Letter from Valencia- The final race

by Ralph Roberts on 7 Jul 2007
Ralph Roberts reports on Race 7,the final race of the 32nd America's Cup.

Alinghi deservedly won the 7th race by one second and the Match 5-2

New Zealand can hold its head up high. YES! it finished one second behind Alinghi,but they put Alinghi to the test frm the first entry into the starting box with a never say die attitude until the final gun.

Grant Dalton and his Kiwi team had come out guns blazing and were not prepared to give in to the Swiss come what may.

Lets quickly look at Race 7. What a spectacle, what a race!

For the hardened sailor or the fanatical spectator who came and watched on the choppy water off Valencia harbour, the Woolshed in America's Cup harbour, or sat up freezing in the middle of the night in Kiwi-land or around the world, the message was the same: Go Kiwis Go

We wanted another close race and we got it. If Spielberg or some TV Guru had written the script for this race they could not have included all the ingredients of this race.

These two teams had been so closely matched in previous races. With their ability to handle these greyhounds of the sea,with speed, tactics and they both threw in some drama.

Pre race both after guards had their weather teams working overtime , selecting and advising them the course their boats should endeavour to sail. The skill of these readers of the wind roads on the course would normal sailors sigh in bewilderment.

So the stage was set as the boats went out of the harbour. ACM officials and the Alinghi bosses were constructing the presentation ceremony barge because in their eyes SUI100 had already won.

Once outside the the harbour both boats met the strongest breeze of the summer 15knots. We were in for some great viewing. Would the Kiwi resolve stand up? And it did.

Out of the start , both boats started leaping from wave to wave in the big sea. Alinghi had jumped into a controlling windward positon again; how long could she stay there?

For the first half of the beat we saw a repeat of the previous races where the Swiss were able to live to windward of ETNZ, off the backwind crumbs that New Zealand sent them without having to tack away.

This was a legacy left by Russell Coutts from the 1995 & 2000 A/C Cup campaigns. It enables the SUI100 to close their Genoa and put the trim tab down, hover to windward of ETNZ and control the race.

The Kiwis fought on, finally catching Alinghi near the first mark- but Alinghi had another trick up its sleeve and when ETNZ thought it was going to be a close rounding ,WHAMEE!! Alinghi threw in a big luff , catching the kiwis off guard but then they kept clear and SUI100 opened up a 50 metre lead for the run.

In the fresh condition the Kiwis flew, caught up and passed SUI who appeared to be having difficulties controlling their spinnaker. At the bottom mark the Kiwis went for the left hand gate mark, allowing Alinghi once again to shorten the distance astern,to go around the right hand gate mark and get the right advantage up the second beat when the wind eventually swung right.

Near the top of the course Alinghi approached and started a dial down tactic. This spooked the ETNZ and they answered it by bearing away, but not enough according to the Umpires and they were given a delayed penalty meaning they could take the penalty later.

On the downwind run to the finish ETNZ was not catching Alinghi who held a 100 metre lead advantage.

The wind gods had one more act to play; the wind started to lighten. Brad Butterworth skipper of Alinghi felt he had the race in the bag and allowed the Kiwis to break tacks and sail into the middle of the course.

We then saw the Kiwi boat slow down. they were running out of wind, Alinghi panicked; their spinnaker halyard had jammed making it dificult to get the spinnaker down and saw their 100 metre lead diasappear.

Meanwhile the Kiwis were sailing slowly in the new wind to the finish. But remember they still had to exonerate their penalty they received before the last mark and just prior to the finish lne did a tack penalty and returned to their original course heading for the finish line. Unfortunately as they came out of their tack a big wave hit them and stopped them dead in the water. slowly they recovered but by now Alinghi was closing in on the Kiwis,the OH's and the cheering was deafening as Alinghi sailed through underneath the Kiwis to win by ONE SECOND, the closest finish in the 156 year history.

Alinghi had successfully defended the America's Cup.

That the New Zealand challenge has contributed so much to this match in 2007 will be no consolation. Such was their disappointment that they are even considering their America's Cup future.

Then the most bizzarre ceremony I have ever witnessed occurred. ACM held the victory for Alinghi without the defeated NZ team being present and the crowds reacted by cheering the Kiwis as they sailed back to their base.

This was the Swiss way of saying that the deed of gift for the America's Cup, was for competition among friendly countries, but that the defeated team would not be present for the prizegiving or the press conference.

As a New Zealander I was proud of the leadership of Grant Dalton and Dean Barker and the resolve and grit of the team.

To my delight when we came ashore Grant Dalton made a statement that they would be back as there was unfinshed business to complete and an America's Cup to return to it's rightful place in the Royal New Zealand Yacht Squadron's trophy cabinet.