America's Cup: Triumph — and finger-pointing

AUCKLAND, New Zealand — Italy's Prada won a race yesterday against Seattle-based OneWorld in light, shifty winds, but a second race was canceled. OneWorld then was declared the winner of their semifinal series in the Louis Vuitton Cup, the challenger series to reach the America's Cup.

Time ran out for Prada, as race organizers pulled the plug with OneWorld leading 3-2 in the best-of-seven series. It was the fifth day of the semifinal series in which the Hauraki Gulf's fickle weather disrupted the racing schedule.

OneWorld will face San Francisco-based Oracle BMW Racing in the semifinals repechage round, which begins Thursday. The winner of that series will advance to the challenger finals in January.

Yesterday's race began after the teams waited several hours for a decent breeze. OneWorld won the start in just five knots of wind, but Prada found a pocket of fresh air and took the lead on the first upwind leg. Going downwind, OneWorld fell significantly behind. OneWorld was almost becalmed on the next leg, and rounded the last mark 14 minutes behind Prada. OneWorld crossed the finish line 17 minutes, 46 seconds behind Prada.

The Seattle team's semifinal victory against Prada came as a new controversy swirled around the America's Cup. A secret hull design created by Team New Zealand and the attempts of at least one challenger to match the Kiwi's design breakthrough has sparked a firestorm of controversy.

For several months, the defending champion of the America's Cup has hidden the keels of its two new racing yachts under canvas skirts, even when being towed out to their testing grounds on the gulf.

Skirted keels are nothing new in the technology-driven America's Cup competition, but there now appears to be a very good reason for the Kiwis' cloak-and-dagger maneuvers. The radical design employs the use of a partial false hull — a hollow, second skin of carbon fiber near the stern — to lengthen the 80-foot yacht's waterline and thus increase its speed.

Team New Zealand is trying to block its potential challengers from duplicating its innovative hull design. The Kiwis insist that the challengers must stick with the yachts they are racing in the semifinals and will not be entitled to sail a different yacht in either the Louis Vuitton challenger finals or America's Cup match in February.

In other words, the challengers may not have enough time to fully develop and test similar hull designs.

To bolster their point, the Kiwis cite the America's Cup protocol and rules agreed to by the nine challenger syndicates.

The dispute has the potential of becoming the biggest controversy over boat design in the America's Cup since the Australians unveiled a radical, winged keel in 1983 — and won the prestigious trophy.

Official measurers have ruled that the Kiwis' false hull design is a 1-½-foot-long appendage that does not violate the rules governing boat length. The rules permit two moving appendages, such as a rudder and adjustable keel fins, as well as an unlimited number of fixed appendages.

News of Team New Zealand's new secret hull — first detailed two days ago by the London Daily Telegraph — has ricocheted throughout Auckland.

Bob Ratliffe, executive director of OneWorld, said yesterday that the team has investigated the possibility of building a false hull.

"I wouldn't say we're at the point of experimentation yet," he said. "We're certainly aware of what others are doing, and we're doing our own research."

Ratliffe criticized Team New Zealand's attempt to bar challengers from pursuing similar designs.

"It's a question of fairness and equity," he said. "Clearly, you already have a playing field that isn't completely level because incumbency has so much value. It's a unique sport in the way it's structured. The defender has a significant advantage. But it's important to remember this is a yacht race, and you have to make sure that you're doing what's right for the event and that you don't drive people away from the event."

The Swiss Alinghi Challenge, which has secured a berth in next month's Louis Vuitton finals, cried foul. Alinghi skipper Russell Coutts acknowledged that his design team got a late start in experimenting and testing a similar false hull design.

"It's a little bit of a loophole in the rules," Coutts said. "We decided, probably unwisely, not to proceed with it. We didn't think it would be legal."

Oracle BMW Racing, a semifinalist, is also said to be developing a false hull design. But yesterday the team denied reports that it has tried to copy Team New Zealand's innovative solution.

"This would appear to be an issue between Team New Zealand and Alinghi, and we do not intend to be drawn into a public dialogue about this or related matters," Oracle spokeswoman Joanna Ingley said.