Editorial: Happy is Larry

Editorial: Happy is Larry

Welcome to sail-World.Com's America's Cup newsletter for Day 13 of the Louis Vuitton Cup, and the end of Round Robin 1

Round Robin 1 of the Louis Vuitton Cup was dominated by the Valencian weather which did not perform as promised.

When the breezes did come in they were quite variable in strength and direction and were not often above 10 knots. The eight race days lost must have had an effect on team focus.

It is against this backdrop that the performance of the challenging teams must be evaluated.

BMW Oracle finished top of the table, not so much because they had blistering boatspeed, but because they made fewer mistakes in the testing conditions. The US challenger was able to get back into the game when behind and showed no mercy when others made a tactical slip.

Chris Dickson plays the role of the smiling assassin with obvious relish. The BMW afterguard is a class act in the prevailing conditions, and proved very able to set their skipper up to deliver the coup de gras in his inimitable style.

Emirates Team New Zealand clearly has some deep thinking to do. Something has to change, as on the present performance, while they should make the Semi-Finals, progressing beyond that point is not a certainty. Luna Rossa, at least, has their measure, as do possibly two other challengers.

BMW Oracle Racing's Larry Ellison gives the thumbs-up after his team finished on top of the points table after Round Robin 1 of the Louis Vuitton Cup  BMW Oracle Racing © Photo - Gilles Martin-Raget

This was the first competitive outing for NZL-92, and only Emirates Team NZ knows whether she is a better boat than NZL-84. Significantly both Alinghi and Team New Zealand (1995) both won the America’s Cup sailing their first launched boats. NZL-84 was also the boat which hauled them to the top of the points table going into this regatta.

As for the New Zealand crew, it is hard to accurately evaluate from this distance. Certainly the Valencian course in Round Robin 1 was not just a matter of winning the first cross and then staying between your man and the mark.

The afterguards had to make a careful choice between covering/staying in contact and splitting away from their competitor.

In the final match of Round Robin 1, Emirates TNZ had a good lead, elected to protect the right, and according to the GPS, lost 100metres in just 150 seconds of sailing, when there was a 20degree shift on the opposite layline.

Rounding the first mark, NZL-92 got rolled, split away from USA-98 and had regained a GPS margin of 135 metres, only to see that evaporate as BMW Oracle came back from the starboard (upwind) layline).

The fleet return to harbour at the conclusion of Round Robin, ready for overnight remoding before starting Round Robin 2 tomorrow.  ©ACM 2007/Photo: Vicent Bosch

Often in this round, covering was matter of damned if you do, and damned if you don’t. Everyone was judged with the benefit of hindsight. You looked either brilliant, or dismal. There was no in-between.

Luna Rossa were a little of a surprise, being a team that many thought had lost their edge. However the loss by just six seconds to BMW Oracle Racing and their win over Emirates Team New Zealand, showed that the Patrizo Bertelli led team have the speed and capability, and in James Spithill have a real gunslinger in the pre-start. But like the Kiwis, the Italians need more consistency.

Desafio Espanol finished fourth on the points table, were the only team to beat BMW Oracle Racing. They are obviously fired with home team confidence. But like the other teams in the Louis Vuitton Cup, the Spanish had some very up and down performances - if they can lift their consistency, then the Top Three have problems.

One of the features of this Louis Vuitton Cup, is that aside from Team China, most teams are capable of pulling off an upset on their day, and particularly so by those in the middle of the points table. They will be the Kingmakers in Round Robin 2.

As we said earlier, any analysis of Round Robin 1, must be conducted against the backdrop of the weather, which includes how the teams moded their boats for the expected weather conditions.

The overnight period that is now allowed for re-moding the challengers is quite limiting and some fast work and forward thinking will be required to effect substantial changes. However we may see some significant performance changes in the next round, as moding errors from Round 1 are corrected, or the weather settlers down into a more consistent pattern.

Emirates Team New Zealand have some hard questions to answer over the coming round.  Emirates Team NZ/ ©Photo Chris Cameron ETNZ

Aside from Emirates Team New Zealand’s performance there was little of real surprise in the first Round Robin, and the top four boats proved to be pretty much as most pundits would have picked. But with a different order.

Don’t forget, too, that Team New Zealand went into this round with four bonus points and this has somewhat inflated their position on the points table.

For the Kiwi team, Sir Michael Fay’ s old maxim 'it’s not how hard you fall that counts, but how quickly you get back up' will be their test over the ten days. Weather permitting, of course.

