Well done Alinghi, 5 - 2 to take the Americas Cup

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Posted: Tue Jun 05, 2007 8:10 am

After a lay day in Valencia last night, tonight is race 4 of the Louis Vuitton Cup final to determine the challenger for the Americas Cup (best of nine races).

I got to bed early last night and had a good night's sleep for a change. The previous 3 nights saw me staying up until 3.00 am to watch the live coverage of the races on TV. New Zealand is 11 hours ahead of GMT, so its middle of the night watching.

Just as well that Emirates Team New Zealand are doing as well as they are, 3 - 0 over Luna Rossa of Italy at the moment and looking good after winning race 3 by 1 min 38 secs.

GO the big black boat!!!!!!

Posted: Wed Jun 06, 2007 3:27 am

YES!!!!
4-0.
Maybe a whitewash, Here's hoping.
Very Happy

Posted: Wed Jun 06, 2007 7:09 am

Yeah, 4 - 0 !!!!! I got into a bit of trouble last night though. I'd gone to bed and got up at 1.00 am to watch the race. The fire was still glowing (its winter here in NZ now) so I got a log out of the box to put on the fire, and dropped it on the hearth. Huge bang, woke my wife up, not the most popular man in the household.

But wonderful race, Luna Rossa got away at the start, got a lead of about 100 mewtres, but didn't cover and let Emirates Team New Zealand go out to the left unmarked where they found a stronger breeze and maybe the wind was a little more to the right than on the other side of the course where Luna Rossa was. So Emirates Team New Zealand came back with a 100 metre lead and it was all downhill from there for Luna Rossa.

Going to watch again tonight, but I'll be careful about loading the fire. I think my wife will be up watching too - her father was a sea captain (trained on the Cutty Sark) and he taught me a lot about yachting.

Posted: Wed Jun 06, 2007 7:16 am

<------- @ Nelson - that is one big bloody weta mate!

C'arn the kiwis!

Posted: Wed Jun 06, 2007 8:30 pm

A whitewash

Pat yourselves on the back boys

happy crowd

Now the BIG one.

Go Kiwi's

Posted: Wed Jun 06, 2007 8:38 pm

^^^^^^ A "blackwash" actually Laughing

Even later night last night, and the race start was delayed because of light winds. But the wind got up to allow the race to go ahead, but it was flukey, especially on the last lag.

Luna Rossa had made some changes to their configuration overnight, probably bigger wings on the keel and a larger rudder to give them better upwind speed, and it was a cliffhanger. My heart was in my mouth on the 3rd and 4th legs, especially when Luna Rossa entered into a tacking duel and were taking metres off Emirates Team New Zealand with every tack on the 3rd leg. I don't know why they stopped when they did after about 20 tacks or so, they'd drawn back from nearly 100 metres to only 30 metres or so. And it was tense on the last leg downwind too, with the wind dropping. Luna Rossa had thrown a false gybe on the second leg and I wondered if they'd fake another or fake faking one and really carry out a gybe - Emirates Team New Zealand didn't gybe as soon as they should have once in the last leg and that let Luna Rossa get some separation and claw back some metres.

But 22 seconds was all the big black boat needed at the end.

Well done Emirates Team New Zealand. Now for the Americas Cup, June 23rd.

5 - zip !!!!!!!!!!

Posted: Fri Jun 22, 2007 8:02 am

One more day to go. Tomorrow night I'll be glued to the TV from about midnight on to watch the first race of the 32nd Americas Cup in ValeNZia.

The Emirates Team New Zealand boat will be carrying the "Buzzy Bee" keel - only Kiwis will fully understand that!

Hoping for light winds. It looks as if Alinghi's SUI 100 is configured for winds in the region of 12 - 15 knots, while Kiwi Spirit looks better in winds around 8 - 12 knots.

Go the big black boat, go Kiwi Spirit !!!!!

Posted: Mon Jun 25, 2007 7:12 am

Haven't been on the net for a couple of days, so I'll make two consecutive posts about what's happening in Valencia.

Heart stopping stuff. Though ETNZ took the lead at the start, and stayed out to the right of Alinghi - they probably expected the wind to swing to the right as it has done so often in Valencia which would have given them an advantage.

However the wind swung to the left, meaning that Alinghi who had been behind until the wind change, now took the lead. Alinghipulled away on each leg from then on. Nice steady work by the Alinghi crew, no mistakes and good weather work.

