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Some sore heads in the Kiwi camp this morning (thanks by the way to local SailJuice fan ‘Anonymous’ for his comment on yesterday’s piece, seems like the Kiwi camp partied long and hard last night!).
Such was the release of pressure yesterday in the Kiwi team as the champagne corks started popping, it was almost as though they’d won the America’s Cup itself. One of the senior management team commented at the team barbecue last night that they’d done the job they came here to do. What? Surely the job is only half done?
Yes, the Kiwis had a right to party after winning the Louis Vuitton, but the real job has yet to begin. Hopefully a gap of two and a half weeks before the America’s Cup is enough to reset Kiwi ambitions for the Cup, and put victory in the Louis Vuitton Cup into perspective.
Meanwhile, the Kiwis must be beginning to wonder if they’ve got any fans in the world outside of the North and South Islands. A couple of days ago Desafio Espanol went out training with Alinghi. Let’s not forget that the Spanish have given the Kiwis their toughest challenge to date, holding them to 5-2 in the Semi Finals, with a boat – ESP 97 - that some pundits believe is the fastest design of any challenger team.
Today the vanquished Luna Rossa team put out this announcement: “Being the only semi-finalist still working here in Valencia to not have raced against Alinghi, after they raced Emirates Team New Zealand two days before the Louis Vuitton Cup Finals and also against the Spanish Team during the Finals, Luna Rossa will race the America's Cup defender Alinghi tomorrow.”
It is not in Patrizio Bertelli’s commercial interest to see the America’s Cup head south, nor is it in Desafio Espanol’s. There is a fear that if Emirates Team New Zealand win the Cup, that they will take the event back to the dark ages, to a corner of the world that offers nothing like the same commercial opportunities that Europe has opened up, and to re-establish strict nationality rules that would benefit the Kiwis more than anyone.
The Kiwis have as yet been tight-lipped on what plans they have for the Cup should they manage to wrest it away from the Swiss, so it might be unfair to suggest this is where they would take the event. But that is certainly the fear, and is the reason why the likes of Spain and Italy are breaking one of the unwritten rules of the America’s Cup in agreeing to tune up against the Defender.
Yesterday was a reserve day, today was blown off with too much wind and 2-metre waves outside the breakwater, and tomorrow there is a fear that the wave state might still prevent racing, even if the breeze is forecast to be a little lighter.
That means the continuation of the Semi Final between the Kiwis and the Spanish might not get going again until Thursday, the last scheduled day of racing. There is a reserve day down for Friday, but there’s no way the Kiwis would want it to go any further.
When the spectator fleet comes out in force on the weekend, Desafio Espanol seems to find an extra gear. Their weekend racing record is excellent so Dean Barker must get the job done by the end of the working week.
If the two teams do get racing in the stronger breezes that are now blowing in Valencia, you’d think the Kiwis’ boathandling would see them safely through. But Desafio coach Eddie Warden Owen doesn’t see it that way. “In the two crucial gybes in Sunday’s race, the Kiwis made mistakes, they gybed too fast, they weren’t sure what we were doing, and our guys really handled it very well.
“We put them under pressure. When you’re behind, it’s pretty hard to pass. I say to the guys, ‘Get round the windward mark first, it’s very hard for someone to pass you.’ In practice racing, if you get a boatlength ahead of your B boat it rarely gets past. I say: ‘Treat the opposition like the B boat, what would you do against the B boat? Feel confident, relaxed, he’s the one that’s got to get round the outside of you.’
Also, Warden Owen reckons ESP 97 really comes on song in the stronger winds. “We like the breeze, our boat performs better up the wind range. The Kiwis are pretty comfortable in the light stuff, it looks like they’re optimised down the wind range and we’re optimised further up the wind range. Stronger breeze suits us quite well.”
So, while most of us watching in Valencia keep on thinking the Kiwis need just one more race to close out the series, the Spanish are determined to continue defying expectations. Warden Owen says the team’s confidence is growing by the day, and Karol Jablonski is proving more consistent in the pre-starts than Dean Barker. There could be more surprises in store.
