2007 32nd America's Cup

Kiwi Comeback!!!

ETNZ92 VS SUI100

The second day was filled with thrills and spills for both boats. A similar start for both boats today as was seen yesterday interms of the time off the start. From deep within the prestart box to the last seconds in the top of the box, the guel was on. Once again team NZ took advantage and started well on the horn, fighting for the right hand side. They gained the right and enjoyed a 20M lead early on. However, like yesterday, Alinghi caught up and gave ETNZ bad air forcing the Kiwis to tack away. Halfway up the windward mark, the Alinghi stole two boat lengths in lead after tacking from left to the right hand side. Numerous tacks filled the run to the first mark and the ETNZ looked good as they gained everytime they cut to the left-seemed to be a lefthand shift at the time-. Mark 1 was in sight.

Mark 1: Rounding mark 1, the Alinghi pressed a 19 second advantage. However, they gybed away almost immediately and allowd the ETNZ to gain somewhat. However, they were still behind on rounding the gates.

Mark 2: The Alinghi dropped the spinnaker and bolted around the left buoy as if being chased down by a very bad nightmare. The ETNZ dropped kite and took the opposite, the right gate. They -ETNZ- beat upwind once more, gaining another boatlength. At this stage, the ETNZ were a mere 10M behind then they took the lead by 5M at first for the first time in the race. Now the ETNZ made a starboard tack heading for the third mark.

Mark 3:At mark 3, the NZ stretched the lead to 15 seconds advantage on Delta. Amazing stuff from the Kiwis to make a comeback like this against the Alinghi. After being overtaken, the Alinghi gybed away to see if some fresh air could be attained and close the then 88M gap. This never materialized and the ETNZ pulled away even further, creating some sweet revenge for the Kiwis. The Kiwis flew through the finish some 28 seconds ahead of the Swiss.

What does this mean? The scores are now Level!!!! Swiss Alinghi 1 and Kiwi New Zealand 1. Stay tuned folks this best of 9 is going to be very exciting.
With a rest day tommorow, stay tuned for more reports on the Americas Cup.

Thanks lminford.

Yep, as Kevin put there, it is Versus. I watch it on that channel. Nice coverage.

For today so far, racing from race 3 has been for the moment, postponed. If there is any racing a report will be here. For the time being we have to wait and see what happens if the wind direction changes enough for sailing.

Thrils, Spills And Suprises

ETNZ92 VS SUI100

After over 2 and a half hours of postponements and delays, the 3rd race of the America's Cup got underway. It started as usual with the tricky prestart. 30 seconds from the start and the boats held off and then spilt tack into the start. The Alinghi got away speedily 8 seconds off the start and pressed a 40M lead. The ETNZ started really slowly off the line and one would of thought Alinghi were totally in the advantage immediately. Supprisingly a righthand wind shift aided the Kiwis and propelled them into the lead of some 130M. Moving confidently upbeat, the Alinghi needed to play catch up. Amazingly ETNZ stretched to a 350M boat lead, almost unheard of. The boats beat upwind for the first mark.

Mark 1: Rounding mark 1, the ETNZ controlled as if they were sailing by themselves. With a perfect set of the kite, the Kiwis pulled away with a 1M and 23 sec advantage on Delta. Alinghi rounded and gybed away immediately for better breeze downwind.

Mark 2: After rounding mark 2, all hell broke loose when the bowman for ETNZ went overboard but managed to crawl back up the bow feom the water on this safety line. However, whole taking down the kite at mark 2, it was caught jammed in the jib block. This redulted in the jib and the spinnaker being snagged together at they block. They had to be cut away. This made ETNZ slow down considerably and what was a 350M lead eariler came down to some 30 to 40 M. Now with another slight mistake, the ETNZ came out of starboard tack and allowed Alinghi to take the lead by 10M. Ten another switch in the lead, ETNZ regained the lead briefly but once again Alinghi marginally squeezed ahead again as they converged at mark 3. The Delta on mark 2 was 1M 02 secs.

Mark 3: Alignhi led on tack into the 3rd mark and pressed a 15 second advantage on Delta. As ETNZ came around they set kite and gybed away. This leg to the finish was cat and mouse, filled with gybes and tacks in the lighter winds now. 5.5 to 6.0 knots was the wind speed, the finish was in sight and as the boats came together, tension surely filled the air as the finish was extrememly close. Could you believe it right at the finish another lead change and the ETNZ took lead 25 seconds ahead.

This means that the Team NZ have won amazingly. This race 3 has been filled with lead changes, thrills, spills and suprises. Full of chop, pressure, light wind, the works but the ultimate result is Team NZ came from behind once again in the race to win. This means that TEAM NZ are 2 and the Swiss are 1. Catch reporting next time right here, I'm sure you will be glued to you seat as I am.

Swiss Karma?

ETNZ92 VS SUI100

This is day 4 of racing of the America's Cup and today was a nice day to race. Not too powerful winds nor excessive chop.
The race got underway as the boats left the prestart to make their way upwind to the first mark. On the start though, the Alinghi definitely got the jump on the Kiwis once again. With just a marginal 1 second advantage off the start the Swiss took that. Sailing upbeat to the first mark, the Alinghi kept infront all the way. Rounding mark one was good.

Mark 1: The Alinghi being in front rounded the first mark comfortably and pressed about a 20 second advantage on Delta. Set of the Kite and they were underway.

Mark 2: This saw the boats still away from each other with some gains being made by the Kiwis but havent been able to overtake the Swiss. At mark 2, the Swiss took the 34 second lead and set up the race for a Swiss win. The Kiwis just had to play catch up.

