A poll of America’s Cup fans from around the world has put Britain just one from the bottom of a list of those teams thought most likely to be in the Louis Vuitton Cup finals. The winner of the Louis Vuitton Cup will go on to challenge Team New Zealand in the 2003 America’s Cup in February next year.

Cupviews.com ran the poll with some of their viewers from all nationalities, so results of this poll are seen to closely reflect the judgment of sailors and Cup followers globally:

1. Prada Challenge (Italy) 43.5% 2. Team Dennis Conner (USA) 30.9% 3. Alinghi Challenge (Switzerland) 29.9% 4. Oracle Racing (USA) 23.2% 5. OneWorld (USA) 22.7% 6. Le Defi Areva (France) 10.9% 7. Victory Challenge (Sweden) 10.4% 8. GBR Challenge (Great Britain) 9.9% 9. Mascalzone Latino (Italy) 7.7%

Meanwhile Peter Harrison’s GBR Challenge squad have been testing cathedral rigs for Wight Lightning and it is rumoured that in Cowes they have increased the build pace of their second boat GBR78 – originally due for launch next spring.