America's Cup: OneWorld gets two victories over Prada

AUCKLAND, New Zealand — Favorable wind shifts and superior teamwork enabled Seattle-based OneWorld Challenge to pull ahead of Italy's Prada in the Louis Vuitton Cup, the challenger series for the America's Cup.

OneWorld, which won two races yesterday against Prada, has a 3-1 lead in the best-of-seven series in the semifinals of the Vuitton Cup. OneWorld has already taken four races in the series, but because of a violation of Cup rules preceding the regatta, had a point deducted by an arbitration panel.

"Our weather team was bang on all day, the boat speed was good, we didn't have any breakdowns, and we stayed cool and collected," OneWorld navigator Kevin Hall said.

Meanwhile, Kiwi skipper Russell Coutts drove his Swiss Alinghi team to its fourth straight semifinal victory yesterday against Oracle BMW Racing and secured a berth in next month's challenger finals. Oracle will race the winner of OneWorld vs. Prada in the semifinals repechage.

Race organizers chose a shortened, 12-1/2-nautical-mile course on the volatile Hauraki Gulf for today's races. The previous two days of races were canceled because of high winds.

OneWorld dominated both of its races against Prada from the start, winning the first race by 58 seconds and the second race by 2 minutes, 32 seconds.

In the first race, Prada and OneWorld began their pre-start maneuvers in a steady, 15-knot breeze, as the two yachts circled each other like coiled snakes.

OneWorld helmsman James Spithill stayed on Prada's tail, aggressively pushing the Italian yacht away from the favored, windward side of the course. OneWorld's USA-76 crossed the starting line one second ahead of Prada's sleek, silver-hulled Luna Rossa. At the first mark, OneWorld led by 11 seconds.

Prada skipper Francesco de Angelis began to close the gap, but Spithill held him off and stretched his lead to 5 boat lengths.

Tacking upwind on the third leg of the course, OneWorld expanded its lead to 12 boat lengths. It rounded the last mark 1:10 ahead of Prada, which did not seriously threaten again.

In the second race, Prada's spinnaker became trapped beneath Luna Rossa's hull rounding the second mark, which slowed the boat down. Prada's sailors desperately tried to pull it aboard, and finally cut it loose. Prada never recovered.

If one or both of today's scheduled races are canceled because of bad weather, organizers could declare OneWorld the series winner by this afternoon.