It looked as if Alinghi had a definite speed advantage, at least in the conditions - winds up above 10 knots, and quite a chop. It looked as if Alinghi, with a fuller bow, didn't bury it's nose into the chop as much as Kiwi Spirit (ETNZ) and because of this was faster up wind and came out of tacks a little faster. So it looks as if Alinghi is faster in the high wind range and can handle a swell better.

Well done Alinghi. I went to bed thinking that it could be 5 - 0 to Alinghi if the weather stayed that way.

Alinghi 1 - Emirates Team New Zealand 0

Posted: Mon Jun 25, 2007 7:14 am

So got up again at 1 o'clock in the morning, and there is less wind and less chop than for race one. Alinghi is in the lead again, in fact leads for the first upwind beat and the first downwind leg. But Emirates Team New Zealand were still close enough behind to be able to challenge.

Then on the third leg, the second upwind beat, Alinghi made a bad decision and a match losing mistake. ETNZ stayed out to the left hand side of the course and Alinghi went out to the right hand side. Really, as they were leading, Alinghi should have stayed parked right on top of ETNZ, stayed right between them and the wind (and therefore the top mark). So while the two boats were separated there was a swing of the wind to the left ( again ) which meant that ETNZ were now almost level with Alinghi. Bad decision by Alinghi.

Then when the two boats came back together, Alinghi had the chance to close tack on top of ETNZ. For you non-sailors, that means that Alinghi could have tacked so they were just to windward and parallel of ENTZ and the "dirty" air from their sail would have degraded ETNZ's performance and forced them to tack away leaving Alinghi in command. However Alinghi tacked about a boat length and a half up wind of ETNZ, and ETNZ were not affected so badly by the wind shadow of Alinghi's sails. ETNZ were able to stay where they were and eventually force Alinghi out to the right of the course passed the lay line (the line where a yacht sail directly down - or up - to the mark). This meant that Alinghi tacked behind ETNZ and had to sail a little further to the mark. ETNZ rounded the top mark ahead, and drew away on the spinaker leg down to the finish line as the wind dropped to 8 or 9 knots.

Bad call Alinghi, and on the TV Brad Butterworth looked absolutely pissed off - and rightly so, he should have been really ashamed of himself.

So, ETNZ by 28 seconds -

Alinghi 1 - Emirates Team New Zealand 1

Rest day tonight, so a normal night's sleep and getting ready for Tuesday night again. However this is a turning point in the cup. Alinghi can be beaten,. And it looks as if the two boats have different speed ranges, Alinghi faster in higher winds and ETNZ faster in lighter winds.

Posted: Mon Jun 25, 2007 8:39 pm

It's being shown only on Fox Sports over here and at 8.30am so depending on what my day is I either see it or have to check online. Sad

Come on NZ!!!!

Posted: Mon Jun 25, 2007 8:40 pm

Go NZL! The pressure is on and we have a real competition on our hands. Personally I'd love NZL to repeat the last race for the next 4 just to wipe any remaining smug grins from the face of the opposition.

But in reality tomorrows race should be very interesting and may well decide the winner of the Cup.

Posted: Tue Jun 26, 2007 6:42 pm

WOW!!!!! Nearly went to bed when the race was postponed again and again because of changeable and light wins. Great work by the race controllers though - eventually.

Team New Zealand got a good start in that they were the right hand boat, but Alinghi had a bit of boat speed up and got away to a small lead. But Emirates Team New Zealand were away to a 400 metre lead by the first mark, the result of being the boat to the right when the wind swung that way - and that was the result of their great start where they were the boat on the right hand side.

Emirates Team New Zealand held their lead down the second leg under spinacker, but really fouled up rounding the bottom mark. Emirates Team New Zealand got their spinacker (actually a genoa - an asymmetrical spinacker) caught in the foresail track and almost lost a man overboard. Alinghi caught up, and then it was good work from Alinghi that saw them round the third mark slightly ahead.

Alinghi kept in front down the last spinacker leg for about for about 2 miles (about 2/3 of the leg). Alinghi made a mistake though of going away from Emirates Team New Zealand looking for stronger winds (yachties call this looking for "pressure"), the lead changed a couple of times, but Alinghi had to do one extra gybe (a change of direction where they have to move the spinacker across the front of the boat from one side to the other) and Team New Zealand won by 24 seconds.

Go Kiwi Spirit !!!!

