Monday, January 3, 2000
Stars and Stripes
Associated Press
unbeatenAUCKLAND, New Zealand -- Dennis Conner's Stars and Stripes beat Italy's Prada by 1 minute, 7 seconds today to improve to 2-0 in the America's Cup challenger semifinal series. Stars and Stripes, which opened the semifinals yesterday with a 55-second victory over Nippon, is the lone undefeated yacht after the first two rounds of the six-boat competition.
Each boat sails twice against the other syndicates, with the top two teams advancing to a nine-race series. The winner will face Team New Zealand for the America's Cup.
In other races today, America True beat AmericaOne by 2 minutes, 23 seconds, and Nippon edged Le Defi Francais by 38 seconds. America True, Prada, AmericaOne and Nippon are 1-1. Le Defi Francais is 0-2.
After a lackluster opening to the Louis Vuitton Cup semifinals Sunday, strong wind conditions returned to the inner Hauraki Gulf today. The winds were from the southwest steadily between 18 and 20 knots, with gusts to 25 knots, and choppy seas.
The powerful sloops rollicked in the conditions to produce three exciting races.
Hawaii yacht eliminated
