GBR Challenge out

Peter Harrison's team go down to Stars and Stripes

The result of today's Louis Vuitton Cup racing has seen two more scalps taken in the form of GBR Challenge and Le Defi Areva. Wight Lightning lost to Team Dennis Conner's Star & Stars 4:1, while the French were dispatched by the Swedes aboard Orm with a similar scoreline in the best of seven series.

Victory Challenge and Team Dennis Conner now advance to the Quarterfinal repechage round of Louis Vuitton Cup 2003 where they will race Prada and OneWorld respectively.
Light winds early this afternoon forced a 55-minute postponement of the first warning gun and then a procedural error by the race committee delayed it another 20 minutes. But when racing started the breeze was blowing 15 knots and it ranged up to 20 knots by the end of the day.

There were big windshifts to contend with in each race. The wind shifted 20 degrees to the right, necessitating course changes on the first run and second beat.

Victory and Team Dennis Conner handled the oscillations with aplomb. Each team held the upper hand in the first cross and led around the first windward mark.

As the breeze built, some of the teams experienced gear trouble. Team Dennis Conner broke a genoa sheet on the second beat. GBR Challenge had problems setting the spinnaker at the second windward mark. Le Défi had spinnaker halyard and top-mast backstay troubles at the second windward mark and blew out a spinnaker on the last run.

The quarter final repechage starts on Saturday, 23 November. Before this OneWorld, as the highest seeded boat of the four repechage competitors, will get to choose their opponent.

Double Chance - Winner Into Semis, Loser into QF Repechage
Best of 7	Alinghi	Prada		Oracle	OneWorld
Score	3	0		4	0
Race 1 Delta	1.18			0.12
Race 2 Delta	0.08			0.17
Race 3 Delta	0.08			0.19
Race 4 Delta		Conceed		0.33
Race 5 Delta		Match
Race 6 Delta		Alinghi
Race 7 Delta		Wins

Single Chance - Winner Into SF Repechage, Loser Eliminated
Best of 7	Victory	Le Defi		GBR	TDC
Score	4	1		1	4
Race 1 Delta	2.03			1.00
Race 2 Delta	1.10				1.17
Race 3 Delta	1.12				2.10
Race 4 Delta		0.34			0.34
Race 5 Delta	2.34				1.42
Race 6 Delta
Race 7 Delta

See the match reports on pages 2 and 3...

We also have an incoming Gorman Report, please check back later today to get the inside story from our top man in Auckland.