Quotes of the Day- LVC Final Raceday 1

by America's Cup Media on 2 Jun 2007
QUOTES OF THE DAY: FINALS LOUIS VUITTON CUP RACE DAY 1

Ray Davies, Strategist, Emirates Team New Zealand, on the first leg: 'We were fortunate to get what we wanted. We had a little more pressure to leeward and we made gains staying there. There was very little in it- the shifts were short and sharp and coming and going a lot. Fortunate for us the last one went our way and it was hard for them to go beyond us as there wasn’t much layline left. We had a little right hand shift at the top mark and that was a nice little buffer for us. It wasn’t just a weather call - it came down to a full team effort. There were moments when we all had to pick up our game -Dean did a good job in the pre-start, and the guys sailed the boat well in the changing conditions. Today it was difficult to keep the boat moving quickly.'

Ray Davies, Strategist, Emirates Team New Zealand, on any worrying moments: 'It was pretty dangerous most of the way round; I don’t think there was any time when we felt comfortable. We had to defend pretty hard and we took quite a loss on the second beat, had a narrow lead at the top and on the last run Prada had a pretty strong position behind us. There were some nervous moments there where they could have got some breeze that we couldn’t have done anything about; it would have been out of our control. But we were able to the hold pressure in front of them and keep our air until the finish.'

Tony Rae, Runner, Emirates Team New Zealand, on the mood on board before Race 1:
'I guess the mood was that we were really keen to get into it. It’s a big regatta and we know it’s going to be close, it was hard just before the start with the breeze up, having to make a call on sails, and there was a little scramble with the breeze, but once we had it settled, we were away. Everyone is a little on edge in the first race, like I said to Terry afterwards, ‘it’s like the first beer - after you get the first one down, the second is a lot easier, isn’t it?’ '

Torben Grael, Tactician, Luna Rossa Challenge on the pre-start: 'It wasn’t a normal situation synoptically but we expected to start on the left, and on a split wanted the right. We were happy with the start, but it went further right than we expected, and so did the pressure. We gained a little back on starboard but close to the top mark there was an extra ‘rightie’ and that was quite painful to us. It’s a question of timing; if it had been further away, they could have got nervous on that corner. It could go either way, it could have been a different story, but they were patient enough to wait for it.'

Torben Grael, Tactician, Luna Rossa Challenge, on possibly sailing against a different ‘beast’ from the Round Robins: 'It wasn’t that different from the races we did in the past. It is always tough racing ETNZ and the races weren’t that long ago - we have always had tough races with them. It’s hard to call today bad luck, they sailed well. We didn’t have exactly what we thought in the first beat and maybe will have to work harder next time. There are different days and different decisions to be made.'

Andrew Taylor, Grinder, Luna Rossa Challenge, on the post-race chat, and the changes made to the boat: 'After the match we all said that it’s a best of nine, we did a good job hanging on the wrong side, and we will take something from it for tomorrow. I can tell you something that hasn’t changed on our boat - we’ve still got pasta every day in the lunch box, and that has been the same since I arrived.'