Down, but Not Ready to Bow Out of Trials

Repechage. It’s the rage in New Zealand this week.

A new Down Under rock band? A dance craze?

Rowing and fencing fans will recognize it as the scheme for giving losers a second chance. Pronounced rep-uh-shazh, it’s a French term defined as (a) to recover, as to fish a body out of water, or (b) in sports, to let a weaker candidate through.

In the Louis Vuitton Cup challenger trials for the America’s Cup, that’s what it’s all about, starting today.

Team Dennis Conner’s best boat, Stars & Stripes USA 77, was fished out of the water off Long Beach in July and made its debut last week by drubbing Britain’s GBR, 4-1, in the lower bracket of the quarterfinals.

Sweden’s Victory Challenge survived by winning the other sail-off between bottom feeders. The Swedes sent France’s hapless Le Defi Areva (3-18) packing by the same score.

How hapless were the French? They couldn’t spell their own word. Their press handouts called it “repecharge,” like a credit card. Meanwhile, in the upper bracket, Switzerland’s Kiwi-powered Alinghi and San Francisco’s Oracle BMW ran the table to sail straight into next month’s semifinals.

Russell Coutts, with the core of his crew that has won the last two Cups for New Zealand, took Switzerland’s Prada to 3-0, at which point the Italians conceded, giving themselves maximum time for boat modifications before the knockout rounds.

Seattle’s OneWorld kept getting up off the mat against Oracle but still lost, 4-0. Oracle is 11-0 since owner Larry Ellison recalled skipper Chris Dickson from exile and Dickson showed his gratitude by replacing Ellison on the boat with a real professional sailor.

The setback left OneWorld, the highest ranking top bracket loser, with the privilege of picking its opponent in the repechage. The choices were Prada, which pushed Alinghi to consecutive eight-second wins; Stars & Stripes, suddenly looking fast after changing boats, and Victory, which is 0-8 against the top four.

A no-brainer? Even Victory skipper Jesper Bank said, “We’ve seen quite a performance increase in the Stars & Stripes campaign. I would be a little worried picking Stars & Stripes.”

So, OneWorld picked Stars & Stripes, which left Prada to race the Swedes.

The only explanation OneWorld offered came from syndicate Chief Executive Gary Wright: “Each of these teams are extremely challenging

Said Stars & Stripes skipper Ken Read, “Nobody likes to be picked. It’s a humbling thing in a way, but at the same time our team has taken it as a chance to get a little mad. You know, these guys think we’re the worst of the heap, so let’s go prove them wrong. Frankly, we think we have the ability to do that.”

OneWorld has become an enigma. The team has plenty of money with not one but two billionaires, Craig McCaw and Paul Allen, signing checks. It has plenty of talent, with Cup veteran Peter Gilmour of Australia leading an internationally mixed crew that includes hotshot Aussie helmsman James Spithill, Americans Charlie McKee and Morgan Larson and several New Zealand defectors, including a first-rate bowman, Alan Smith. Its boats were designed by Laurie Davidson, who created Team New Zealand’s successful defenders in 2000.

Yet, OneWorld was one of only two teams, along with Team DC, to switch boats before the quarterfinals after slipping from 8-0 to 5-3 in the two round robins. Then, getting shut out by Oracle offered little encouragement.

France’s premature departure is a familiar rite dating to the ‘50s.

The French have never been seriously competitive. There was more remorse for the Brits, who have a stake in the event’s 19th century origins but hadn’t competed since 1986.

They arrived inexperienced but their downfall might have been a boat with a too-weird underwater configuration that they wouldn’t reveal.

The boat was difficult to steer, especially through the tight maneuvers required in the pre-start period to gain initial advantage. Sometimes it would just go dead in the water, reminiscent of others’ experiments with fore-and-aft rudders or double keels.

After the final loss to Stars & Stripes, skipper Ian Walker said, “Today, our light went out. Our hope’s gone. I don’t cry very often but today I had a tear in my eye.”

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America’s Cup

Louis Vuitton Cup challenger trials

Repechage pairings (best-of-seven):

* OneWorld vs. Team Dennis Conner

* Prada vs. Victory Challenge

(Winners advance to semifinals; losers eliminated)

TV: Outdoor Life Network, 6 p.m. daily.