| | AUCKLAND, New Zealand -- The New York Yacht Club's campaign
to recover the America's Cup appeared stalled Friday (Thursday in the United States) as the syndicate lost another race in the challenger series and became embroiled in a points dispute.
As the second round-robin of the four-month challenger series drew to a close, officials reopened an inquiry into Young America's withdrawal from its race Thursday after team members gave differing
reasons.
Umpires gave Young America one point for the race, despite the withdrawal, ruling a procedural mistake was made in dealing with a postponement request.
In a hearing on Thursday night, Young America skipper Ed Baird
told officials they had wanted time to fix a problem with the
gooseneck -- the fitting that attaches the boom to the mast.
But later, another team member, Jim Marshall, sent an e-mail
letter to supporters which said the postponement was requested
after "disquieting noises were heard where new structures had
recently been added" to the boat.
Young America reinforced the hull of the boat it's now using after the deck of the team's first boat cracked and its hull buckled dramatically during a race last week.
The AmericaOne and Prada syndicates officially protested the
extra point given to Young America, and the competition's
International Jury said it would reopen the case to consider new
evidence.
On the water Friday, Young America was soundly defeated by AmericaOne, ensuring the $40-million syndicate will finish the second round-robin in sixth place among 11 teams in the challenger fleet.
The New York Yacht Club held the America's Cup for 132 of the 150 years of the competition, but it has not qualified as the challenger for 13 years.
AmericaOne skipper Paul Cayard forced Young America into a bad
start, then took advantage of a big wind lift on the first leg to
build an unsurmountable lead.
Italy's Prada won again Friday and, with only one loss and 46
points, continues to dominate the competition.
The single-boat teams of America True and Stars and Stripes --
led by America's Cup veteran Dennis Conner -- finished in second and
third places respectively, performing better in the second round-robin
than the big-spending two-boat U.S. teams of AmericaOne and Young
America.
Friday was the last official day of racing in the second round-robin, although three races were rescheduled to be run on Saturday.
In four months of racing, 11 challenger syndicates are fighting it out to decide who will take on defender New Zealand for the America's Cup next year.
Round-robin 3 is scheduled to start on Dec. 2.
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