A great day for Italy and Spain, Luna Rossa booking an easy place in the Louis Vuitton Cup Finals and Desafio Espanol proving the match of the Kiwis in every department, winning a thrilling match by just 15 seconds.
Every time the Spanish win, they celebrate like they have just won the America’s Cup, such is the spirit in the team. Fortunately they have a day’s rest to get their heads together and contemplate the possibility of taking another match of New Zealand on Tuesday. It is by no means beyond the bounds of possibility.
Having witnessed Luna Rossa trounce BMW Oracle 5-1, the Spanish must be beginning to believe that the unthinkable really can happen against New Zealand. There is very little to choose between these teams in terms of boatspeed. On these 3.3 nautical mile race courses, when the breezes are steady and moderate, there are few passing lanes. Which loads a lot of responsibility on to the helmsmen in the pre-start.
This is where Chris Dickson came unstuck against James Spithill (pictured), and where Sten Mohr fared little better today in another pre-start where the young Australian dictated all the terms. Dean Barker is doing OK, but Karol Jablonski is certainly causing him some problems. Even if the Kiwis do get through, they must be seriously worried by what they’ve seen of Spithill this past week.
So too must Alinghi, who it is rumoured are going to use Ed Baird in the America’s Cup Match. However Baird’s strong suit is not in the pre-start, but more around the race track where he’s considered a more consistent bet than Peter Holmberg.
There is a view that Alinghi has enough pace to get round the challenger on pure boatspeed and that Baird is the man to do that for the Swiss. Is it as simple as that anymore, though? James Spithill has always been considered a class act, but sailing a boat that was always a little off the pace. That no longer seems to be the case.
Luna Rossa are becoming increasingly comfortable with their equipment and their set-up, and it’s hard to see anyone getting the better of Spithill if he maintains this sort of form in the pre-start. If the Italians can maintain this upward trajectory they are going to be very dangerous indeed, a threat to challengers and defender.
It’s not often that a sailor will get applause out of an audience as cynical as a bunch of sailing journalists, but Matt Wachowicz managed it at last night’s press conference. The American navigator on Desafio Español 2007 said spirits had never been higher in the Spanish team, even if they were 1-3 down against the Kiwis.
“I think you need to realise we’re a young team,” he said. “And we set our objectives realistically in the beginning. We accomplished our number one objective which was to make the Semi Finals. The day we did that, we sat down and we made a new goal and that was to go out and do our best to win a race in the Semi Finals.
“Two days ago, we accomplished that goal. So now we need a new goal. And it’s not just as simple as saying the new goal is going to be to win one more race. Our new goal is to win more than one more race. As I’ve said in the past, we believe every day when we leave the dock that we can win.”
When the team goes out today against New Zealand, there will be no shortage of motivation in the Spanish team. “It just is not a problem for us - every day that we are here is just such an incredible feeling. We are in the Semi Finals, and we are so happy to be racing. You should come on board and see it - win or lose, the guys have never been here before and we look forward to racing every day.
“We know we can give them a fight every time, and they know if they make one mistake, or slip up once, we are gonna jump on them and go past them. We are not worried about motivation or losing streaks, tomorrow we are going to go out there to win - that’s the way we see it.”
To listen to Matt Wachowicz in full, click here.
What another fantastic day’s racing off Valencia. We probably wouldn’t have thought so, were it not for the fact that it was the perceived underdogs in both matches who led from start to finish. But when you’ve got Luna Rossa leading BMW Oracle and Desafio leading the Kiwis, you’re just waiting for someone’s wheels to fall off and for the lead to change.
Well, all credit to the Italians and Spanish, as they held the overdogs (is that the opposite of underdogs?) at bay. Perhaps we’re going to have to revise our perceptions of underdogs and overdogs. The fact is, BMW Oracle haven’t led Luna Rossa round any mark of any of the three matches thus far in the Semi Finals. That is an incredible statistic, and a very worrying one for the American team.
