Editorial- A staged error??

by nzeditor@sail-world.com on 9 May 2007 Welcome to Sail-World.Com’s America’s Cup newsletter for Day 23 of the Louis Vuitton Cup.

This was the penultimate day of the Round Robin series.

Like yesterday, this day was notable for a couple of things.

Firstly the Semi-finalists were decided and Desafio Espanol will be joining BMW Oracle, Emirates Team New Zealand and Luna Rossa in the best of nine Semi-final which gets underway on Monday 14th May.

The inclusion of the Spanish is the Dream Ticket for event organisers, and will obviously see a big uplift of hometown interest in the event.

Clinching the final place in the Semi-final a tremendous achievement in what proved to be a very tight run to the finish of the 20 Flight qualifying series. Strategist John Cutler’s now-prophetic comment of 'Save the complaining for after the race, we can still win this' in ESP-97’s second round match against Areva, when just a boatlength down when closing on the finsh line, proved very telling.

That vital come from behind win later gave Desafio Espanol a vital cushion in a round of upsets, and will probably see them finish out the Round Robin on 29points.

Today, ESP-97 was given a spanking by BMW Oracle by over 260 metres or 55 seconds. Skipper, Luis Doreste will be looking to improve in the final match against Luna Rossa, and if so it will make the choice of Semi-finalist pairings, to be announced on Thursday, more interesting.

Second point of interest in the day was the way in which Emirates Team New Zealand butchered their start against Victory Challenge, trailing for most of the first two legs of the race.

Certainly a win looked to be on the cards for the Swedes, after being handed a massive 70 metre lead just after the start, they only needed to get across to the starboard side with NZL-92, and the race was well under control. They did this, engaging a 16 strong tack-fest on the beat, however split on the run allowing the Kiwis to soak away down the starboard side and eventually take over the lead, extending to a 100 metre margin and finishing 34 seconds in front.

The graphic of the start shows the extent of the Emirates Team New Zealand error in the pre-start which was later put down to poor timing. With all the technology, GPS and computers aboard it is hard to believe NZL-92 went missing in action to this extent. A cuckoo clock would have been more use.

Had Dean Barker handed the Smiling Assasin a gift like this, then Larry would have been steering on the first beat, while the crew tucked into an early lunch.

The only positive that can be taken, is that having been this far behind at the start, the Emirates' Kiwis were able to come back and put together a good race to score a face saving win.

While many will be quick to point the bone at skipper Dean Barker, for the pre-start, the reality is that all the afterguard are involved in calling the helmsman into a situation of this magnitude. In this Round, before today, the Emirates afterguard looked to have resolved their communication issues, which were at the heart of their three losses in Round 1. But this was back to the bad old days.

The best construction that can be put on the starting strategy is that the 'error' was deliberate, and a way of giving the crew a good 'come from behind work-out', which will serve them well in days to come.

BMW Oracle Racing have looked good in this regard with some first leg stutter-steps, and now Emirates Team New Zealand have shown they can do the same, accidentally or deliberately set up.

Unfortunately the microphones aboard NZL-92 were silent during the pre-start and it was not possible to overhear the communication – lending weight maybe to the deliberate ploy theory. Their real test will surely come tonight in the match of the round between USA-98 and NZL-92.

As to whether today prestart was a planned move, or a nightmare, we'll probably never know. In Peter Blake’s oft-said comment to the media – 'Ours to know. Yours to find –out'.

Best to move on, we think.

Good sailing!

Richard Gladwell
NZ Editor

PS: There is no column from Bob Fisher who had had to return to England for a pre-arranged event. He will be back for the Semi-Finals. We have also featured an excellent photo gallery from top international photographer Ingrid Abery – enjoy!

Tomorrow’s program - Wednesday, May 9th
'Louis Vuitton Cup' - Round Robin 2 - Flight 11

Victory Challenge (SWE 96) - Mascalzone Latino-Capitalia Team (ITA 99)
Desafío Espanol 2007 (ESP 97) - Luna Rossa Challenge (ITA 94)
BMW Oracle Racing (USA 98) - Emirates Team New Zealand (NZL 92)
United Internet Team Germany (GER 89) - +39 Challenge (ITA 85)
Areva Challenge (FRA 93) - Team Shosholoza (RSA 83)
Bye China Team (CHN 95)