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…

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.

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.  

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…

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.

In-house racing is not the same. The challenger series is real. Teams are trying things, altering their boats, briefing, debriefing while under pressure to perform.
Now that the conditions have settled in Valencia, it can be one-dimensional, where one side is heavily favoured.

Because there is little difference in boat speed between the top four teams, if you are behind it will be extremely difficult to get around someone getting first pick of the wind.

Therefore, starting well is going to be crucial.

Luna Rossa’s James Spithill is the best starter at the moment. If the conditions are very one-dimensional he is very dangerous.

Team New Zealand’s Dean Barker is probably next. He has been going well, aside from the hiccup against the Spanish in race three.

BMW Oracle Racing’s Chris Dickson, however, is in a bit of a trough when it comes to starting. But that can easily change.

The conditions will probably even up a bit. In June last year the conditions were a bit more mixed and not so one-sided.

Each time you have a subtle change in conditions the boats look different.

In Auckland the harsher conditions led to boats being more dominant. In Valencia the light winds and sea state tend to have an equalising effect.

You are going to have upsets in this venue, that is just the way it is.

Whichever challenger goes though to the America’s Cup match will be match hardened in starting, tactically and positioning wise.

Then it comes down to: have they got the equipment?

We won’t know the answer to that until race one. If the challenger is even in boat speed, then it bodes well for them.

Well Emirates Team New Zealand are just two wins away from making the final of the Louis Vuitton Cup.

In their match against the Spanish today Dean Barker had a cracker of a start. It was great.

They charged over the line at pace and were able to get bow forward on the Spanish at the first cross. They then bounced them out to the right and edged ahead, then extended round the course.

Chris Dickson’s BMW Oracle Racing are in a bit of trouble trailing Luna Rossa 3-1.

The American’s aren’t nailing their starts. Today James Spithill beat them off the line again Luna Rossa then got the first shift, got bow forward and that was it.

There was a huge (over 2km) separation on the second beat and it initially looked like Oracle had caught up.

However when the boats came back together Luna Rossa were about six lengths ahead at the top mark. You are never going to get back.
Oracle also broke a flipper on their mast in the prestart.

They broke a headsail foil in the round robin which resulted in a loss against Team China which in turn cost them their place as the top challenger. It is surprising that Oracle, of all the teams, are having gear failure.

Oracle are fast enough but the Luna Rossa afterguard are putting the boat in a better position in the crucial parts of the race.

It is a tough road back for Oracle but you would never write them off.

It is difficult to say whether Team New Zealand actually did much to NZL92 between the round robins and the semifinals. They haven’t done a mode change during the round robins or semifinals. By that we mean they have not changed their rudder, keel bulb, etc.

The boat still looks to have the same bulb – the shorter one with the Kiwi flag on it. They may have a new rig in the boat, but it is still one that has four spreaders. A new rig may be a little stiffer, a little lighter and further refined.

It did look like they changed to a different style of mainsail after round robin one. The first one they used looked quite flat and was maybe aimed at more wind. The one they are using now looks a little rounder in the back. But it is very hard to pick because they do a damn good job at making the sails look the same. The layout and the construction is the same.

The challengers are allowed to use only 45 sails during the Louis Vuitton Cup. So it’s important to try to save your sails for the big matches. If Team New Zealand go on to beat Desafio Espanol comfortably from 2-1 up it will mean they have been able to save some new sails. That could be valuable down the track.

It looks like Team New Zealand have improved their downwind sails a lot from last year. It looks like their sail shapes are a lot more forgiving and don’t wobble around as much as they did. They look quite stable. On the whole the team looks solid.

Like all of the teams Team New Zealand are not keen for people to shoot photographs down on to their deck. Deck photos are valuable. You can work out the geometry. You can see where the grinders are on the boat, where the rudder is, where the genoa track is, how big the J measurement is (from the front of the mast to the forestay is). You can also work out the beam of the boat. As one of the narrowest in the competition, for Team New Zealand, that is perhaps something they would like to protect.

BMW Oracle Racing, USA98

It looks like Oracle are still playing around with different configurations to match their opposition. The team did get issued a new measurement certificate on Wednesday. If teams want to change anything significant on their boats they have to get it re-measured. Teams have to have a measurement certificate, which proves their boats comply with the rules, otherwise they are unable to race. It looks like Oracle could be trying to speed their boat up a little bit upwind and trade off a bit downwind to match Luna Rossa.

Luna Rossa look to have sped their boat up on the upwind and traded a bit downwind.

Oracle also have a jumper-less rig which looks pretty nice. They also have ceramic winches, which reduces a bit of weight in the boat. Every kilo you can take out of the boat you can put into the keel. In most of the teams now the winching has been developed in a big way. The winch components are now lower in the floor, dropping the centre of gravity.

Like Alinghi, Oracle have paid a lot of attention to detail. Their sail programme looks nice. They will be using fresh sails against Luna Rossa.

