After a perfect day for racing saw New Zealand's Black Magic go 3-0 up against Italy's Luna Rossa in the Americas Cup on Saturday, a grossly unstable breeze forced yesterday's fourth race to be abandoned.
With only a light wind swinging from north-north-west to south-east and all points between, there was little the race director Harold Bennett could do to set a course, and the race was called off two and a quarter-hours after it was due to begin.
It was a contrast to the previous day when Team New Zealand's skipper Russell Coutts and his tactician Brad Butterworth were unbeatable in 11 to 14 knots. They used the match-racing strategies that have made them world champions to outwit the Italian skipper Francesco de Angelis and his tactician Torben Grael. Coutts entered the starting area from the right with the advantage of the starboard tack and almost toyed with De Angelis during the pre-start, before it became obvious that Grael wanted to start from the left end of the line because the wind had swung to favour it, whereas Butterworth wanted the right so that he would again have the advantage of starboard tack when the boats next met.
Butterworth's unerring decision-making has been a feature of this America's Cup and seconds after the start, when the Italians tacked, he must have smiled. Luna Rossa headed towards Black Magic and, with right of way, Coutts could choose exactly where to tack to cause the most disturbance to his opponents. He did this regularly up the first leg to round the windward mark with a 19-second lead.
Butterworth chose the wind shifts to perfection as Black Magic's lead grew to over a minute at the halfway stage. The Kiwis later tore the foot of their spinnaker in a gybe but it was only a minor setback as they cruised to victory by 1 minute 39 seconds.
The next race is scheduled for tomorrow.
--(Guardian Service)
Rugby: France scrumhalf Fabien Galthie has withdrawn from next Saturday's Six Nations match against Scotland because of a painful groin injury.
French coach Bernard Laporte replaced him with Toulon's Aubin Hueber, who has not played for his country since the 1995 World Cup.
The injury-hit French will also be without outhalves Christophe Lamaison and Alain Penaud and flankers Abdelatif Benazzi and Lionel Mallier. Benazzi has a sore calf while Mallier suffered a thigh injury and will be replaced by Arnaud Costes.
Centre Stephane Glas has an injured ankle while Richard Dourthe, who took over from Thomas Castaignede at full back against England last week, needed five stitches on his left cheekbone during a championship match on Sunday.
Gaelic Games: Dublin forward Jim Gavin was among four players sent off as the Dublin senior football league got off to a troubled start at Clondalkin yesterday. Gavin, along with three of his Round Towers colleagues, Paul Clifford, Fergal Bardis and Myles O'Shea were sent to the line in the second-half of the match against Lucan Sarsfields, who won 2-13 to 1-8.
Soccer: Juventus had defender Paolo Montero sent off after 40 minutes but still fought back for a win which took them four points clear in the Italian first division after their 2-1 win over AS Roma in Turin. Dutchman Edgar Davids opened the scoring in the 31st minute with a left foot strike. Marco Delvecchio equalised for Roma with a brilliant volley on the turn before Filippo Inzaghi grabbed Juve's winner with the first attack after the break.
AC Milan squandered a chance to go into second place when they were held 0-0 at relegation-threatened Cagliari.
But after a bright opening 25 minutes, Milan's attacking threat fizzled out.
Golf: Jim Carter claimed his first PGA Tour title after firing a six-under par final-round 66 to win the Tucson Open by two strokes yesterday. He finished at 19-under par 269, two better than third-round leader Tom Scherrer, Chris DiMarco and France's 1999 British Open runner-up Jean Van de Velde.
Tennis: Monica Seles, in her first WTA event since playing last September in Tokyo, beat France's Nathalie Dechy 6-1, 7-6 (7/3) in Oklahoma City to capture the Superthrift Classic title.
The second-seed won her 45th career singles title without dropping a set, showing no signs of the broken foot that kept her out of action since the Princess Cup final in Japan five months ago.
Seles, who has slid to 14th in the rankings due to inactivity, dropped only 10 games all week until the second set against 26th-ranked Dechy, who can enjoy her 21st birthday today knowing she pushed Seles in the second set.
The 26-year-old American won her first WTA crown since last April, when she triumphed at Amelia Island, Florida.
This was Dechy's first career WTA final and first match against Seles.
Cycling: Eugene Moriarty finished tenth on the 133 kilometre final stage of the Tour of Rhodes yesterday, sprinting home in the same time as triple stage winner Frantisek Trkal of Czechlovakia. Moriarty had been in 18th place overall going into Saturday's penultimate day of racing, but lost over 22 minutes to stage winner Valter Bonca of Slovakia. The Listowel rider was nevertheless best of the Irish team in the five day race, finishing 57th overall, 25 minutes and one second behind outright winner Dennis Rasmussen of Denmark.