Mark 3: The Kiwis at this point in time were still behind. They however, made some gain, taking in some 9 seconds over the last mark on Delta. The Swiss took a 25 second lead. As they moved downwind with the kites up and filled, the boats executed a number of gybes and tacks. Each matching each others tactics. The Alinghi seemed to learned their lesson from the prior races. The Alinghi squared the score by crossing the finish line some 30 seconds ahead of the Kiwis, about 107M ahead.

This means that the score is now squared: ETNZ 2, Alinghi 2. Now with tomorrow being the scheduled rest day, racing will not be tomorrow. This series is definitely on and cooking. Here is a summary of the Delta times.

START +1 second to Alinghi
MARK 1 +20 seconds to Alinghi
MARK 2 +34 seconds to Alinghi
MARK 3 +25 seconds to Alinghi
FINISH +30 seconds to Alinghi

Tie Breaker And Tactical Failure

ETNZ92 VS SUI100

In the prestart, both boats used the spectator's fleet as a playing ground to play hide and seek. They emerged from the spectator sleet and then went to the top of the box and turned towards the startline. Dean Barker definitely got the jump on Alinghi and exited the start first, about 5 seconds, 20 M ahead. On the way to the first mark, the Kiwis keep the Alinghi on the right hand side and pressured them off the righthand layline.

Mark 1: The ETNZ met and rounded mark 1 first and set the kite flawlessly. The Swiss rounded about 12 seconds behind the Kiwis. With the Kiwis happily in the lead on the first downwind leg, nothing could go wrong. Well think agian, the most unbelievable thing occured when the first spinnaker formed a hole in the highest load bearing area of the sail. The Kiwis rushed for the backup kite and hoisted that as the replacement when that fialed too. With the first spinnaker gragging in the water and the second not catching on the rig, a third kite had to be launhced and with a kite costing as much as 27,000 dollars, they were an expensive loss. The third kite finally opened up but the second kite was flying like a flag helplessly. The halyard holding it had to be cut. By this time, the Alinghi had overtaken gladly and pressed a near 150M lead towards mark 2.

Mark 2: The Swiss cautiously dropped their kite and rounded the right gate 26 seconds ahead. The Kiwis desperately tried to catch up being some 100+M behind. The ETNZ tried to get to the right but the Alinghi easily protected it as they moved to mark 3.

Mark 3: The Alinghi still was in the lead at mark 3 and lead 24 seconds, a gain of 2 seconds for NZ. Alinghi did not necessarily run away on the final downwind leg because the Kiwis made some serious gains, reducing the deficit meters to 30 or 40M. Alinghi though, sailed through the finish 19 seconds ahead.

This means that the Swiss broke the tie and are now 3, and ETNZ, 2. Not so sure the Swiss earned the win but more like it was given to them. Here is a Summary of the Delta times.

START : +5 second to ETNZ
MARK 1 : +12 seconds to ETNZ
MARK 2 : +26 seconds to Alinghi
MARK 3 : +24 seconds to Alinghi
FINISH : +19 seconds to Alinghi

Sorry for the spelling mistakes in the above report, I guess I was typing too fast
"When that failed too."

"That should be Spinnaker Dragging in the water."

Thanks,
Yachtluver.

Had One In The Grasp!

Sorry for the late report, It was not my fault but rather a problem with the local ISP, hence there was access to the browser and net service.

ETNZ92 VS SUI100

The prestart for Race 6 was wonderful, a near cross in tha segment cause some alarm but the umpires rulled that it was a fair play then as the final seconds ticked down both boats bowed down and powered for th start. The start was so close that both the boats left the mark together. The dragrace was very close and on for mark 1.

Mark 1:At mark 1, the ETNZ managed to be in the lead and rounded the mark cautiously with a Delta of 14 seconds in their advantage. The boats then went down wind with their huge spinnakers towards mark 2. All this time, the Kiwis still maintained the lead but it would be mark 2 that drama would draw out.

Mark 2: At mark 2, Alinghi managed to gain by some 3 seconds but the Kiwis still maintained the lead. With what occured yesterday fresh in their minds, the spinnakers were dropped cautiously. ETNZ took the left gate and Alinghi the right. Only 11 seconds of lead for the Kiwis and this did shrink. A series of Gybes by Alinghi ate away at the 69M lead and soon caught up and took the lead about half way to mark 3.

Mark 3: At mark 3, Alinghi was clearly in the commanding position with a 16 second lead on the ETNZ, it would be hard to come back from this deficit for NZ. However, stranger things have occured in the America's Cup already. The gap started to close significantly for ETNZ. From about 120M down to under 80M. Every Gybe that they executed forced the Swiss to match aided them to again. Incredibly, Team NZ came within 1 boatlength of the Swiss about halfway Downbeat towards the finish, however, the Kiwis made one last gybe in the light air, expecting the Swiss to match them but the Swiss stayed on Starboard tack towards the finish. The extra gybe cost the ETNZ significantly as they could not regain their striking position and thus failed. The Swiss crossed the line happily with some celebrations aboard, 28 seconds before.

This now means that the Alinghi are 4 and the Kiwis, 2. It is by no means over peoples but the Swiss definitely have the jump on the Kiwis and maybe one hand on that Tall and Shiny Cup. Here are the Delta times at each mark.

START : 0 seconds
MARK 1 : 14 seconds to ETNZ
MARK 2 : 11 seconds to ETNZ
MARK 3 : 16 seconds to Alinghi
FINISH : 28 seconds to Alinghi

K1W1 must be furious at the moment, a penalty to Team NZ. If letting go the lead was bad enough then...