Prada Not Too Proud to Pull the Plug

The only question here about Prada cashing in its quarterfinal chips one race short of a loss to Alinghi is this: Why hasn't Seattle's OneWorld, down 0-3 against San Francisco's Oracle, made the same sensible move?

Despite sailing the Swiss almost---but not quite---straight up with two eight-second losses the past week, the Italians knew their chances of winning four straight were fat and none.

So, especially with a grim weather forecast for the next couple of days, why prolong the inevitable with a series that could run smack into the repechage rounds starting Nov. 23? This way they'll have time to regroup, check out their other rebuilt boat and save unnecessary wear and tear on their sails (teams' inventories are limited to 45).

Risk is minimal. Their ticket to the repechage round was already punched. If they can't beat a bottom feeder there's no hope, anyway.

The only reservation on that last comment is that Team Dennis Conner, with its new Stars & Stripes 77, no longer looks like a pushover.

But Prada made the smart play. Like Kenny Rogers said, the best players know when to hold 'em and when to fold 'em.

C'est La Vie

The next race figures to be the last for Le Defí Areva, down 0-3 against Sweden's victory.

"We are feeling the effects of a culmination of factors", sailing manager Pierre Mas said. "The Swedes have a fast boat and they have not put a foot wrong. I commend them on that.

"But we French are tricky. We pulled out some surprises at the end of the Round Robins, and I am certainly not ruling that out for the quarterfinals."

Now would seem a good time.

The Love Boat

Team Dennis Conner wasn't asked to send anyone to Thursday's post-race press conference. What's anyone going to say when you just beat up the Brits by 2 minutes 10 seconds?

But there were a couple of interesting observations. The crew list showed Ben Mitchell replacing Vince Brun as main sail trimmer. This was the first race for Mitchell, a popular Star class and big boat sailor around Southern California.

With Stars & Stripes USA 77 looking so dominant, you may see more "B" boat people rotating in for the rest of the series.

"We love our boat," skipper Ken Read said. "Go 77! [It] has been my baby since it was first launched out in Long Beach, and it has not let me down. Two good starts in a row, plus a little bit of a speed edge and you can let the boat just do its thing."

Earlier, there was another subtle and unannounced change from the norm. Veteran trimmers Bill Trenkle (port) and Mike Toppa (starboard) are now designated as "downwind" and "upwind" trimmers, respectively, switching from side to side when the boat tacks or jibes. That's how Simon Daubney has done it with Russell Coutts for years.

Finally, on the issue of why Stars & Stripes didn't do a penalty turn when it had a sufficient lead against GBR and subsequently lost the first race, word from the camp is that the decision on when to take the penalty was debated on the second beat---but vetoed.

The word didn't say who was saying to whom later, "I told you so."

Chin Up, Larry, You Aren't Forgotten

Oracle BMW is 10-0 since Larry Ellison brought Chris Dickson back---and Dickson excused Ellison from the crew.

Or, as the Oracle spinmeister described it after going up 3-0 on OneWorld by coming from behind: "The Oracle BMW Racing Team is now within one win of a securing a semifinals berth and is looking like the heaviest of heavyweight contenders in the America’s Cup 2003."

Dickson said, "We know we’ve got a very good boat, we know we’ve got a very good team. I’ve been working hard to find areas where I can add something and I’ve found a few of those areas."

Chris doesn't mean to hurt Larry's feelings.

"You'll certainly see more of Larry on board," Dickson said. "Larry'$ the $tronge$t part of our team. We benefit hugely when Larry'$ on the boat and off the boat. He drove 71 [the $econd boat] for our warm-up $ailing."

Ellison told 900 people at an Oracle business conference in Auckland, where his company has a high-rise presence, "I've driven in several races and every time I drove we gained [applause and laughter]. However, that didn't stop Chris from kicking me out of the boat. Chris Dickson took my spot in the race boat. I'm trying to figure out who's the better sailor, me or Chris? I thought about it for a while and no matter how I thought about it I couldn't come up with me as an answer."

And don't think Ellison is buying spinnaker poles on the cheap just because they've broken two. Like everything else, they are built as light as possible to save weight.

Dickson, possibly with tongue in cheek, said, "The lightweight spinnaker pole might just be the reason we surged past OneWorld."

The pole was repaired quickly because the crew, like others, carries a sleeve type of splint just for that purpose.