The first round of the Challenger Trials demonstrated how difficult it is to race in the Haruaki Gulf during New Zealand's early spring. Half the racing days were marred by weather delays with either too much or too little wind.

Things to watch

Over the course of the long America's Cup season, there are often key events that end up making a huge difference in the final result. Using past cup matches as a guide, here is a list of things to look for: Skipper/helmsman changes Veteran sailors brought in late in the game Who's on the bench? The quality of umpiring Backroom maneuvering Do Team New Zealand and the challengers continually bicker? Several syndicate heads are also active CEOs; will the pressure of their companies interfere with the performance of the sailing team? Will the race committee run a fair contest? In 2000, the race committee dramatically varied the length of the startling line and refused to start in winds under 10 knots. Does Team New Zealand still have a home-court advantage? The challengers practiced for two years on the Haruaki Gulf. What design changes will be made to reconfigure the boats for the changing weather patterns? What impact will breakdowns have? In 1999, Young America never recovered after the boat cracked in half during the early trials. Will funding for any teams dry up? -- Gary Jobson

The clear front-runners are Seattle Yacht Club's OneWorld Challenge and Switzerland's Alinghi. Oracle Racing, from San Francisco, showed signs of boat speed but lost three races down the stretch. With only one week before Round Robin 2, there is little time to make big changes to the boats. But for every team it is essential to demonstrate better performance in the second round to help with fund-raising and to end up seeded among the top four. The Challenger Trial's format is essentially a single-elimination series for the bottom four seeded boats and a double-elimination series for the top-seeded boats.

Team Dennis Conner got off to a mediocre start with a 4-4 record. But this has been Conner's trend dating back to his America's Cup debut in 1974. Conner's teams have always improved. In 1999, for example, Stars & Stripes was 4-7 in the first round and improved to 8-3 in the second. Conner has a new boat, USA77, that he could substitute. This boat sank when the rudder fell out during training last July. It has since been refitted with a new bow.

Two teams, Defi AREVA from France and Mascalzone Latino (Latin Rascal), are clearly off the pace. One of these two will most likely be eliminated after RR2.

The biggest disappointment is Italy's Team Prada, which won only three races. The designer was fired after the fist race. Under the direction of mercurial owner Patrizio Bertelli, the afterguard -- the braintrust of the boat made up of the helmsman, navigator, tactician and strategist -- resembles the frequent changes at quarterback by the Washington Redskins. Bertelli has sent his second boat, ITA80, back into the shed for alternations. It would be ironic should the Challenger of Record be eliminated early, since it won the challenger trials in 2000.

The Swiss team, led by defending champion Russell Coutts, lost only one race, a 10-second squeaker to OneWorld. Alinghi is favored by many to win it all and it looks to be on pace.

The most pleasant surprise was the strength of the undefeated OneWorld group. This syndicate was marred by early money and legal problems. But the boat is fast and the crew is sailing great. They will not be able to rest on their laurels, however, because the other eight teams are working overtime to close the gap.

The most important trend in Round Robin 2 is to see which teams make improvements. The challengers as a group hope that all these improvements are enough to successfully defeat Team New Zealand in the America's Cup match beginning Feb. 15.

In 1977, Gary Jobson served as tactician to win the America's Cup for Ted Turner. ESPN's lead sailing analyist, Jobson will be writing a weekly column during the Challenger Trials. E-mail him at garyjobson@cs.com or check out his Web site at jobsonsailing.com.