Prada had to make a 360-degree penalty turn after nudging the stern of AmericaOne in pre-start maneuvering about a minute before the boats crossed the starting line Wednesday.

But Italian skipper Francesco de Angelis held off a late charge by American helmsman Paul Cayard and won by 24 seconds. Prada leads 1-0 in the best-of-9 round to determine the challenger to defending champion New Zealand.

"I've been in a lot of regattas and I've been behind before and I certainly expected to lose some races in this round," Cayard said. "It's an interesting challenge because we get to come back (Thursday) and see if we can reverse it."

De Angelis agreed with the general assessment that the series will be close.

"It's just the first one," he said. "We know that all the races will be tough to the end."

That's what happened Wednesday when AmericaOne, trailing by 28 seconds after the fifth of the six legs on the 18½-mile Hauraki Gulf course, started charging.

At one point on the final run with the wind at his back, AmericaOne appeared to catch Prada, although the trailing boat usually has the edge in such situations.

"We were getting some (wind) puffs and picking our moments," Cayard said, "but we still made some mistakes there because I think the race was winnable to us."

He's trying to regain the Cup that the United States held for 132 consecutive years before losing to Australia in 1983.

On Wednesday, the boats sailed on opposite sides for much of the race, trying to find more wind on a course with shifty breezes. Prada did that better.

"I think the shifts were bigger than the difference in (boat) speed" in determining the outcome, Cayard said.

The beginning of the challenger final had been delayed 24 hours by heavy winds and rough seas. It finally began with moderate wind of 14 knots that diminished later in the race. But there was another kind of turbulence.

Sailors shouted from the AmericaOne deck when Prada got too close.

"A mistake for my side," de Angelis admitted.

Prada had the right to choose when to make the penalty turn, expected to take 30-40 seconds, and de Angelis picked the right spot, midway through the race at the end of the third leg. The silver-hulled boat led by about a minute when it began the turn and was in front by 25 seconds after completing it.

The Italians led at the end of all six legs.

De Angelis is in his first campaign as skipper of an America's Cup boat and survived four previous rounds that pared the challenger field from 11 boats representing seven nations to two.

For Cayard, it was another disappointing day at sea. He has been the skipper in the last two America's Cup finals, losing nine of 10 races. He may not get that far this time.

None of AmericaOne's tactics was enough to catch up as Prada led by 34 seconds after the fourth leg and 28 seconds after the fifth.

The tension and excitement built on the last leg as Cayard made his surge, going to the left side of the course and then heading for the right, hoping to find more wind. But in the last 30 seconds of the race, AmericaOne lost speed.

The collision occurred before the race as Prada approached AmericaOne from behind. Cayard steered his boat sharply to the right and de Angelis was required by the rules to give way.

But it was too late. He couldn't avoid contact.

Italy is trying to become the fourth nation in 17 years to claim the Cup. The United States had won the first 25 competitions, from 1851 through 1980. In 1983, Australia broke that stranglehold by beating Dennis Conner's Liberty at Newport, R.I. Conner regained the Cup in Fremantle, Australia, in 1987, and American boats won in 1988 and 1992.

Cayard, a San Franciscan, was skipper of Italian challenger Il Moro di Venezia in its 4-1 loss to America3 in 1992 and of Young America in its 5-0 loss to Black Magic of New Zealand in 1995.