Alinghi 1 - Emirates Team New Zealand 2

EDIT: Interesting fact from the TVNZ team in Valencia while filling in waiting for the race to start. Since 1871, the team which wins the third race has always won the Americas Cup. Just hope that proves right this year Very Happy

Posted: Tue Jun 26, 2007 9:30 pm

WOOHOO!!! Now that is what we call a race!

Barker did an incredible job of hanging in there well enough to be able to take advantage of the wind change on the last leg.

I'm sure the air in the Alinghi camp will be suitably blue after such a massive tactical blunder on the last leg by not covering TNZ. Has having the faster boat caused Alinghi to become a touch overconfident and take their eye off the basics?

And as for Alinghi complaining that the race shouldn't have been started in such shifty conditions, every race was sailed in the same or even more changable conditions when they won the cup in Auckland.

Posted: Wed Jun 27, 2007 2:42 am

Great race Very Happy

I blocked all news this morning and watched the delayed coverage here.
Shame about the blunder but how well the black boat did to come back in the last couple of minutes.

It's on earlier at 6.30am tomorrow. Here's hoping Wink

Posted: Wed Jun 27, 2007 8:53 pm

Another great race, not that exciting to watch if you're an Emirates Team New Zealand fan, very good work by Alinghi and a great race anyway.

There were three things that affected the race - the wind and sea conditions, boat speed, and the crew work.

Light wind from 7 to 10 knots, and a very disturbed chop. There had been a stronger wind overnight from a slightly different direction so there was a nasty chop. This seems to favour Alinghi because though they also have a narrow boat it is a little fuller at the bow and this gives it bouyancy up front when it hits a wave. These boats need a higher wind to drive through waves and you could see that the Emirates Team New Zealand boat seemed to go just a little deeper into the waves.

Now it was obvious that Emirates Team New Zealand wanted the left hand side of the start line. They had Alinghi pushed up above the committee boat in the pre-start and could have kept them there and started on the right hand of the start line with Alinghi several seconds behind. But Emirates Team New Zealand must have expected the wind to swing round to the left of the course because they let Alinghi go and took the left hand start. If the wind swings one way the boat on that side goes ahead in relation to the wind, so if the wind swung left then the boat on the left will ease ahead. A small left hand shift did come later in the first leg, but not as large as I bet Emirates Team New Zealand expected and Alinghi made more of the right hand side to go around the first mark ahead. The wind changed in strength but did stay remarkably even in terms of direction.

Boat speed seemed pretty much even, at least on the first leg which was a long drag race with only one tack. I saw some figues on the first leg which gave the distance that the two boats had sailed and their average speeds. Emirates Team New Zealand had sailed 95 metres further than Alinghi and both boats had average speeds over the distance they had sailed of 9.5 knots. (9.5 knots in a 7.8 knot wind, that's not bad is it - going faster than the wind? Ah, but that's another story!)

Alinghi seemed to have learned from their mistake yesterday when they went too far away from Emirates Team New Zealand and lost the race. They kept a closer cover through all the race, though they were in loose cover mode on the last leg. Alinghi did make one mistake though but it didn't cost them. At the bottom mark at the end of the second leg they weren't going to be able to sail around the bouy on the course they were heading. They obviously wanted to turn around the left hand bouy, because instead of gybing and going around the right hand bouy they eased off in order to get around the bouy. Their boat speed dropped down to about 5 knots and Emirates Team New Zealand caught up a lot, but Alinghi were just enough ahead that it didn't matter and got the side of the course they wanted. Lots of tacks up the third leg but Alinghi were able to keep Emirates Team New Zealand out to the left hand side of the course and the race was all Alinghi's from there.

Nice race to watch from a tactical view, great strategic race from Alinghi, and no moaning from Emirates Team New Zealand about the wind and chop. After the race the official measurer wanted to check the number of sails the boats carried and to make sure that they could lower their mainsail without a man having to go up the mast - random rule checks, you've got to be able to lower your mainsail without a man having to go up the mast for safety's sake. Alinghi did send a man up the mast to attach a halyard to the mainsail so they could lower it slowly to reduce the chances of damaging it and Emirates Team New Zealand have protested that. But Alinghi must have got the measurer's persission because their man attached the halyard and kept his hands out away from the top of the mast while the sail was released from below.

Great weather reading and tactical race by Alinghi. It's even now so it comes down to the best of the next five!

Alinghi 2 - Emirates Team New Zealand 2

C'mon Emirates Team New Zealand, go the big black boat!!!!!

Posted: Thu Jun 28, 2007 12:20 am

And now we wait for the cup jury to hand down verdict on TNZ's protest against Alinghi for sending a man up the mast after the start line.

