©ACM 2007/Photo: Vicent Bosch
Well it was a bit of a wild old weather day in Valencia.
It started of wet and windy, turned to light and fickle for the race, then some thunder and lightning decided to make an appearance.
Thankfully by the time the sky was lighting up, Team New Zealand had already secured their fourth consecutive win over Luna Rossa.
The power of the weather calls is proving crucial in Valencia’s fickle conditions.
Team New Zealand’s weather team have pretty much nailed it in the four races.
The Luna Rossa guys have got parts of it wrong.
In todays race Luna Rossa wanted the right and got it and Team New Zealand wanted the left. Luna Rossa had the option and could have crossed over up the first beat but were happy on the right. On the second cross they took a safe leeward and the leftie came in and Team New Zealand powered into the lead.
The Kiwi boat is also a tad quicker so from there it is harder for a boat that is a bit slower to defend. You get the impression that even if the Kiwis were behind they could sail around in that condition.
Luna Rossa need the conditions change. They need more wind. There is meant to be a sea breeze tomorrow but the conditions are not expected to be radically different.
Some people from New Zealand have asked me why they are now seeing limited coverage of Martin and I on TVNZ’s coverage. We are both working for ACTV who are the host broadcaster for the LVC and AC and supply the world feed to TV rights holders. TVNZ are the New Zealand rights holders so they decide if they want to use our voices or those of John Mcbeth and Peter Montgomery etc.
ok. If i was Francesco DeAngelis i’d sign some papers and go home to watch the AC races in the comfort of his (surely) pretty home by the sea. Thanks Luna Rossa, see you in Auckland 2010/11
G’day, Peter. I agree with you that ETNZ is quicker than LR in the light. But the Italians blew this one as well. They had the option of a close cover, yet they allowed the Kiwis a wide separation. By now you’d think they would get it. – if you’re in front (especially in a slower boat) you MUST cover.
At this stage I think 5:Zip is inevitable. But let’s not forget that this only gives us the right to challenge for the AC. How will we go against Alinghi? I guess we’ll shortly find out. Cheers, David G.
Hey David
I am with you on this one.
Half way up the beat this race was Luna Rossa’s to lose, and they did.
Clearly I want to see TNZ make it to the AC, but it is also a shame to see such a good team blow perhaps their only real chance of winning a race because they didnt do the basics.
I was commenting yesterday to one of my colleagues that if TNZ dont bring home the cup that I am gonna needsome “bereavement leave”, so lets hope they do it for the sake of New Zealand’s productivity!
:D:D
The LV Cup is ETNZ’s, and they thoroughly deserve it. There are a lot of Euro and American journalists and so-called yachting “experts” hunting Valenzia looking for cream to go with the crows they’ve been forced to swallow. What we’re witnessing is a very clever and well-planned incremental performance improvement strategy optimised to peak for Race 1 of The Challenge. This is a very powerful and united ETNZ team, and they will already have scheduled how their boat will be configured for Alinghi.
And I like the on-going party emphasis on LUCK. Winning by getting luckier than Luna Rossa 4 times in a row would be pushing the statistical probability curve a bit, but I agree wholeheartedly that they have been very very VERY lucky!! In fact, I believe they are so lucky they can’t help it if the wind FINDs them more times than not….
Yeah right!! They have a very very slow boat. We know this because ETNZ said so….
Hey, Jays. Thanks for your comments. Good to share your views. I know what you mean about the prospect of ‘not bringing the Cup home’. After 2003′s disaster (or should that be, dismaster!) I was depressed for weeks!
But it looks like the the big RE-MATCH with Alinghi is now on!!!! Not that I’m a revengeful person – yeah right!
Did you read that Alinghi was tuning up with Desafio Espanol yesterday? According to the NZ Herald, “It is understood that the teams did four pre-starts. Karol Jablonski, who was sailing with a random Spanish crew, won 3 and Alinghi’s Ed Baird 1″
‘Come back Russell, all is forgiven,’ may well be Alinghi’s mantra after that. Ha ha. Cheers, David G.
The only place Russell Coutts will be going is Oracle – Ellison has plenty of money and Coutts is all about the money. bet ya!
Hey David,
Im not at all worried about crew work or the weather teams as I believe we will be at least Alinghi’s equal. I am however worried about boat speed.
