Posted on 12/22/2002 10:16:02 PM PST by HAL9000
AUCKLAND, New Zealand (AP)— Oracle of San Francisco has won a place in the America's Cup challenger final, coming from behind Monday to beat Seattle's OneWorld Challenge by 1 minute, 4 seconds and clinch their semifinal repechage.The syndicate of software billionaire Larry Ellison will join Alinghi of Switzerland in the final starting Jan. 11 while OneWorld, the US$80 million campaign of mobile phone billionaire Craig McCaw, is eliminated from the regatta.
Defeat was made more bitter for OneWorld on Monday because it led across the startline and for more than half of the 18.5-nautical-mile race. It appeared to have done enough to keep alive their campaign for at least another day.
OneWorld's 23-year-old helmsman, Australian James Spithill, gave it a vital lead off the line and allowed it to take position on the left-hand side of the first beat.
When the wind shifted in its favor, it drew away from Oracle and had an advantage at the first mark which should have banked the race.
Shifty condition made covering difficult and presented OneWorld with some difficult tactical decisions. It saw its lead cut in half on the first downwind leg but it led by a comfortable 48 seconds at the third mark - the race's midpoint.
On the fourth leg of the six-leg race, OneWorld gybed around the top mark and headed to the right of the course while Oracle bore away and chose to sail closer inshore, along Auckland's Whangaparoa Peninsula.
The yachts reached a maximum separation of more than a kilometer, a hazardous prospect for the leading yacht. The decision was made worse when Oracle sailed into a fuller breeze.
Oracle steadily reduced OneWorld's lead, then simply drove past to an advantage of 38 seconds at the second leeward mark, a turnaround in a single leg of 1 minute, 26 seconds.
The breeze stabilized, leaving OneWorld with few tactical options. Oracle was able to lead around the last mark, by 41 seconds, to a finish-line advantage of more than 300 meters.
The turnaround resulted from Oracle's shrewd tactical decision to head inshore on the fourth leg, a choice attributed by its crew to tactician Tomasso Chieffi.
OneWorld has one small chance of staying in the competition - a case still in front of the Cup's international jury which questions the legality of a military radar system used by Oracle in all of its races.
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