Quote:

The race measurement committee greeted both teams within a minute of sailing over the finish line and asked both them to drop their mainsails.

The caveat of not allowing each team to send a man up its mast was added.

This is a technical requirement under the cup rules.

Principal race officer Peter Reggio said the rules of the America's Cup class required that the action could be performed for safety reasons in case the need arose during a race.

"So they are just checking to make sure they both have that capability," he said.

Asked what the consequences were if it couldn't be done, he said: "I wouldn't want to conjecture. I don't think it's going to be very pretty."

Team New Zealand complied but Alinghi couldn't and Kiwi Murray Jones was sent up the mast and appeared to unbuckle a halyard lock, bringing the mainsail to deck.

Rule 31.6 says "mainsails shall be able to be lowered to the deck without the necessity of a crew member going aloft". But Alinghi defended themselves during the post-race press conference.

Jones told media that Alinghi was concerned they might have broken gear equipment if its halyard lock was unfastened in the lumpy seas.

Butterworth even chided media who had already sent out website stories about the incident minutes after it happened.

"A few uneducated members of the press were saying it was a problem," said the three times America's Cup winner in dismissing the incident as anything serious.

Jones added: "(The measuring committee) elected to do a measurement check on our boat today. They wanted to check whether the mainsail could be released from the main halyard lock without any assistance. So with those big waves we asked if we could put the halyard on loosely so it didn't fall down and break battens. We tripped it off and that was that."

My understanding is that the reason for being able to lower the mainsail is safety, for example the boats are halfway through a race and the weather unexpectedly gets nasty to the point where lowering the mainsail is required to enasure the safety of the boat and crew (i.e. prevent capsizing or rigging collaspe). Alignhi sending someone up the mast to do this during a test in 'lumpy seas' because the are worried about the halyard falling, calls into question whether they could lower the mainsail safely without assistance in an emergency situation. If they are worried about it falling, and damaging the sail, would it posible for it fall and possibly injure crew members in a real emergency?

Posted: Thu Jun 28, 2007 8:38 pm

The jury ruled 3-2 in favor of Alinghi, so race 5 could considered a grudge match as Alinghi are spitting tacks over this "frivilous time wasting".

Posted: Fri Jun 29, 2007 2:17 am

AFAIK the team that gets to 3 wins first has always won the cup.

Next race is therefore, at least historically, crucial to who will win the cup.

Personally I think Dean Barker is overrated.

Posted: Fri Jun 29, 2007 8:00 am

Um Red,

1983, Liberty leads Australia II by 3 - 1.

And we all know what happened next don't we?

The protest has been overruled, and I can't see how any of the protest committee could have agreed with Emirates Team New Zealand. The measurer clearly stated that Alinghi had asked for permission to send a man up the mast to attach a halyard to control the fall of the mainsail to avoid damage or injury, and he was clearly seen holding his hands away from the sail when the mainsail was released from below.

However a couple of the protest committee agreed, so perhaps it wasn't a frivilous waste of time after all.

Race 5 tonight, early to bed and set the alarm for midnight Very Happy

Posted: Fri Jun 29, 2007 8:58 am

^^^ apologies... hence the "AFAIK" Very Happy

I hate this "protest" crap. Unless it's blindingly obvious they circumvented the rules it is so unsportmansly (its a word damnit!) to protest simply because you lost, it makes me rather embarrassed actually.

What's worse is that it wasn't like it made a difference. The better team won the race.
TNZ needs to win a start, then they'll win the races.
Less whinging, more winning! Very Happy

Posted: Fri Jun 29, 2007 10:34 pm

Now this is really funny. The media here in New Zealand have been claiming that while Alinghi may have a slight edge in boat speed, the superior crew work of Emirates Team New Zealand (having worked up in the competition of the Louis Vuitton Cup) will overcome and they will win the cup.

Well, superior crew work went out the window last night! And just as well that Alinghi's boat speed advantage didn't seem to be there.

Emirates Team New Zealand got the edge at the start line, great work by Dean Barker, and kept level all the way up a long drag race and led at the top mark with a slight shift of the wind to the left hand side to help them. In fact Alinghi made a less than perfect spinnaker set at the first mark (OK, OK, it's a gennaker, an asymetrical spinnaker and I suppose I'd better use that term from now on).

