Sailing: Law second to America's Cup skipper again

The America's Cup skipper, Paul Cayard, was pushed all the way by Britain's Chris Law but eventually ran out the 3-1 winner of the Steinlager Cup, New Zealand's top match racing event, in Auckland yesterday, writes Stuart Alexander.

Later Cayard paid tribute to the performance of Law and his crew in conditions made even tougher by strong winds. This is the second time Law has been runner-up in the Steinlager, coming second to another America's Cup skipper, Ed Baird, in 1991.

New Zealand will be using the Champagne Mumm Admiral's Cup next year as part of its preparations for the America's Cup defence, sending over a new boat, the Jim Taylor-designed 46-footer Numbers, which will be run by Tom Schnackenberg and skippered by Russell Coutts.

Back in front of the 14-boat BT Challenge fleet on its second leg from Rio di Janeiro is Mike Golding's Group 4, nine miles ahead of Simon Walker's Toshiba after a night of patchy winds as they approach the Argentinian coast off the entrance to the River Plate. They have a lead of 10 miles on a bunch of eight boats separated by only seven miles.