AMERICA’S CUP : Young America Moves Into One-Point Lead
For all the difference one race seems to make in the convoluted tangle among the three America’s Cup defender finalists, PACT 95’s Young America took a small step by a big margin Wednesday against America 3’s Mighty Mary.
Young America won by 2 minutes 46 seconds to open the third of four round robins by moving into first place by one point over Mighty Mary and Dennis Conner’s Stars & Stripes.
If this scenario sounds familiar, it is because this is how the second round robin started. Young America beat Mighty Mary to break a three-way tie, then lost to Stars & Stripes, which then lost to Mighty Mary. Consequently, they ended up back where they started the round.
The challengers, oh-so-close to putting a wrap on their series, postponed their race Wednesday because of big waves and high winds. Team New Zealand, 4-1 in the best-of-nine series, will try once again to wrap up the challenger’s role with a victory over oneAustralia today.
Nothing is quite so defined among the defenders, understandable since they went through a 13-race semifinal series to trim the field from three boats to, well, the same three boats.
But if it beats Stars & Stripes today, Young America would need only one victory in its final two races to be assured of at least a sail-off for the right to defend the Cup.
Under the terms of the compromise that left three boats in the finals, Stars & Stripes will be eliminated if it loses twice more, and it races each of the next two days.
Despite its loss Wednesday, Mighty Mary is not quite in such dire straits. It can get to a sail-off with only two victories, because of its favored status if a three-way tie occurs.
Young America, the strongest defender candidate throughout these trials, lost its first two races at the start of the finals but has won two of its last three after adding innovative wings to its rudder during a two-day break.
Wednesday’s victory was certainly impressive. After a tight race up the opening leg to windward, Young America rounded in front by 25 seconds and added to that margin at each subsequent mark.
Mighty Mary appeared to have an edge in the pre-start maneuvering, but Young America escaped to the left side in clear air. Surprisingly, when the two boats first crossed, Mighty Mary had a three-length lead. In a sport in which lead changes are rare, that first leg was a remarkable seesaw affair. The lead changed four times.
As the boats neared the final windward mark, with one downwind to run, a squall with 20-m.p.h. winds was approaching on the northwestern horizon. With Young America ahead by 2:13 at that final mark, it would have taken a Hurricane Mary to get Mighty Mary back into the race.