Down track that means they will have burned off a bit more of their ‘Gucci’ gear than Team New Zealand.

Alinghi, SUI100

While the challengers are battling away on the Mediterranean, the two slick red and black Alinghi boats can often been seen hurtling down the coast. On occasions they have appeared ghost-like, emerging through the hazy Valencia conditions.

In the early stages of their campaign Alinghi got a bit stroppy when people tried to photograph part of the deck where the mast connects to it. Maybe they were trying to hide something in relation to their rig, maybe it was something to do with their keel.

It has since been revealed that one or maybe more of the teams has asked the measurer a series of questions relating to the keel. Have Alinghi come up with a way of preventing the keel fin from deflecting under the weight of the 19 tonne keel bulb? Looking at their boats it is difficult to say. Like Oracle, Alinghi have jumper-less rigs, designed to reduce drag by eliminating the jumper near the top of the mast. They are believed to be effective in Valencia where the wind is rather mellow compared with, well, let’s say, Auckland.

The detailing on the Alinghi boats is immaculate. They look like the designers have spent a lot of time on attention to detail, examining everything that might cut down drag both hydro-dynamically and aero-dynamically.

The boats aside, it is believed Alinghi are about to embark on another series of defender trials. The aim of the trials is to fine-tune their crew-work and assess helmsmen Ed Baird and Peter Holmberg.

Rumour has it that if Alinghi think they have a boat-speed advantage the conservative Baird will steer, if not they will got for the more aggressive Holmberg

Luna Rossa, ITA94

The syndicate appear to have a new rig in the boat. Luna Rossa seem to be quite twitchy about people being in their yard.

What they are trying to hide is unclear. Again, it could be something in the keel area.

The Luna Rossa boat is the most radical here. It is very hard in the bilge, very slab-sided and very flat along the bottom. The boat looks good in flat water, maybe not so great in waves.

They look to have done a mode change in between the round robin and the semis to speed the boat up upwind.

It has been suggested the boat has a new bulb, a new rudder, and new fin. That would suggest they have pitched the boat to go upwind and then “hang on” downwind. Against Oracle, they have been quick upwind but have struggled a bit downwind. That could be down to pressure, wind shifts or simply not being quick enough.

Luna Rossa may have decided they are not going to match Oracle’s boat speed so have decided to sail their own race. Something which does come naturally to them.
Desafio Espanol, ESP97

Like BMW Oracle Racing, Desafio Espanol were also issued a new measurement certificate ahead of race three.

Like the Americans, Desafio Espanol were going well downwind but needed to find something more upwind.

Because of the short time frame the change may have been a rudder change or a change to the wings on the keel. A bigger rudder would give them a bit more grip and lift upwind.

Increasing the pitch on the wings improves performance upwind, but also increase drags, making the boat a touch slower downwind. The Spanish had to do something to match the Kiwis upwind. The Spanish boat is quite a tidy package. Their sail and rig programmes both look good.

They sailed a good race to beat Team New Zealand.

It was an even better day for Luna Rossa helmsman James Spithill who caned Oracle in the prestart again. That boy is on fire. Chris Dickson has got to be worried.

It was a day where you had to win the start and win the first cross.

In Team New Zealand’s race they came in from starboard which got nullified. What was interesting was that New Zealand tacked away out of the dialup, Spain gybed away came out slow and the New Zealanders attacked them again for a second dial-up. There was a penalty question asked there. It looked close but it was green flagged. Then here was the second incident and Dean Barker fouled out. Team New Zealand then ended up on the left. The right was the place to be. It was a one way track.

As you can imagine the Spain were over the moon with their win. Don’t they show it.

The teams have a day off before race four on Friday night (NZT).

Team New Zealand skipper Dean Barker dominated the start in their match against the Spanish. They basically won the start, won the first cross and won the match. They are now 2-0 up.

The other race between Luna Rossa and Oracle was far more intriguing. Luna Rossa helmsman James Spithill was brilliant at the start absolutely clearing Chris Dickson out. The action got over to the right by the committee boat. Oracle set up above the layline, Luna Rossa set up to leeward of the layline and then shut the gate. There was no where for Oracle to go.

However Oracle came back and ran them down on the final run. Some of it was speed, some of shifts. Chris Dickson did well to defend his small lead to the finish. 

The strategy of Luna Rossa seems to be to sail their own race. Some of that is probably tactician Torben Grael, that is his style. But some of it might be if we are to beat these guys we have to sail from point A to point B as quick as we can. They don’t want to get in a boat speed race with them. Oracle are faster.

In ‘Dancing With The Stars’ news. No not the New Zealand show, the Spanish one. So good are the “stars” that you are never really too sure who is the pro and who is the “celeb”.  Not sure that could ever be said about the NZ version.

Desafio Espanol o

Luna Rossa 1

BMW Oracle Racing 0

There were big wind shifts and also a big range of wind speeds.

