Prada's wins over AmericaOne and Young America were heavily influenced by equipment failures and the races were still close. We think Prada will be in the Louis Vitton finals, but they have peaked too early and they will fall behind the Americans. AmericaOne has put together an excellent campaign and will be the boat to beat even for the Italians. The New York Yacht Club has the organizational experience, a fast boat and a hungry crew. They just might be able to keep their heads down and emerge victorious. Dawn Riley and America True have a sound campaign, but we think they'll be just short in the final round. Nippon and Spain need a miracle. They are both gaining valuable experience, but this is not their year. Team Dennis Conner, well, Dennis doesn't drive anymore and we miss watching him take the kids to school. But you can never, ever count him out. Even if he can't put his campaign over the top he will provide some excellent entertainment. Keep an eye on Dennis. The rest of the fleet is already too far behind in technology to catch up.

So who will win? We don't know and neither does anyone else. That's why they are racing, to find out who is the best. Prada has the best start. Paul Cayard has the momentum after winning the last Whitbread, America True has Dawn and TDC has Dennis. They're all great sailors and anyone of them could win the Louis Vitton Cup with the right boat and a little luck. But...we think Young America is going to float to the top just because there seems to be less pizzazz and a quiet confidence strangely reminiscent of the days of Newport.

Round 2 starts November 6! Catch the latest America's Cup news at marinersguide.com.

Virtual Spectator is offering a software package that will follow the boats positioning information in real-time and display the race on your computer as it is happening. We ordered a copy which didn't get here until the last day of racing. The program has three displays, one showing the boats direction and speed, one showing the times around each mark and one showing the actual race. They were all out of sync, sometimes by a half hour. The program just stopped in the middle of the race and we had to close it and start over. All and all we think it's a very poor programming effort, but it's the only way to see the races. At least we didn't have to reboot the computer.

ESPN's next America's Cup broadcast is scheduled for November 1 at 2:30am Eastern Time and will be shown on their ESPN2 channel. Check you local listings and set your VCR.