a little worried just as you are but Larry saw how hard we fought and I think he was okay with it. The crew did well and our performance was okay. He knew it was going to happen, we would lose sometimes.
"It was a very close match for the first two-thirds of the first beat and things looked good for us for most of the way up but when it mattered it went better for them. They got in front and sailed a great race."
The match promised a duel between Holmberg, the world's top- ranked match racer this year, and Russell Coutts, the world, Olympic and double America's Cup champion who drives for Alinghi.
Their personal contest diminished as Alinghi's lead grew.
Oracle led over the line after a close pre-start tussle in which the boats were often close to touching but in which no penalties were assessed. The yachts remained close for most of the first beat but Alinghi gained its advantage approaching the first mark, when Holmberg was forced to follow them down the starboard layline.
Alinghi covered the shifts for the remainder of the race and built a substantial lead.
Coutts and tactician Brad Butterworth have sailed for much of their lives on the Hauraki Gulf. They won the America's Cup for New Zealand on the Gulf two years ago and have an unrivaled ability to understand its patterns and read its moods.
The wind Friday wavered between seven and 15 knots and was unstable enough early to a cause a delay to racing on the course on which Alinghi and Oracle were to meet. A race between New York's Stars & Stripes and Mascalzone Latino was also briefly postponed.
Once in front, Alinghi was able to steer to the shifts and to consolidate. It led by 32 seconds at the first mark and 1:41 by the fourth, losing ground on only one of five legs.
OneWorld, which sailed for the first time in six races without Australian veteran Peter Gilmour as skipper and with several changes in key crew positions, was expected to trounce the Le Defi, which is winless in six races.
The tactical judgment and crew work aboard the Seattle yacht was strong but Le Defi also raised its game and clung to OneWorld throughout the race.
Stars & Stripes, representing Team Dennis Conner and the New York Yacht Club, beat Mascalzone by 1:36 for its third win in seven races.
Helmsman Ken Read of Newport, Rhode Island gave his team a superb start, forcing the Italian yacht away from the line in downspeed tacks and to start 11 seconds ahead.
Both yachts caught shifts on the first leg but Stars & Stripes managed to consolidate its lead around the top mark. A massive gain on the last leg to windward set up the New York team for a convincing win which left Mascalzone, the smallest of nine challenge teams from six countries, without a win from five starts.
Britain's GBR Challenge beat the Victory Challenge of Sweden by 48 seconds.