Challengers disclose big guns for final eliminator

by Tim Jeffrey Sports Telegraph UK on 7 Jan 2003 The last two America's Cup challengers still standing from the nine that began the trials on Oct 1 will take their proven boats into the Louis Vuitton final starting in Auckland this Saturday.

That much was made certain yesterday when Ernesto Bertarelli's Swiss Alinghi team named SUI 64 as their chosen yacht for Russell Coutts's crew to race against Chris Dickson's team aboard USA 76, the designated yacht of Larry Ellison's Oracle BMW syndicate.

These two steps are key dates in the build-up to the 31st America's Cup match starting on Feb 15. Whoever prevails in the challenger final will have to use the same yacht against the defender Team New Zealand.

The rules are different and tilted in favour of the cup holder and by not declaring a yacht now, Team New Zealand can wait until the next declaration date on Feb 10 to name either NZL 81 or NZL 82 as the boat to carry the hopes of a nation.

Like Alinghi and Oracle BMW, the Kiwi defenders have entered a 'no-change period' where the boat's measurement configuration is frozen until the end of the first-to-five-wins challenger final is complete.

In choosing SUI 64, Coutts takes a boat with an impressive 20-2 record into the final. It is the same boat the Swiss team used to sweep the Oracle BMW crew in four straight races in the semi-final.

'We have developed SUI 75 and SUI 64 together, but the reason we are using 64 in the final of the Louis Vuitton Cup is that we have continued to develop that boat and it is moded slightly differently,' said Alinghi design coordinator Grant Simmer.

Dickson's USA 76 has a 20-8 record. His squad rebounded from the semi-final loss to Alinghi by sweeping OneWorld out of the semi-final repechage 4-0.