James Spithill is pouring on the aggression in the pre-start and is getting the better of Chris Dickson. Luna Rossa have won every start and BMW Oracle have been forced to fall back on searing downwind pace to haul them back into the game. It can’t help that Dickson is without his No.1 choice bowman, Brad Webb, who had to pull out a couple of days ago for some knee surgery. No doubt Kazuhiko Sofuku is every bit as able a bowman but he’s not had the benefit of honing his skills and communication with Dickson and the rest of the crew during the past few weeks of competition.
Having said that, Dickson lost today’s pre-start battle to Spithill long before the start gun fired. After being one of the most consistent pre-starters of the Round Robins, Dickson just doesn’t seem to be able to match the finesse of the young Australian. Of course as any good helmsman should, Spithill pays credit to the guys in front of him. “I’m feeling pretty comfortable just because I’ve got confidence in the guys - it feels like we have got a real strong team and the guys are really digging it in on the handles.
“When you’ve got that kind of belief it gives you that extra boost in yourself. The guys have pretty much said to me ‘put the boat wherever you need to and the sails will be there’ and they have delivered. So it’s full credit to those guys.”
Spithill probably has a brief to inflict as much damage on the opposition as possible in the pre-start, as does Karol Jablonski for the Spanish. When you’re the perceived underdog, it’s the best chance you have of winning a match race.
Look how dangerous Jablonski was against the Kiwis today, sticking a penalty on Barker. It’s what the Spanish thought they needed to beat the Kiwis, although actually they didn’t need it, because they led NZL 92 all the way round the track, a mighty confidence boost for a team that had never beaten in the Kiwis in any of their nine previous outings.
Both the Americans and the Spanish made a mode change to their boats last night. Of course, no one ever says what they’ve done or why, but when Spithill was asked his opinion on what might have changed on USA 98, he replied: “The rudder. That would be my guess.” A real guess? Or a little psychological dig at Dickson’s starting perhaps?
While there was no perceptible difference to the speed of USA 98, ESP 97 appeared finally to be able to match NZL 92 for pace upwind, an area where the Spanish had seemed to be a click off the pace. From being very much the fourth of the Semi Finallists, Spain is improving by the day and is not going to be the pushover that New Zealand fans might have hoped for.
At last, after a wobbly start, all is coming good in Valencia. The sun is shining, the wind is blowing, we’re up to date with the schedule, and every one of the four dogs is having its day. Keep the good times rolling.
In the grudge rematch this afternoon, Desafio Espanol 2007 bounced back from a poor start with some great downwind moves and socked it to Mascalzone Latino. Both teams were fired up for this one, which was evident from the exuberant celebrations by the team in green when they crossed the line.
However, Vasco Vascotto spotted a gesture he didn’t like the look of, and it came from Desafio’s Kiwi tactician John Cutler. Vascotto didn't take kindly to this, and made his feelings evident in the media zone after racing. “It’s disappointing the end of their victory was marred by an unsportsmanlike gesture from John Cutler. In my crew I have Spanish sailors and he - who is a Kiwi - doesn’t deserve to sail on a Spanish boat. The whole world saw this, and I hope the Jury saw it too.”
John Cutler responded: “I come from New Zealand and the gesture that I made doesn’t mean anything. We were all partying between us [the sailing team] and the men from the chase boat, and maybe some of my gestures were misunderstood.” Cutler added that if Mascalzone had a problem with something he’d done, he was ready to apologise.
Certain physical gestures carry more weight in some cultures than others, but the America’s Cup is a multinational event and if Cutler made the alleged gesture then he was naive to think that others might take offence where a Kiwi might not.
A protest under Rule 69 of the Racing Rules for unsportsmanlike conduct would not be beyond the realms of possibility, but that seems unlikely. In any case, one sailor told me that he has been on the receiving end of gestures every bit as offensive from Vascotto in previous regattas. So a Rule 69 against Cutler would have the whiff of hypocrisy.
Yesterday Vincenzo Onorato said he approved of the rematch because it was the fairest way to measure the sailing abilities of these two teams. On the water, Spain won. Let's hope that will be the end of it.