But going down the second leg a small hole appeared in Emirates Team New Zealand's gennaker. It's amazing what loads these light light sales carry - say there is one tenth of one psi on the gennaker, thats 14 pound force per sq foot and say the sail is 500 hundred of sq feet in area, then the load on the sail is 7000 pounds - and that's conservative because the pressure is sure to be more than just one tenth of one psi. So Emirates Team New Zealand had to change their gennacker.

What you can do is a "peel" set or a running or "bare" set. For a "peel" set you raise a second sail inside or outside the existing sail (I've never had to do one so I don't know if its inside or outside - probably outside now I think about it but it's a matter of preference. Once the second sail is set like a second skin over the first sail, you lower the first sail leaving the new sail set and losing very little if any boat speed. For a bare set you have the second sail ready to raise and have it all connected and release the first sail, bring it down, then raise the second sail.

This is where Emirates Team New Zealand crew work turned to custard. They had the second sail up on deck and the bowman went out on the spinnaker pole to connect the foot of the second sail to the sheet (a sheet is a rope for the landlubbers). So the guys at the mast know that they have to raise the second sail soon. The way it all worked out, they were probably doing a "peel" set.

What happened was that the first sail split apart and blew out to the right hand side before the bowman had the sheet attached to the foot of the second sail. The guys at the mast saw the first sail released - or so they must have thought - and started to haul up the second sail which opened as it was being raised. The bowman out on the end of the spinnaker pole now had the foot of the first sail still attached to the sheet and the foot of the second sail held in his hands. As the second sail was raised and filled, that 7000 pounds of force (you knew there was a reason for the mathematics before didn't you) ripped the foot of the second sail out of his hands and sent the second sail trailing like a medieval banner from the top of the mast.

Bad team work, the guys at the mast shouldn't have raised the second sail until they knew it was attached properly. Now they had to raise a thrid sail (they probably had now used their smallest gennaker as their first sail and the spare smallest gennaker as their second sail - the wind was around the top of the range in which they'd use a gennaker, and sails for stronger winds are smaller and made of a heavier material - so they probably used their next smallest gennaker - one suitable for slightly lighter winds). When they raised this third sail it twisted, made a shape like a wine glass, and that took a lot of time before it was set and developing full power. Then they had to cut the halyard (the rope which raises the top of a sail up to the top of the mast) and abandon the second sail in the water for their support crew to pick up.

I don't know if Alinghi eased off to protect their own gear from there on, you just don't do that at this level of competition, but Emirates Team New Zealand came back up the third leg and down the last leg. They picked up 9 seconds or so. If Alinghi didn't ease off then they will be reviewing that. On the fourth leg, Emirates Team New Zealand used a symetrical spinnaker, a spinnaker is easier to gybe and that might have helped them pick up a second or two down the last leg. The wind was right at the speed where you would change from a gennaker to a spinnaker, so luck smiled on Emirates Team New Zealand in that respect.

So bad communications, rush and panic. Emirates Team New Zealand lost a couple of hundred metres on the second leg and probably a million kiwis turned their TVs off at that stage and went to bed Laughing

Anyway, bad luck that the gennaker got a hole in it, but poor performance by the Emirates Team New Zealand crew with the sail change. I'm sure that Grant Dalton will explain to them what they did wrong - in suitable single syllable words.

Alinghi 3 - Emirates Team New Zealand 2

Now this reminds me of a quote by either Allan Bond or John Bertram when Australia II were 3 - 1 down against Liberty in 1983. When asked how hard it would be to come back from 3 - 1 down they said, "We only ever had to win four races, we still only have to win four races." And they came back and took the cup 4 - 3.

Posted: Sat Jun 30, 2007 10:09 pm

Really well sailed by Alinghi last night. Ed Baird came out of his shell a little bit and was very aggressive in the pre-start and Alinghi held the advantage over the line. But I think Emirates Team New Zealand made a couple of mistakes which cost them the race.

Emirates Team New Zealand got away to a slight edge - mainly from the flukey windshifts - and rounded the first mark slightly ahead.

Alinghi picked up a couple of seconds down the second leg, and then came decision time at the bottom "gate". This year, for the first time, there are two bouys at the bottom of the downwind leg instead of just one bouy. The boats can choose which one to go round, and generally if the lead boat takes one then the second boat will take the other so that they are going off to the opposite side of the course. They may think there is more wind there or they are going to pick up a wind shift in their favour, or they may think that it will force the lead boat to tack across to cover them - thus doing one more tack thatn they have to do and therefore lsing a few metres from their lead.

