< And the Winner Is --- Stars & Stripes! >

Seattle's OneWorld Challenge stunned most America's Cup observers Monday by choosing Team Dennis Conner's Stars & Stripes as its opponent in the repechage round of the Louis Vuitton Cup challenger quarterfinals.

OneWorld was knocked into the repechage by a 4-0 loss to San Francisco's Oracle BMW but, as the highest ranking loser in the upper bracket, had the privilege of picking from among Team DC, Sweden's Victory or Italy's Prada.

"Each of these teams are extremely challenging competitors who must be taken extremely seriously," OneWorld CEO Gary Wright said. "We put it to the team, and at the end of the day we determined that this was the right decision for us today. We look forward to getting back on the water doing what we came here to do."

That leaves Sweden to meet Prada, which will be a heavy favorite. The best-of-seven repechage series start Friday. The knockout rounds will determine the two teams that will join Alinghi and Oracle in the semifinals. Those two are already qualified by dispatching Prada and OneWorld, respectively.

The term repechage is from the French word repecher, which means (a) to recover, as in fish a body out, or (b) in sports such as rowing and fencing, to let a weak candidate through. For the LVC, either one or both will work.

The Swedes, though the top team in the lower four through the two round robins, never beat a top four team, and their 4-1 success against France's hapless Le Defí Areva (3-18) did not boost their prospects much.

Stars & Stripes, on the other hand, has been upgraded from biggest disappointment to possible giant killer after switching from USA 66 to USA 77 and toying with Britain's GBR, 4-1.

Although suggested as a possibility by Dawn Riley on the Outdoor Life Network telecast in the U.S. and Canada Sunday night, OneWorld's choice was generally a surprise. Earlier, Victory's Jesper Bank and Stars & Stripes' Ken Read were asked whom they would pick if they were OneWorld.

Bank said, "We have talked about that and, to be honest, we’ve seen quite a performance increase in the Stars and Stripes campaign. I would be a little worried picking Stars and Stripes."

Read: "How do you not stick your foot in your mouth with this one? I kind of agree with Jesper, to be honest. I think we’re a little more dangerous right now. But I also agree with what he said earlier, that we don’t want to be chosen just for the sake of being chosen. We want them to be chosen. It just doesn’t look good if you get chosen as the worst guy."

< Stars & Stripes and Prada: Send OneWorld a Thank-You Card >

Although they probably won't admit it, Stars & Stripes and Prada have to be delighted over OneWorld's choice---especially the Italians, who now draw the Swedes.

One would have knocked the other out in the repechage match, which seemed the likely scenario, leaving OneWorld to handle the less imposing Victory Challenge.

OneWorld defeated Stars & Stripes USA 66 in both of their round-robin meetings, but the latter looked much stronger sailing USA 77 against the Brits.

Does OneWorld know something nobody else does? The team has become an enigma. Aside from Team DC, which did so out of desperation, the Seattle crew was the only other one to switch boats for the quarterfinals. That was after going from 8-0 in the first round robin to 5-3 in the second. Now it's 0-4 in the quarterfinals so far.

The question in some minds now: Is Oracle really fast or, while other teams are getting better, is OneWorld stuck in the slow lane?

Apparently, OneWorld figured it wasn't going to get any better by beating up the Swedes and felt confident enough to take on Stars & Stripes' seasoned team.

< It's 'All Clicking' for Stars & Stripes Now >

The only loss for Stars & Stripes against GBR was in the first race when they didn't do a penalty turn when they had a sufficient lead. GBR then closed the gap enough to preclude that option.

Otherwise, the boat that was sitting under 55 feet of water one day off Long Beach only 3 1/2 months earlier led at every mark in all five races.

"It’s obvious that our new boat has given us a new lease on life," Read said. "What’s more, we now have the confidence in its capabilities to

take full advantage. From our pre-start boat handling and maneuvering to straight-line boat speed to Terry Hutchinson’s excellent calls on the wind shifts, it is all clicking.

"However, we really haven’t accomplished anything yet. We still have a long way to go before we hoist that Cup over our heads."

< The Boat That Wouldn't Sail Straight >

Dennis Conner's team literally sailed circles around GBR, especially in some of the pre-start jousting. The Brits had a tendency to go dead in the water during tight maneuvering, reminiscent of past America's Cup projects experimenting with fore-and-aft rudder or twin keel configurations.

Apparently, the boat was so difficult to steer that, in desperation, skipper Ian Walker took over the starting helm from Andy Beadsworth but fared even worse.

Even when it was all over, Walker wasn't ready to talk about the secrets beneath on the underside of the hull.

"We have been having some difficulties, as you can clearly see," Walker said at the last press conference. "I took on the last couple of races. I think both Andy Beadsworth and Andy Green have done a fantastic job over the last year and a half, but obviously it became a bit of a problem."

There was the slightest hint that the design was a mistake, especially with inadequate time to refine it. Walker was asked, "Do you and/or the other starting helmsmen feel that you have been compromised, particularly in the start, by the insistence of the designers to put the foils on that you have below 70?"

Walker: "I don’t think so. The team made decisions about what sort of boat we would have and how we would sail it. We tried different ways of solving that problem and I guess we’ll learn from that."

So what exactly is under the boat?

"I don’t think there’s anything we would gain by unveiling the boat to everybody else," Walker said, "something that can only help other teams. If it’s Peter’s intention to continue, as he says, and to challenge and to win the America's Cup next time, then probably the worst thing we can do is to help anyone else."

He referred to team owner Peter Harrison, who rode along in the back sitting in a well in a cheap plastic patio chair one might buy at drug store. Harrison said he intends to return to challenge again, but that remains to be seen.

It had been 16 years since Britain's previous appearance.

Harrison said, "We were on a massive learning curve. The only thing I regret is that time is the enemy."

But everyone agreed it was good to have the Brits back in the game, and Walker left on a somber note.

"Today our light went out," he said. "Our hope’s gone and we don’t have the chance to go as far as I believe some of our hopes and ambitions were. I don’t cry very often but today I had a tear in my eye on the way out, when everybody was cheering, and on the way in, particularly when we got back to the base. There were so many friends and family and flags and you realize just how much this means to a whole bunch of people."