Spain Challenger of Record for the next Cup

July 1, 2007

I got the word last night that if Alinghi win today Desafio Español will be the Challenger of Record for the 33rd Americas Cup in two years time.

Look out for Augustin Zulueta from Desafio Español to be on Alinghi’s VIP spectator boat Vava to hand over the hip pocket challenge.

I wonder if the agreement for Desafio Español becoming the Challenger of Record will be that the next cup will remain in Valencia. There are also rumblings of a possible change to the design rules, with longer waterline length allowed on the next generation of the IACC class rule.

You heard it here first…

1 Comment | Alinghi, America's Cup Teams, Americas Cup, Desafio Espanol, Emirates Team New Zealand, IACC, New Zealand, Sailing, Spain, Sports, Valencia, Yachting | Permalink
Posted by peterlester

Kiwi conditions work in Team NZ’s favour

May 24, 2007

©ACM 2007/Photo:Stefano Gattini

Photo: Stefano Gattini 

Well Team New Zealand are into the final of the Louis Vuitton Cup.

They got there by beating the Spanish in helter skelter sailing conditions this morning. The waves were pounding, the wind blowing. Just of the kind of conditions Kiwis love, just the kind of conditions our kids grow up sailing P-Class yachts in.

Dean Barker won the match at the start boxing the Spanish out. It was a good aggressive start for him and is a good start to end on before heading into the final against Luna Rossa.

The New Zealanders powered over the line well ahead and extended on every leg. The only concern for Team New Zealand in the race was the injury to bowman Jeremy Lomas who was hanging on to the spinnaker and big wave came whipping a bit of skin off his finger. But it appears he is okay.

Team New Zealand have come out of the semis in good shape. We went into this thing thinking Spain were easy opponents but they have turned out to be formidable opponents - when you come to Spain to sail the Spanish they are usually very good. I think this team is the same, they were very comfortable in their own environment. I think it was a good reality check for the Kiwis. It was interesting to see how they reacted to their losses. That was to come back pretty ruthlessly both times and take the Spanish apart.

So it is on to the final against Luna Rossa, what a match that will be.

1 Comment | America's Cup Teams, Americas Cup, Desafio Espanol, Emirates Team New Zealand, Sailing, Spain, Sports, Valencia, Weather, Yachting | Permalink
Posted by peterlester

No racing

May 22, 2007

Racing has just been postponed for the day, too much wind – 24kts and a large seaway in the AC harbour channel. I biked down to the end of the breakwater to check it out, it does look a bit nasty. ETNZ will have to wait another day to try and finish off the Spanish. The windGURU forecast is here…

About the only good thing that has come out of Oracle being knocked out of the LVC is that the current Star world champion Hamish Pepper will get his crew back. Carl Williams who was a crew member with Oracle has now been released of his duties and can continue with Hamish with their preparation for the Star worlds and Olympic build up.  

Leave a Comment » | America's Cup Teams, Americas Cup, Desafio Espanol, Emirates Team New Zealand, IACC, New Zealand, Olympics, Oracle BMW Racing, Sailing, Spain, Sports, Valencia, Weather, Yachting | Permalink
Posted by peterlester

Oracle in a whole heap of trouble

May 20, 2007

Holy! What a prestart between BMW Oracle Racing and Luna Rossa. It was dynamite.

Luna Rossa’s James Spithill had the starboard advantage, Chris Dickson port.

As Dickson has been doing he sailed really deep in the box to try and sail around his opponents bow to neutralise the advantage.

The dial-up was deep in the box to the left which meant Dickson more or less fell into a trap which Spithill took advantage off.

Dickson tried to wriggle out by gybing but got caught in a port starboard. To avoid the collision Spithill gybed on the inside which made him the windward boat.

The windward boat has to keep clear but Oracle put their stern into the Luna Rossa boat. Luna Rossa ended up in that position to avoid a collision. Even if that didn’t happen the windward boat has some protection under the rule that a right of way boat should give a boat keeping clear the opportunity to keep clear. Luna Rossa couldn’t keep clear. The result? Two penalities for Dickson.

The umpires got it spot on and that was the race. Luna Rossa extended on every leg.

Down 4-1 it is a long way back for the Larry Ellison-backed syndicate. The prognosis does not look good for Oracle in terms of strong leadership and turning it round from where they are. The body language does not look good.

As to whether they will make any crew changes? It is never a good idea in this situation.

In their match Team New Zealand looked like they wanted the right. They got a bit compressed so they trailed the Spanish over the line. The didn’t win the start but they won the side. If there was anything in it, it was slightly right and they were on the right.

What was impressive was when they went on that long starboard was how quickly the New Zeaand boat shut the Spanish down. NZL92 was off like a scalded cat. They are sailing the boat very well.

In those choppy, light conditions that black boat looks good.

Again the America’s Cup port and race course was busy with spectators today. It will be interesting tonight to see if Luna Rossa and Team New Zealand can take it out 5-1.

Those of us who are following this event certainly hope so. The idea of what will nearly be a two week break until the final is very, very appealing…

6 Comments | America's Cup Teams, Americas Cup, Desafio Espanol, Emirates Team New Zealand, Luna Rossa, Oracle BMW Racing, Sailing, Spain, Sports, Valencia, Yachting | Permalink
Posted by peterlester

Good start more crucial than ever to America’s Cup success

May 19, 2007

The objective of the challenger series is to prepare a challenger to go up against the defender and beat them.

Although we have seen challenger series in the past where one team has been completely dominant and gone on to win the cup, like Team New Zealand in 1995, the harder the challenger series is, the better prepared the challenger will be.

Given the front end of this regatta was a disaster, with the wind conditions and the delays, now that we are in the semifinals the teams are getting some good, tough, competition.

There are two schools of thought on that, though. If you win your semifinal match easily, say 5-1 or 5-2, you do get the bonus of saving your equipment and people. You buy a bit of time, which is valuable at this stage.

If you have to fight it out right to the end you become race hardened, but at the same time it is tough on your equipment and your people. Read the rest of this entry »

Leave a Comment » | Alinghi, America's Cup Teams, Americas Cup, Desafio Espanol, Emirates Team New Zealand, Facts, IACC, Luna Rossa, New Zealand, Newspaper Stories, Oracle BMW Racing, Sailing, Spain, Sports, Valencia, Yachting | Permalink
Posted by peterlester

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