Emirates Team New Zealand went round the right bouy and Alinghi went left. That's looking down the course, so on the 3rd upwind leg Emirates Team New Zealand are going out to the left on starboard tack and Alinghi are going out to the right on port tack. Alinghi have one thing in their favour, when the boats come back together Alinghi will be on starboard tack and have the right of way.

First mistake for Emirates Team New Zealand. There are 3 rules in match racing for the leading boat, cover the other boat, cover the other boat, and cover the other boat. This reduces the chance of the other boat getting a favourable wind shift, and this would seem more vital last night when the wind was so light and flukey. Not only could one boat get the advantage of a wind change but it could also get slightly stronger wind though with no wind direction change. Emirates Team New Zealand got a slight advantage at first, but when they were further up the leg Alinghi got more pressure and pulled back the lead. When the boats came together Alinghi seemed to be going just fast enough to get passed Emirates Team New Zealand and take the lead up to the top mark.

After rounding the top mark, Alinghi got ahead by up to 100 to 125 metres, and we saw the boats separate quite a bit. Alinghi must have thought there was stronger wind out to their right and initially this proved the case. However Emirates Team New Zealand got more wind at about two thirds of the way down the last leg and pulled back up to Alinghi. When Alinghi gybed and came across to meet Emirates Team New Zealand, the kiwi boat pulled up to only 25 metres behind. That means the Emirates Team New Zealand bow would have been only 5 to 10 metres behind the stern of Alinghi.

Now something I don't understand. I would have thought this was an ideal position for Emirates Team New Zealand to be in. They wouldn't have got any advantage from changes in the wind, but Alinghi would have had to gybe sooner or later and Emirates Team New Zealand could have shadowed the alinghi sails with disturbed air and got passed. However after a minute or so of extremely close racing, Emirates Team New Zealand gybed away and went out to their left of the course. Alinghi kept going out to their right and picked up some stronger wind and won by 100 or so metres.

I think Emirates Team New Zealand lost the chance of winning the race when they gybed away from Alinghi. they were down into the last third of the leg and that would have been the only chance to pass. Maybe they thought there was more wind out to their left, but if there was then Alinghi would have followed them. They should have waited for Alinghi to gybe first. Bad decision.

So, sixth race gone and ....

Alinghi 4 - Emirates Team New Zealand 2

But Australia II were 3 - 1 down and came back to win in 1983. Though I don't think that Denis Conner in Liberty was as strong as Alinghi is this year.

And it looks as if Alinghi will have to find five vital team members for the next Americas Cup, if they win or lose. Whatever team Russell Coutts signs for will also get Brad Butterworth, Simon Daubney, Murray Jones, Warwick Fleury and Dean Phipps from the Alinghi crew signing for them as well.

Posted: Tue Jul 03, 2007 8:28 pm

And so it ends. Alinghi successfully defend the America's Cup with a 1 second win over TNZ after TNZ had to complete a penalty turn just out from the finish line!

This was the best Cup I can recall, it was a true competition and not simply a procession once the boats crossed the start line.

However I am very ashamed to be a kiwi after hearing the abuse that the crowds of TNZ supporters hurled at Alinghi and other boats as the yachts came back into the port. Those idiots should remember that without the kiwi contingent on Alinghi, there wouldn't have been a Team Alinghi as we know it. It was the kiwi input on bith sides that made this the exciting cup challenge that it was.

Now for the post-cup intrigue among all the major players. TNZ, Alinghi, Oracle, Luna Rossa - Who stays? Who goes? Where to?

Posted: Tue Jul 03, 2007 9:31 pm

Yes, the 7th was a real cliffhanger...I think most had awarded Alinghi the Cup well before the finish...and damned if the Kiwi's didn't almost pull it back from the brink!

The entire regatta has been a true contest, much closer than the 5-2 score shows.

It'll probably never happen, but it would be nice to see true national teams...as callum points out, the Swiss had a mostly Kiwi crew, with an American helmsman and probably the best big boat tactician racing today...also a Kiwi. The Kiwi's have nothing to be ashamed of in the competitive sailing world.

(something still weird about Switzerland with the Cup...no coastline, Lake Geneva hardly counts...and now it's twice. sheesh.....)

Posted: Tue Jul 03, 2007 11:45 pm

Argh a sad day to be a NZer. The closeness of the racing suggests it really should have been a 5-4 final scoreline. Damn I really thought we had a chance at 2-1 up.

Well done Alinghi, 5 - 2 to take the Americas Cup	View next topic View previous topic