Prada Ties Challenger Finals, 4-4

Paul Cayard isn’t the only comeback skipper in the America’s Cup.

Facing elimination, Francesco de Angelis drove Prada to a 37-second victory over Cayard’s AmericaOne today, tying the best-of-nine challenger finals at 4-4, setting up a deciding race Sunday.

Cayard had rallied from a 3-1 deficit to a 4-3 lead with a 1-minute 6-second victory Friday. But de Angelis, helped by outstanding crew work, broke his three-race slide as the Italians led from start to finish in moderate winds of 10-15 knots.

So after more than 3 1/2 months of challenger trials that began Oct. 18 with 11 boats from seven countries, it has come down to this: One 2 1/4-hour race to decide whether AmericaOne or Prada faces defending champion New Zealand in the best-of-nine America’s Cup finals starting Feb. 19.

New Zealand is the least populated country ever to compete for sailing’s top prize. Italy hasn’t won it in four previous campaigns. The United States has dominated, winning all 25 competitions from the first in 1851 until 1980.

Australia took it away in 1983, but the United States won the next three before New Zealand’s 5-0 sweep in San Diego in 1995 brought the silver trophy to Auckland for the first time.

Now Cayard is trying to win it for the St. Francis Yacht Club in San Francisco so he can defend it there in three or four years.

But he could find himself in the Mediterranean, a challenger again, if he doesn’t win Sunday and Prada beats New Zealand.

The 18 1/2-mile race is an up-and-back course, three legs into the wind and three, including the last, with the wind from behind.

Cayard lost the race on the second leg, the first going downwind, when he incurred a penalty for getting in de Angelis’ way.

That meant he would have to take a 270-degree penalty turn at a point in the race of his choice, a maneuver that takes about 30 seconds.

Cayard lost the second race when he incurred a similar penalty as he held a small lead one minute from the finish line. Both times, he had to give way as the windward boat but failed to do so.

The yachts approached and nearly touched midway through the second leg. The referees in a nearby boat immediately signaled a penalty for AmericaOne.

So when Prada started the final leg with a 16-second lead, Cayard’s chances of overcoming that plus the penalty time were very slim.

“Going into today, there were two races left,” Cayard said. “The odds probably are that each of us would win one, so that looks good for us [Sunday].”