Finish Frustrates Il Moro di Venezia Camp : Challengers: Italians devastated after Kiwis overcome big deficit.

An eerie silence engulfed Club Italia, where Il Moro di Venezia supporters gather on race days to celebrate the performance of Italy’s America’s Cup entrant.

Through the first three rounds of the challenger trials, it was often a festive place. But the congratulatory atmosphere has been sorely missing in the Louis Vuitton Cup semifinals. Before Saturday, Il Moro had managed only one victory, Monday’s one-second thriller over a stingy New Zealand team that had already nailed down three victories.

Saturday’s race, which meant the difference between a one- or three-race deficit for the Italians, was of monumental importance. Il Moro skipper Paul Cayard sailed it as such.

And still lost.

After leading 17.37 nautical miles of the 20.03-mile course off Point Loma--and leading by as much as 4:20 at the third windward mark--Il Moro fell victim to winds that started gasping for breath on the final downwind leg.

With Il Moro going nowhere fast, New Zealand forged ahead and found a way to push its red barge to a 2-minute, 38-second victory, and take a 4-1 lead in this best-of-nine series.

Although on-the-water protests can be contested for many things, Cayard couldn’t very well hoist a flag to object a lack of wind.

“We don’t have the weather, we don’t the luck,” said Christina Fantini, wife of Italy’s bowman Alberto Fantini.

It was a race that broke the hearts, but not the spirits of the team and its boosters.

“The race was so good, I can see the guys, so intense all day. The finish, it was horrible ,” said Christina Fantini, “but they are so strong. They will come back and win (today.) “

Strong words, but given the choice, they have to be. Lose today and the IACC Worlds champion Italians, who have spent more overall on its armada than anyone, head home.

Il Moro navigator Robert Hopkins described the mood aboard Il Moro at the finish as “an acute sense of frustration. We were sailing a great race.”

But there was no hint that any of the Italians have given up hope.

“Every day is do or die,” Hopkins said. “We beat New Zealand (Sunday) and we sail again. It’s as simple at that.”

More complex is the lingering bowsprit issue, which may or may not help the Italians’ cause. But no one in the Italian camp turned somersaults after a two-page letter from the America’s Cup Organizing Committee to the Challengers’ of Record Committee called for another review of the Kiwis one-meter bowsprit by the Match Jury.

One Italian lawyer who read the letter described the situation as “total chaos.”

Which summed up how Il Moro felt about the diminishing wind. Hopkins described the last portion of the race as “the weirdest half-hour in recorded history.”

What Il Moro should have done after rounding the seventh mark, he said, was sail out toward the far southwest corner of the race course.

“Instead, we did two jibes to position ourselves for the finish line. We got in a foul current, and they got in a fair current.”

The finish was equally disappointing in wake of Il Moro’s excellent crew work, except for a sail-change blunder after the second reaching mark. The Kiwis cut Il Moro’s 52-second lead on the second wing mark to 10 seconds after the Italians had trouble hoisting a sail.

“We have a little mistake, but otherwise it was good demonstration for our guys,” Fantini said. “It’s such a shame.”

A wedding reception took place Saturday night in Club Italia. It was a joyous occasion the Italians hope they can duplicate with a victory today.