Sailing: Swedes lift European flag as Coutts' run finally ends
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Your support makes all the difference.Only the Swedes kept the European flags flying on the second day of Louis Vuitton Cup racing here and that was because they beat another team from Europe, the seemingly doomed French team Areva.
In the top match of the day the Seattle-based OneWorld, packed with New Zealanders from the 2000 America's Cup win, won what was almost a local derby against the team that had been favourite to challenge for the America's Cup next February, Switzerland's Alinghi Challenge, also packed with Team New Zealand veterans.
The skipper, Russell Coutts, and his long-time lieutenant Brad Butterworth made a costly error at the start and, although they pressed all the way, they were unable to fully recover the advantage they had handed to the combination of James Spithill and Peter Gilmour.
That meant that Coutts lost his first race on an America's Cup course since 12 April 1995 and OneWorld finally moved their points count into the black.
OneWorld had started the event on Tuesday with a score of minus one because of a pre-event rules infringement penalty, so their first win against the Mascalzone Latino Italians only returned them to zero.
The second Italian team, Prada, also seemed in two minds at the start and that cost the Louis Vuitton Cup 2000 winners dearly. There was no doubt in the mind of the skipper, Kenny Read, and his tactician, Tom Whidden, aboard Dennis Conner's Stars & Stripes. They read the moods of the shifting wind direction perfectly and were comfortable winners.
That puts Stars & Stripes in joint first with another United States outfit, the Oracle BMW Racing team. Their backer, chairman and crew member, Larry Ellison, took the wheel for all three upwind legs and increased the boat's lead each time to beat Mascalzone Latino by 2min 3sec.
Meanwhile, Prada are in the midst of some shore-based strife. Their chief executive, Patrizio Bertelli, announced he had demoted his design director, Doug Peterson, and that it was the decision of the whole team. Peterson then said that he had been sacked and that it was Bertelli's decision alone.
Today Britain's GBR Challenge takes to the water for its second race, this time against OneWorld. It will be a tough race for GBR, especially after having already been beaten by Stars & Stripes. But tomorrow they are up against the French and will be hoping to give those back home something to celebrate at their Sunday lunch.
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