Windshifts was what it was all about. They were massive. Looking at the Oracle and Luna Rossa match on the second beat the boats tacked through about 70 degrees. At one stage they did three tacks and they tacked through 40 degrees because of the windshifts.

Team New Zealand got the start they wanted against Desafio Espanol. Dean Barker timed it beautifully. They look like they have got this mode that allows them to hang in that windward position for two or three minutes.

They hooked up on the windward side of the Spanish, then a shift came through and vroom they were 200m ahead. That was a planned move. They had to hold on and hit the first shift. They then kept it close. It is the old small gains, small losses thing.

In the other race Luna Rossa tactician Torben Grael was at his brilliant best. Their weather call was to get the first shift out of the left and they did. For the leading boats on the downwind it is quite difficult because of the pressure differences to defend a lot. I was surprised to see Luna Rossa gybe away on the first downwind run. The second downwind they covered more. Chris Dickson threw that last gybe at them and fell into a windless hole. So it was game, set, match

For Oracle the loss is their second major one in a row. All eyes are now on them to see how they react.

Luna Rossa will have to attack. If it becomes a boat-on-boat race, Oracle are a bit quicker.

Also if Oracle get two races ahead they’ll beat the Italians comfortably.

If Luna Rossa could get up on Oracle in the early races then it will put Chris Dickson under pressure and pressure affects teams in different ways.

Luna Rossa are making a lot of changes to their boat – changing the keel, bulb and rig – which can be risky.

Is it a reaction or was it planned? Oracle are also understood to have a lot more new gear coming. It is understood they are testing a new bulb.

Oracle and Team New Zealand are going to be very similar hardware-wise. They’ll each have their strengths and weaknesses in the different conditions.

Team New Zealand won’t have any difficulty with Desafio Espanol in the semifinals. The Spanish have reached their goal and they have said that. New Zealand should win 5-0.
It is very apparent Team New Zealand are very settled with their equipment. I don’t even know if they are going to alter the boats now.

It looked like NZL92 was configured for 9-11 knots. Once the boat leans over, and it does lean over easily because it is so narrow, it picks up its waterline length and sails long. When that has happened it has looked potent – at least even in speed to Oracle.

I would discount the last race against Oracle. Oracle did it to themselves. Team New Zealand are not 1m 34s quicker. When they come together again in the final, it will be a lot closer.

The New Zealanders went into the series as the top challenger and the expectation was that they would roll on but they got a huge reality check. Down the track it could be a good thing because there is nothing like a good shake-up to get Kiwi teams going.

Losing strategist Adam Beashel to injury and the first race loss to Mascalzone rattled them.

They went on to lose to Luna Rossa on penalty and were then sailed around by Oracle to finish the first round robin third.

But the potential was always there and it was only a matter of time before the systems began to work.

We have seen them regroup from a similar situation last year and they did again this time, finishing round robin two undefeated. They are still two or three races away from their best. Winning is a habit.

There were two teams that didn’t quite live up to expectation in the round robin competition – Victory Challenge and Mascalzone Latino.

The Victory Challenge boat didn’t look that good in the light, shifty conditions early in round one.

When the wind got a bit stronger they looked all right. They were a team that didn’t get a lot of their funding until quite late. When they did get the money they ran out of time.

Mascalzone Latino looked very good after the last pre-regatta. Their second boat looked quite fast. But they were fined twice during the regatta for silly things – using the wrong paint on their boat and not attaching their topmast backstay correctly. They were slack and should have known better

Photo by Gilles Martin-Raget 

Wow! what a win by Team New Zealand.

Beating BMW Oracle Racing by 1 minute 34s.

The right hand shift was there and they picked it.

At the start they fought hard for the right. They probably gave away a little bit of lee-bow advantage to get it. Then they tacked and then there was a big chunk of separation with Team New Zealand out to the right and Oracle out to the left. The surprising thing was Oracle didn’t go with them. They made a mistake or they had different weather information.

Half way up the beat it looked like it was all over for Oracle looking at their body language.

For Team New Zealand you can put the first beat down to good information pre-start, a good start, and hitting the first shift. Although they were 54s ahead at the top mark then they just continued.

The match indicates the boats are still very even. NZL92, looked like NZL84 did last year. When there is a sea breeze, 10-11 knots it looks good. It heels over a lot and uses a lot of water line length when they want to sail the boat fast. It is very good in these conditions.

Well after 24 days of racing that it is the round robin competition is finally over. Seven of the teams are out of here while Team New Zealand, Oracle. Luna Rossa and Desafio Espanol advance to the semis where the game really begins.

But before then, there is the Louis Vuitton Ball in a couple of hours. Rumour has it the original venue in the city fell over a month ago and Louis Vuitton had to scramble to find an alternative. It is believed they found a derelict, old monastery just out of town. In order to get it ready in time they had 400 people working on it every day. And we think we are tired! Bring on the Moet!