OneAustralia Finally Gets Kiwis’ Number : Sailing: After 35 on-the-water victories in a row, Team New Zealand loses; Stars & Stripes edges Young America by :01.

OneAustralia, fighting for survival in the America’s Cup challenger finals, jumped Team New Zealand at the start Saturday and went wire-to-wire to deal the Kiwi syndicate its first defeat after 35 consecutive on-the-water victories.

And that noteworthy occurrence was not the most dramatic of a beautiful day with 12- to 15-knot winds, deep waves and sweeping swells.

In the defender finals, Team Dennis Conner nosed Stars & Stripes over the finish line one second ahead of PACT 95’s Young America, and if America’s Cup timers could split seconds, the margin would not have been that great.

The consequences of these events were that Team New Zealand’s lead in the best-of-nine challenger series was merely a solid 3-1 rather than a totally disheartening 4-0, and Team Dennis Conner and PACT 95 were tied for the lead in the three-boat defender series with three points each. Conner, unbeaten so far in the finals, can take the lead by himself today with a victory over Mighty Mary--or fall into a three-way tie with a defeat.

This was easily the most compelling and competitive day of a regatta that began back in mid-January. While the lead never changed hands on either course, neither leader could pull away from its stalking pursuer. The widest margin at any mark was oneAustralia’s 18-second advantage at the third mark.

Only Friday night, Aussie skipper Rod Davis had said: “We’ve got to get a package together, win that first race and move on from there.”

It sounded almost like wishful thinking, but Davis himself provided the impetus for what was a major upset. He got oneAustralia over the starting line a whopping 12 seconds ahead en route to a 15-second victory.

“The short version is that I stunk the start up,” Kiwi skipper Russell Coutts said. “The long version is that I really stunk the start up.”

Trying to recover, Coutts threw 35 tacks at the leading boat on the first upwind leg and 33 on the second as the Aussies retained the lead over a boat that had not so much as trailed at a mark since March 22. The sail track looked like a treacherous mountain road with hairpin after hairpin, the Kiwis looking for a place to pass.

“The passing opportunities were subtle and small,” Kiwi tactician Brad Butterworth said. “We didn’t take them.”

Team New Zealand’s closest flirtation with the lead came near the upper part of the second upwind leg when oneAustralia crossed in front and executed a slam dunk. Coutts, to oneAustralia’s leeward on port tack, charged up on the right but got caught in bad wind. Too close to tack away, he was frozen in place and lost two boat lengths before recovering.

A few minutes later on the defenders’ course, approaching the second upwind mark, Stars & Stripes skipper Paul Cayard took advantage of the starboard right-of-way and steered his boat directly at Young America, whose skipper, Kevin Mahaney, was forced to veer off and lose momentum. Cayard pulled exactly the same maneuver at the third upwind mark, and those two moments of aggression accounted for the one-second margin at the finish.

If anything, daring was the watchword for Stars & Stripes. On the third upwind leg, it let Young America sneak off to the right by itself briefly. When they came back for the cross, it looked like Young America might have stolen the lead and Mahaney had the right-of-way.

Cayard appeared briefly to consider dunking behind, then charged across. “We just cleared them,” he said, “and that was probably the race right there.”

There was still that last downwind leg on each course.

Team New Zealand had gained on its previous two downwinds against oneAustralia, but this time it did not gain an inch.

Young America, however, was inching closer and closer to Stars & Stripes until it finally got just close enough. . . . to lose.