Quotes Of The Day- LVC Cup Raceday Eleven

by America's Cup Media on 27 Apr 2007
Quotes Of The Day: Louis Vuitton Cup Racing Day Eleven, Flights 8 and 9

Peter Isler, Navigator, BMW Oracle Racing, on their confidence: 'That sort of mojo is beautiful - when you can earn it, or talk yourself into it that you have it. There is a little bit of that going around. And confidence breeds confidence. To keep winning, and keep doing well, and not taking chances; sailing conservative races, taking a chance only once in a while when it is necessary, and as long as we are fast - that will end up putting points on the scoreboard.'

Ian Walker, Tactician, +39 Challenge, on a good fight with Team Shosholoza: 'We had a good race with South Africa that could have gone either way. We still have issues with the mast and boat and want to learn from them. We still have our heads up and want some wins out of Round robin 2. You get what you deserve, and certain issues can’t be solved in a day. The big teams are polished acts.'

Ken Venn, Mid bow, Team Shosholoza, on the first match of the day: 'We had a fantastic race against Mascalzone, really close, a good ding-dong battle. Unfortunately we ripped two spinnakers because of the way our rig is set up: it has a few sharp edges that need to be softened tonight. This is the big push for us - there are a couple of the big teams we are looking forward to meeting again in Round Robin 2. If we don’t reach our goal of the semi-finals, but we can take some big scalps home with us, that will really make our regatta'.

Terry Hutchinson, Tactician, Emirates Team New Zealand, on their last minute risky tactics against Luna Rossa Challenge: 'It was so close to going our way, but was not quite enough – the margin of error was small on either boat, very fractional. When we took our kite down, we had about 8.5 knots of wind, and when we gybed to starboard the wind instruments said 6.8. I’m pretty confident with the way we executed the manoeuvre, but it was the same as the first beat when the breeze went ten degrees left. We only had one opportunity – NZL 92 was going well, we passed them but didn’t have enough to get the penalty off.'

Simone de Mari, Pitman, Luna Rossa Challenge on an extremely close match with Emirates Team New Zealand: 'We are happy with the victory but it is too early to party. We were average against the Kiwis, but we could do better because they caught us and passed at certain moments. We did a good start and their penalty was their fault not our credit'.

Stéphane Kandler, Syndicate Head, Areva Challenge, on when it went wrong:
'It went wrong all day, it’s a fact. The start was bad, and yes, we came back but then we lost control and made a lot of mistakes in one race. It might make it exciting for the public but not for us - we lost. For us its tough, a lot of additional mistakes are like a bullet in the foot.'

Pepe Ribes, Bowman, Victory Challenge, on being beaten by his national team: 'This is more like the Champions League! I think they did a great job and I’m obviously really pleased for my friends on the Spanish boat. Of course I would have preferred to win but we are in the same position - all fighting for a place in the semi-finals. They seem to be the strongest out there – they’ve beaten Mascalzone and us now, and only technical failure stopped them winning against Areva.'


Karol Jablonski, Helmsman, Desafío Español 2007, on some close racing today: 'Sometimes it’s a matter of luck or just one puff of pressure that can decide whether you win or lose. We are satisfied with the wins today. Tomorrow we’ll face Luna Rossa and BMW and there is no pressure at all! We will sail relaxed, the pressure is on the other teams who need the points. But we are trying to win every race, and the key to success is not to ignore anyone out there'.

Marco Constant, Mainsail Trimmer Mascalzone Latino, on the first upwind leg against BMW ORACLE Racing: 'We won the start and could choose the side we wanted. From that moment onwards we had a real tacking war and it got closer and closer. They got to us at the port lay line and we made a mistake and were penalized. We were able to see the technical differences between the two boats but they really did a magnificent job with their manoeuvres.'

Jesper Bank, Helmsman, United Internet Team Germany, on the pre-start: 'We lost control of the start and we had a decision to either stay out of control or make a high-risk manoeuvre and regain control and we chose the latter. We got control back, won the start but also won a penalty.'

Luc Gellusseau, Operations Manager, China Team on keel problems: 'We have a canting keel but its going in the wrong direction! We are going to make some repairs and test it and we think it will be finished on Saturday morning and try to be the sparring partner for Luna Rossa Challenge.'