So far so good for the change of helmsman on Mascalzone Latino, with Cameron Dunn doing a good job for the Italian boat in the must-win match against Desafio Espanol 2007 yesterday. The Rascals are still in with a chance of deposing the Spanish from that coveted fourth Semi Final place.
However, it seems yesterday's match between Mascalzone and Desafio is not quite over, with the Spanish putting in a protest against the Italians, who they claim made illegal use of their backstay during the race in question. It's an arcane rule, but basically if you choose to start the race with your backstay you must finish the race with your backstay. If you start the race without your backstay, you must complete the race without your backstay - which is a real problem if the wind pipes up half way through the race.
Why, you might ask, would you not want to attach your backstay? Apparently removing all that weight and windage is worth a couple of seconds per mile, and in the last Cup in Auckland, a man would be sent aloft in light winds to attach the backstay for downwind support, and remove it for reduced windage upwind. The new rules for this Cup forbid jiggling around with this on/off backstay arrangement. Either you use it or you don't.
It seems the Spanish are alleging Mascalzone did a bit of both with their backstay yesterday. There is a jury hearing this evening, and the Italians must be quaking. If Desafio's video evidence is conclusive, then it is hard to see the jury doing anything other than disqualifying the Italians. Unlike Mascalzone's poor choice of paint manufacturer a couple of days ago, which incurred a 10,000 Euro penalty, the jury are unlikely to look so leniently on this oversight.
Today’s line-up looked pretty ho-hum, and with the stronger breeze it seemed like everything would run to form. How wrong can you be! BMW Oracle v China Team should have been the dullest of matches, but no sooner had former BMW Oracle bowman Geordie Shaver made the comment on America’s Cup Radio that this was still a pressure race for the B-boat crew (because that is who was sailing USA 98 today), than the jib blew out of the headstay foil.
Poor old Sten Mohr and the rest of the B-boaters – sent out to do a routine bit of paperwork at the office – and then the window bursts open and all the paperwork goes blowing off down the street. Imagine going back to the BMW Oracle base and having to tell the bosses what happened on their day off!
Fortunately for the sailing crew, Ian Burns, head of the design team, took it on the chin. “It was disappointing. We couldn’t get round intact so they [China Team] deserve the two points - these things happen in sailing, it’s part of the territory really. We were surprised and disappointed to see that failure, but I think it’s a sign of cutting it too close for comfort, and we will be reviewing that and a few other things to make sure that we are good enough to go the whole way. Maybe the compensation is that losing a couple of points to China Team is not as expensive as losing them to some of the other competitors out there.”
Areva Challenge sailed a blinder of a day, taking both of their races – first against Mascalzone Latino which the French won with a sucker punch of a luffing match on the first run. And then they pounced on +39 Challenge down the final run of a thrilling showdown between these teams that promise so much, but don’t quite have the finesse to match the top teams.
It was a day of so near and yet so far for Iain Percy and the +39 gang. To lose by just one second to Desafio Espanol in their first match after dominating the Spanish in the pre-start and leading for all but the final hundred metres, only to repeat the whole painful process against Areva. Hardly surprising, though, considering the severe lack of practice and organisation this team has endured for the past two years.
The team can sail smart and fast when unbothered by the other boat, but in close quarters contests the boathandling just wasn’t sufficiently tight. What Areva and +39 Challenge have both proven today, however, is that they are no pushovers and both teams must be treated with respect.
Possibly two of the most eagerly anticipated matches of the day, Victory v Luna Rossa and Mascalzone v New Zealand, proved to be among the least exciting. Not that they were dull, but the two middle-order teams had an opportunity to prove their pedigree as Semi Finals contenders, and neither managed to do so.
With Desafio’s skin-of-the-teeth win from +39 Challenge, the Spanish hold a useful three point lead over their rivals for the fourth spot in the Semis. That one second victory today could be the moment that Spain ensured its survival beyond the end of the Round Robin phase, little more than a week from now.
Some sore heads in the Kiwi camp this morning (thanks by the way to local SailJuice fan ‘Anonymous’ for his comment on yesterday’s piece, seems like the Kiwi camp partied long and hard last night!). 
