SailJuice Blog

James Spithill delivered pretty much everything that could have been asked of him in the pre-start today. Dean Barker allowed himself to be carried into a long luffing match that took both boats way above the start line.

At one point, things were starting to look a bit desperate for the Kiwis, and eventually Barker bit the bullet as he bore away deep on to starboard gybe. Spithill responded by turning sharply inside the Kiwi boat and still controlled the situation.

As both boats recrossed the start line and gybed on to port, the Italians seemed happy to leave the Kiwis to their own devices, opting to focus on a fast, full-pace start off the middle of the start line as the gun fired.

The flustered Kiwis were probably relieved to have been let off… Read the rest

You can’t fault James Spithill and the Luna Rossa crew for their ability to win the favoured side of the start. Spithill pulled off a high-risk manoeuvre on port across the bow of the Y-flag-waving Kiwis in today’s pre-start. The Italians got away with it, and claimed the power of the right.

What they failed to do, however, was hit the start line at full pace. The Italians were downspeed today, as they were yesterday, while Dean Barker and the Kiwis had wound NZL 92 fully up to speed as the gun fired. Luna Rossa put in an early tack to the right, which was where they wanted to be, but they had paid a high price to win that supposed advantage.

Luna Rossa’s navigator Michele Ivaldi commented: “The turning point was at the start, we wanted the right… Read the rest

It was surprising how easily Luna Rossa gave up their starboard entry advantage in today’s opening match of the Louis Vuitton Cup Finals. Dean Barker can’t have believed his luck as he went into an early dial-up expecting a full-on punch-up with James Spithill, only to find the Italian boat quite happy to concede the right in favour of the left-hand side of the start.

In the last minute it looked as though Spithill wanted to get eleventh-hour aggressive with Barker, but if that was the case, the Australian left it too late to inflict any damage on the Kiwis up near the committee boat. Come start time, it was NZL 92 that was fully up to speed on the right, ITA 94 still recovering from two downspeed tacks and yet to wind up to full pace.

The Italians accelerated… Read the rest

So it’s farewell to Desafio Espanol after the Kiwis romped away to a 500-metre victory, on a lumpy playing field that bore more resemblance to the Hauraki Gulf on a rough day than the more serene conditions we tend to associate with the Mediterranean.

As you watched the body language of the two teams when they crossed the line 1 minute 18 seconds apart, you could have been forgiven for thinking that it was the Spanish and not the laconic Kiwis who had won the day. There was not even a flicker of emotion as the New Zealanders booked their ticket into the Louis Vuitton Cup finals. Not that the Spanish were anything like as exuberant as on previous days, but there was still plenty of hugging and handshaking going on between the crew whose regatta had come to a… Read the rest

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… Read the rest

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… Read the rest

Did you know Dean Barker and Chris Dickson both hail from the same school in Auckland? Neither did I, until today when I received a timely press release from the Westlake Boys High School. Actually Desafio tactician John Cutler is also from Westlake, but he’s standing on the naughty chair after his Kiwi salute to Vasco Vascotto a few days ago.

Anyway, it was Dean Barker’s turn to be headboy today, with Dickson given litter-picking duty in the playground. Dickson had the better of the pre-start and used his advantage to claim the left.

The Kiwis rolled off the line with USA 98, but after a couple of tacks, when Emirates broke way to the right BMW Oracle didn’t follow and carried on ploughing a lonely furrow to the left. By the time NZL 92 flopped back… Read the rest

Peter Lester has some short but succinct analysis of the racing in Louis Vuitton Act 13. Peter is doing the TV commentary for America’s Cup TV (ACTV), and is the ideal pundit because he has been there, done it with Team New Zealand and probably knows the Kiwis better than anybody.

Although he acknowledges that Alinghi looked very good, there are perhaps mitigating circumstances for the Kiwis not performing as well as they might. Here’s an extract of Peter’s commentary for the New Zealand Herald website:

Am I surprised Alinghi won the fleet racing regatta so easily? No. They had more to gain and nothing to lose compared to the challengers.

Emirates Team New Zealand used their older boat and it looked like the sails they used were not new. They also had Ben Ainslie helming. … Read the rest