Friday, February 14, 2003 - 12:00 a.m. Pacific

Fan's guide

The odds

Citing the hula design and the home advantage, Australian bookmaker Centrebet has Team New Zealand paying $1.55 to win the regatta, while Swiss opponents Alinghi are paying $2.40. English bookmaker William Hill puts the teams closer, with Team NZ paying $1.66 for a win and Alinghi $2.10. Both bookies rate a 5-0 Kiwi sweep the most likely outcome in the best-of-nine series.

Racing conditions

Forecasters predict light to moderate winds. If winds reach more than 25 knots or waves hit 3 feet, expect Harold Bennett, the principal race officer, to call off racing. Likewise for light winds.

What is the America's Cup?

The America's Cup has been a showcase for technological prowess since its inception in 1851, when its namesake yacht, the New York Yacht Club's 101-foot schooner, America, sailed to England and won a 53-mile race around the Isle of Wight, being chased by 15 British yachts. Among the yacht's assets were cotton sails that held their shape better than the flax sails used by the British. America finished with a devastating 18-minute victory.

The trophy then became a near-permanent resident at the New York Yacht Club until 1983, when it was wrested away by Australia II. Three years later, an unprecedented 13 syndicates challenged for the right to take the Cup away from the Australians. It was none other than Dennis Conner, who lost the Cup three years earlier, who won the Vuitton and prepared for what would become a spectacular America's Cup final in the big winds and boiling waters of the Indian Ocean. Conner, no longer representing New York, won the Cup for San Diego, where it stayed for eight years.

In 1988, Conner surprised everyone by entering a catamaran, which created a mismatch and eventually, a change in the rules. The 12-meter boats were replaced with the new IACC standard yacht that first battled in 1992, and still remains the class in competition today.

In 1995, New Zealand's black hull humbled Conner's Young America, 5-0. New Zealand was the smallest country ever to enter the event. In the last America's Cup, in 2000 in Auckland, 10 challengers from seven countries raced. Italy's Prada won the Louis Vuitton Challenger Cup, then lost to New Zealand in the America's Cup, the first time in 149 years that an American boat wasn't in the final.

The Trophy

Sport's oldest trophy, the America's Cup was created in 1848 by royal jeweler Robert Garrard of London. Made from 134 ounces of silver, the trophy was part of the Royal Yacht Squadron collection. It was originally known as the 100 Guinea Cup.