Good sailing!

Richard Gladwell
NZ Editor.

By nzeditor@sail-world.com

Fisher's View: Italian sparkling water
By Bob Fisher,
The most exciting and final day of the First Round Robin of the Louis Vuitton Cup belonged to Luna Rossa, the only boat to score two wins. It elevated the Prada sponsored team to second overall at the expense of Emirates Team New Zealand, who had BMW Oracle at Its mercy and allowed the opportunity to regain the lead slip from its grasp.... [more]

BMW ORACLE Racing wins Louis Vuitton opening round
By Ivor Wilkins, BMW Oracle Racing Media,
BMW ORACLE Racing won the opening round of the Louis Vuitton Cup challenger selection series in Valencia today, sealing its place at the top of the table with a thrilling final-match victory over Emirates Team New Zealand.... [more]

Emirates TNZ: A win and a loss - not a good day
By Warren Douglas, Emirates Team NZ Media,
It was not a good day on the water for Emirates Team New Zealand. The record book will show one win and one loss on the last day of round robin 1 of the Louis Vuitton challenger series.... [more]

Louis Vuitton Cup - BMW Oracle finish top of table
By America's Cup Media,
The remaining races of Round Robin One were sailed on Saturday at the Louis Vuitton Cup and BMW ORACLE Racing split its matches on the day to stay at the top of the table... [more]

Quotes Of The Day: LVC Day 13, Flights 10 and 11
By America's Cup Media,
Ray Davies, Strategist, Emirates Team New Zealand on how BMW Oracle Racing caught them: 'We decided to keep it close and cover them pretty hard, but they came straight up behind us into the top mark. For the last few tacks it got a bit light on the right-hand side of them protecting the starboard advantage, and that’s where they made their big gain right in the last few hundred metres of the beat.'... [more]

Desafío Español 2007 beats BMW Oracle.
By Desafío Español 2007 media,
The regatta was dominated by the Spanish team from the beginning. Today Desafío Español 2007 met the strongest of their rivals in the first regatta of the day, BMW Oracle, unbeaten so far in the Louis Vuitton Cup. The Spanish team controlled their rival at the departure, marking the North Americans and choosing the left side of the course. In the first crossing, the Spanish had managed to get half a length ahead, a lead that they managed to increase on the upwind leg.... [more]

Four precious points for +39 Challenge
By +39 Challenge media,
British helmsman Iain Percy: 'We are learning every day a bit more about the boat, we are getting to know her performances- said Percy- you all know how difficult it is to win with a slow boat, so we are concentrating on speed.'... [more]

A difficult day for Mascalzone
By Mascalzone Latino,
Mascalzone Latino-Capitalia Team finishes fifth in the general ranking of the first Round Robin of the Louis Vuitton Cup, winning six out of ten matches and earning 14 points overall including the two bonus points.... [more]

United Internet Team Germany tenth in ranking
By Oliver Laskowsky,
On the last downwind leg the Italian +39 Challenge passed Germany I and finally won the race. The United Internet Team Germany finishes Round Robin I on rank ten.... [more]

Victory Challenge goes down to Emirates Team NZ
By Bert Willborg/Victory Challenge,
Magnus Holmberg, who is to the left of the course, gybes. When they meet the distance is one and a half boat length. In the third meet between Emirates Team New Zealand and Victory Challenge in favourable winds, there is still no more than two boatlengths between them.... [more]

Luna Rossa: Double victory on the Latino derbies
By Luna Rossa Media,
At the pre-start almost 10 knots of wind and calm seas. Spithill fails in getting the right and is forced to start to leeward of Jes Gram Hansen, helming ITA 99. The right hand side is favored. Mascalzone Latino closes in and leaves little space, sailing on favorable wind shifts and rounding the top mark with a 23 second lead.... [more]

New America's Cup DVD released - a Must Buy!
By Sail-World,
The second in a series of America's Cup DVD's has been released by New Zealand based production company, Mediawave. An outstanding production, this DVD is notable not only for capturing the highlights of the 12 Louis Vuitton Acts sailed in four countries. The camera work is outstanding as is the sight of AC yachts racing against the scenic backdrops of Valencia (Spain), Marseille (France), Malmo (Sweden) and Trapani (Italy).... [more]

2007 America's Cup

...
For more details and news for this event, go to:
http://www.sail-world.com/index.cfm?SEid=362

ends

© Scoop Media