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Winds postpone LVC semifinals
AUCKLAND, New Zealand (Reuters) -- Heavy winds and high seas have forced the postponement of racing in the Louis Vuitton Cup semifinals, with Swiss Alinghi just one win away from reaching the final. Winds in the Hauraki Gulf on Friday averaged 28 knots, well above the 19-knot upper limit set for the expensive but fragile America's Cup class yachts. Regatta officials postponed racing until Saturday. Biotechnology billionaire Ernesto Bertarelli's Alinghi leads U.S. team Oracle BMW Racing 3-0 after dominating the first three races of its best-of-seven semifinal of the challengers series. Oracle, backed by software billionaire Larry Ellison, appears headed for a semi-finals repechage against the winners of the elimination semifinal between defending challengers champions Prada of Italy and embattled U.S. team OneWorld. The winner of that repechage will then go on to the final. OneWorld, backed by telecoms investor Craig McCaw and Microsoft co-founder Paul Allen, has won two of its three semifinal races against Prada, but the series is level at 1-1. Although each win is worth a point, OneWorld went into the series a point behind Prada and must win five races to advance. It was penalised one point by an arbitration panel on Monday over a long-running scandal in which Prada and New York-based Team Dennis Conner accuse it of using boat designs belonging to America's Cup holder Team New Zealand. The winners of the challengers series will sail against Team New Zealand in February 2003. Copyright 2002 Reuters. All rights reserved. This material may not be published, broadcast, rewritten, or redistributed.
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