SAILING : French foray heading for farce

The large contingent of French in San Diego can again smell blood on the waters of the Pacific after their America's Cup challenger went down for the third time in the third round robin of the Louis Vuitton Cup.

Despite moving their skipper, Marc Pajot, off the helm and the bringing- in at the back the new team of Thierry Peponnet and Franois Brenac, the newest of two shining, dark blue 75-footers has again to score a win in a series that could prove crucial.

In a breeze that was once again unsuitable for sensible yacht racing, they were never in contention against Chris Dickson, one of whose lieutenants, Ian Stewart, has left Tag Heuer. Peponnet mistimed the start, some of the crew work was ragged, and it is all starting to look ugly for a group that left home promising an adoring public that the cup was as good as theirs.

Celebrating their first win were the Spanish. At his 16th attempt Pedro Campos managed to control the start against Neville Wittey, back on duty after illness for Sydney '95. He then lost it up the first beat, harried Colin Beashel down the first run, instituted a tacking duel on the second beat, lured Beashel into a position where he sailed into a flat patch, and went away to win.

The margin at the end was over 11 minutes, which is an indication of how soggy the Santa Ana wind conditions from the desert east of San Diego were. Normally these would have suited the old campaigner Dennis Conner, but it was Kevin Mahaney and the Young Americans who came out on top.

CITIZEN CUP, Round Robin 3, Day 6: Pact'95 bt Stars & Stripes, 8min 35sec. LOUIS VUITTON CUP, Round Robin 3, Race 4: oneAustralia bt Nippon Challenge, 8:40; Bayona-Valencia bt Sydney '95, 11:26; Tag Heuer bt France 3, 6:23.

David Adams, of Australia, took the Class II lead from Giovanni Soldini, of Italy, in the BOC round-the-world solo race. Adams had trailed since leaving Sydney on 29 January but pulled back a deficit that, at one point, was greater than 100 miles. Adams was 25 miles ahead in the race for boats under 50 feet after cutting into the Italian's advantage by charting the most southern course of the 13 sailors still in the race.

Christophe Auguin, of France, led all racers, keeping his Class I, 60- foot yacht a comfortable 227 miles ahead of his fellow countryman, Jean Luc Van den Heede.