| | AUCKLAND, New Zealand -- The French team Le Defi sealed its place in the semifinals of the America's Cup challenger series with an easy win over an absent opponent Wednesday, ensuring that Young America would not advance.
|  | | Skipper Bertrand Pace and his French crew had plenty to celebrate Wednesday. |
With the six semifinal berths already almost certainly decided, only seven of the original 11 teams took to the water Wednesday for the last races of the third round-robin on Auckland's Hauraki Gulf.
Le Defi Francais sailed the race course alone because America True, which had already qualified, forfeited. The nine points for the victory clinched the last berth for Le Defi Francais.
The result also meant that even after a forfeit win over Young
Australia -- which also withdrew from its race Wednesday -- the New
York Yacht Club's Young America had been eliminated from the
competition.
The six teams to advance to the semifinals are Italy's Prada,
America True and AmericaOne, both from San Francisco, Japan's
Nippon, San Diego's Stars and Stripes and Le Defi Francais.
The semifinal series starts on Jan. 2. The best two boats will then go on to sail a best-of-9 series to decide who takes on defender New Zealand for sailing's most prized trophy in February.
In addition to Young America, the teams out of the competition are the Spanish challenge, Hawaii's Abracadabra, Young Australia and the Swiss team FAST 2000.
The two-boat, $40 million Young America syndicate was the New York Yacht Club's first challenger in 12 years and came heavily favored to finish among the top two with Prada. It won eight of its first 10 races, before one boat buckled and their second was rushed out of the shed early.
Syndicate chief John Marshall said the team was spooked by the near sinking and had struggled to regain confidence.
It was unclear if the New York team would immediately return to the United States.
Spokesman Alan Sefton said Team New Zealand would relish an opportunity to practice against someone other than themselves and would be "delighted" to race against Young America.
If Young America or any other challenger did practice with the New Zealand team, it would break an informal agreement reached at the start of the regatta.
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ALSO SEE
Fear a factor in Young America's almost certain exit
Third-round schedule and results
How the competition works
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