Meanwhile, the Japanese announced that they will not proceed with an appeal against the ruling yesterday that removed one point from the score of Team Dennis Conner's Stars & Stripes. Peter Gilmour, skipper and spokesman for Japan's Asura said earlier that the one point penalty was not enough and that they would petition the International Jury to re-open the hearing.
The penalty point and the loss today to Italy fixed Team Dennis Conner's points total at three, while their victories boosted America One and Luna Rossa to six and five respectively.
The two leaders come together in tomorrow's race and if the Italians win, they will be tied with six points apiece. If Stars & Stripes beats Le Defi, which is likely unless the wind is below 10 knots, the San Diego entry will be two points back. The points situation has raised the ugly possibility of boats throwing races against Stars & Stripes to boost her into a tie with one of the lead boats. After she races Le Defi tomorrow, Team Dennis Conner sails against America True, then America One and then America True again in a makeup race after the regular schedule is finished.
Although it's highly unlikely that either of the San Francisco boats would go out of their way to boost Conner's chances, having Stars & Stripes
The jury announced that there was no rule to prevent a team from throwing, or not participating in, a race. But the panel also warned that such actions must not be taken in collusion with other participants.
For the final minute before the start, the Italian boat controlled the situation by dogging Stars & Stripes from astern. Both boats wanted to get to the right where the big wind shift could be seen coming down the course. With both boats on starboard tack, Luna Rossa helmsman Francesco de Angelis was able to establish an overlap to windward of Stars & Stripes and prevent her from tacking. Realizing he was a few seconds early, Read luffed sharply and Luna Rossa tacked onto port and headed for the right end of the line. But the luff left Stars & Stripes virtually dead in the water with her bow 10 feet over the line. Read jibed around to re-cross the line and started on port a good 10 lengths in Luna Rossa's wake. The Italians led by just over a minute at the weather mark, and although the American boat was able to gain a bit on the runs, they lost ground on all the weather legs to finish 1:09 behind.
The first race of the day was a battle between the two San Francisco boats, America One and
When Asura beat Le Defi today it was the fifth time the Japanese had defeated the French, and the loss put the French team beyond any mathematical chance of making it into the Louis Vuitton finals. Bertrand Pace, at the helm of Le Defi, made it as tough as possible for Peter Gilmour and his Japanese crew. He took control of the starting maneuvers with nearly three minutes to go and badgered Asura from astern, ultimately forcing the Japanese boat to tack away from the favored right end of he line a few seconds before the gun.