What always causes me to scratch my head is when pundits state that Alinghi’s 2003 boats were half a generation ahead of their contemporaries.
This makes ZERO SENSE to me, because after all they took 9 races to get rid of Oracle in the 2003 LV final.
Regarding depression, feel sorry for me cos my wife is an immigrant and has neither any care nor understanding when I get depressed after TNZ losing or the ABs failing to win the world cup AGAIN!
Anywho, this may be sacriligious but if NZ can only win one of the above, then I MUCh prefer its the AC!
“Half a generation ahead of their contemporaries” is the buzzword favoured by all the idiots who wrote ETNZ off. The formula to which these boats have to be designed hase been dissected by some of the best minds on the planet involved with the other teams. To believe that Alinghi’s boat are designed so advanced as to be “half a generation ahead of their contemporaries” would also invite us to accept and believe that the combined designer capabilities of the 11 challengers were individually and collectively deficient in manipulating the variables in the formula.
I don’t buy it. Right now, ETNZ is the benchmark, a quantifiable benchmark. These claims about Alinghi’s boats are nothing more than unfounded and unsubstantiated rumour-mongering.
ETNZ will win Race 1 of The Challenge.
Hi there Peter, I have a question for you if you have the time.
My understanding of the way trim tabs are used in racing yachts is that they’re mainly an upwind thing, but in the last race I spotted Luna Rosa using a significant amount of trim on their two downward beats. Is there any reason for thim to do this? Was it a function of the lighter breeze? Is trimming downwind not a big hydrodynamic issue with the big IACC boats? Am I just mistaken about the way trim tabs are used?
Thanks.
Hey SHS, I was referring to the boats they used in the last AC campaign in Auckland.
I don’t think I have heard anyone say this about the current generation.
But anywho, my point was that Alinghi JUST beat Oracle in the 2003 LV Cup, so comments like that are nonsense.
With regards to whether Alinghi could be THAT much better, it is possible. After all, look at NZL 60 in 2000. It WAS half a generation ahead of its contemporaries.
That said, such a gap is fairly unlikely given the relative similarity that exists between the boats. The only thing that might cause such a disparity is if someone has actually found a way to circumvent the rules regarding canting/defleting the keel.
When talking about relative boatspeed vs Alinghi etc, I don’t think Alinghi had that much of a design advantage in 2003, just a good all round team.
I have always felt that the real heart ache for the loss of the cup was that NZL 82 had the potential to defend it. When the new look TNZ actually sailed NZL 82 (and 81) in over 20 knots, got rid of the G string appendage (or what ever it was called) and ironed all the realiability bugs out, they routinely beat Alinghi and anyone else in the acts. So it could be that TNZ’s main concern was reforming a strong cohesive team which, you would have to say Grant Dalton has done a superb job. It now comes down to who has gone further with design this time, but to be honest I think Alinghi are going to need a significant boat speed advantage to beat TNZ by the way the kiwis are sailing at the moment.
Go the black,red,light grey,white, and fluro green boat!!!!!!
Yep Daniel, I think ur right!
Actually, aside from reliability I dont think that NZL-82 was a bad boat even during the 2003 defence.
Most of the time it showed pretty even boat speed. Its just that our crew were largely inexperienced and probably also (understandably) lacked confidence in their boat.
p.s. G-String -> very funny!
G’day guys. Bloody interesting discussion. Boat technology aside, I think Alinghi’s biggest weakness is their helmsmen. Now if they were fronting with the likes of Russell Coutts (thank God he got the pip and buggered off) or maybe Paul Cayard or even Ben Ainsley, I’d be a worried man. We shall see. ‘G-string’ indeed …or was that a thong? ha, ha. Cheers, David G.
Hi all
Will be up tonite seeing the final dance of LR in AC32.
I am more confident that ETNZ have the package to defeat Adingy than a week ago.
ETNZ are significantly faster than LR ad I think ETNZ have finally removed the sea anchor and we are seeing it reach it’s full potential. Adingy have starting problems and one rumour from within Adingy said that Ed Baird would have trouble starting his own car, let alone a yacht race.
Wait for some better sails in ‘the match’ come 23/6 I reckon.
Regards
Peter Bickle
Don’t believe too many rumours about problems within Adingy (very funny btw) Peter.
