Outsmarted on the last turn

by Helen Tunnah & Jeremy Rees on 17 Feb 2003 Outsmarted on the last turn

17.02.2003
Russell Coutts outsailed Team New Zealand on the vital final leg of the second race of the America's Cup to seize a 2-0 lead for Alinghi in the first to five series.

The weekend's double win for the Swiss was described by strategist Jochen Schuemann as a 'major' boost.

Team New Zealand skipper Dean Barker was left rueing a tactical mistake which snatched victory from his team's grasp.

Barker and his afterguard gave Alinghi the narrowest opportunity to pick up the light breeze on the final run to the line.

Coutts took the wind first to sail over the top of Team New Zealand and win by seven seconds.

'We made a couple of mistakes and that caused the race to end up being a lot closer than it needed to be,' Barker said afterwards.

'Alinghi just outsailed us right at the end.'

The teams now have a break before tomorrow's third race, expected to be sailed in 12 to 17-knot northerlies.

The loss was perhaps more shattering than Saturday's disastrous start to the cup defence, when the black boat was forced out of the opening race after 25 minutes with multiple gear failures.

Yesterday's turnaround started with a rapid manoeuvre straight after rounding the final mark in which a trailing Alinghi gybed to seize the advantage and throw 'dirty' air on to NZL82's sails, slowing it down.

The win underlined, if anyone needed reminding, the danger posed by Coutts who left Team New Zealand for Alinghi.

It was a heart-breaker for the locals, who came from 12s behind at the first mark to lead the race for the next four marks and start the final leg with a 26s lead.

The win also gives Coutts a record 11 consecutive America's Cup wins.

He has never lost a race in a cup match.

Barker said Team New Zealand were disappointed to have lost the race, but could take heart from the performance of their boat.

'We know our boat is competitive against theirs. That's certainly a huge load off our minds.

'Now it's just up to us to make sure we don't make the same mistakes. It's not going to be a one-sided contest.'

The loss will add to Team New Zealand's worries over its engineering, especially since the second black boat - NZL81 - did not leave its berth yesterday.

It limped home on Saturday after helping NZL82 warm up for the first race. Team New Zealand will not say how extensively it was damaged.

Yachting New Zealand's high- performance manager, Peter Lester, said Team New Zealand could reflect on a race in which they did so much right only to lose.

'They passed Coutts, which is significant. They protected the left- hand side of the course well, and the only time they didn't, they got passed. They were outsailed on that final run.'

He said yesterday's loss would be harder for Team NZ to swallow than Saturday's mechanical failures.

'Mechanically and psychologically it will be good for the team to have a day off.

'What does Dean Barker do now? I think he just has to look at all the positives, identify Coutts' game plan and work out how to defend against it.'

At the Viaduct, emotions among the crowd swung from fear that Team New Zealand would fall apart after Saturday's disastrous aborting of the race through jubilation when the black boat squirted ahead at the halfway point to stunned silence as Alinghi crossed the line seven seconds ahead.

The contest was delayed by more than 2 1/2 hours, first because of light winds and then because of the need to move the 1500 spectator craft off the course.

Team New Zealand had a superb first downwind run, coming from behind and rolling over Alinghi to be ahead at the second mark.

But with the light breeze climbing to 11 knots, Alinghi gybed right immediately after rounding the last mark, and were in position to snatch the lifting wind pressures first.

Slowly Alinghi closed in and two-thirds of the way through the leg got their nose in front.

Team New Zealand tried to push them across the course, but Alinghi stretched ahead just enough to be in the lead for the final turn towards the line and NZL82 were unable to close in on them. The 7s loss was the closest in an America's Cup race since 1992.

Schuemann said Alinghi was well prepared for the racing, after a tough challengers series and because the Swiss had a strong crew.

'The team of people makes the difference and we have quite a strong team.'

Oracle skipper Chris Dickson said Team New Zealand would be rightfully disappointed by the loss.

'It is one that got away.

'Alinghi is a very strong boat. Team New Zealand ended up playing Alinghi's game on that last run, and it didn't work for them.'

But he said it was a 'long way to five races for either team'.

www.nzherald.co.nz/americascup