I remember watching an interview with Peter Blake about the 1995 campaign saying that they purposely spread the rumour that “the black boat was a dog and that they were considering painting the red boat black!”
In the same program, Dennis Conner commented that the rumour was treated as fact and TNZ were pretty much written off until they started kicking butt in the LV Cup.
I do think we have a better team tho. If Adingy (still love that) dont have a boat speed advantage, I think we stand a better than average chance of laying the smack down on them.
Nice discussion today.
Question: Does someone know/read anything about the (so called) team chemistry within the Alinghi boat? I’ve been reading other blogs and its very hard to find anything about Alinghi in general but I’d like to know how Butterworth & Co. are getting along with the new helsman(men) now that Russell isn’t there anymore.
Brad is looking and sounding like a complete arse in the few interviews I’ve seen to be honest. He looks so bloody arrogant. Fine, I know he is possible the best tactician in the world but a bit of good ol’ kiwi humility wouldn’t do any harm.
Andy, reports about Alinghi’s team cohesiveness, when they actually come out, haven’t been overly positive, and if so, that’s probably TNZ’s greatest bit of leverage over the Swiss given we’re unlikely to be faster than them. Of course, reports also suggested that Oracle would be the team to beat in the LVC, so take that with a grain of salt.
When Coutts joined the team, he basically brought his sail trimmers and afterguard with him, so there was team unity out of the box, however a good deal of them have since left (shades of TNZ in 2003, although don’t bet on seeing those blue buckets or any snapped masts this time around). If they chose Ed Baird as helmsman then it’ll be even worse, as he’s so saccharinly nice I can’t imagine he’d be able to drive the team if things turn into a street fight.
As for Brad being arrogant, well yes, but he was like that when he sailed for us too. He is pretty much the best tactician ever in the history of America’s Cup when you look at his statistics, so I guess he’s entitled to be. Losing the cup to TNZ would be a nice dish of humble pie for him.
In any case, nothing I’ve seen sofar tells me Alinghi is at all unassailable. They aren’t going to be as easy as Desafio or Luna Rosa though.
About Desafio-Alinghi pre-starting drills, the score turned out 3 wins for desafio and a tie…
In the interveiw I saw, Butterworth seemed more interested in playing golf than sailing, he’s probably a very wealthy man by now and maybe the drive to put in 110% is not there as it used to be. After all, Coutts and co said how boring it was being a defender when they left TNZ, the problem for a dingy (he he) is that TNZ really seem to have a point to prove and want this thing bad. Then again Ernesto has got some pretty big carrots…..
Cheers Carl that was a cool answer. And of course i knew about Russell’s bunch what I honestly didn’t know was that Baird was that nice
(loved the word saccharinely)
Anyway, I hope Daniel is right and Brad is more focused on his shares portfolio than defending the Cup.
The thing is that ETNZ 2007 looks a lot like Ali Ghi 2003. Strong team, strong boat (probably not the fanciest though), pretty good management of money, design, sails programme. Extremely effective package. I think that’s the recipe to win the America’s Cup.
Anybody with $200 million to spare?, I’m a pretty good bowman.
Just noticed that luna rossa have been issued with a new ACC Certificate. could make things alittle more interesting, i don’t think it will be enough, surely they would have done any mode changes before race 4, this seems like abit of a gamble by them.. should be an interesting race
Of course, TNZ’s budget is puny compared to Alinghi’s. But if anything this year has shown us that money isn’t everything. Compare the results of Desafio (whose budget was about half that of even TNZ) to Oracle, who were spending more than many nation’s GDP.
As for Baird, he’s like the grandad you always wish you had.
Hey Carl, not so sure about TNZ’s budget being puny. Personally, I think that is just some more of their espionage to get people to take them lightly.
They have a LOT of wealthy backers on top of official corporate sponsorship.
Also, I suspect that our boys are being paid a LOT less than Alinghi’s or Oracle’s, which makes the budget go further. I am not saying that our guys are on the bread line, but when you want someone to race for a foreign country for which you hold no affinity, your only incentive is probably money.
With regards to the new certificate on LR, yeah that has got to be some desperate last roll of the dice. Maybe they will stick the rudder at the front and try to sail it backwards?
But seriously, when you have got nothing to lose you try crazy things and sometimes, just sometimes you get lucky.