14.05.2007
Sail-World.com America's Cup 2007Newsletter....
Welcome to Sail-World.Com's America's Cup newsletter for day 1 of the Semi-Finals of the Louis Vuitton Cup.
Today was a day of upsets, playing right into the hands of five times Olympic medalist Torben Grael, strategist aboard Luna Rossa.
The seabreeze of the latter stages of the Round Robins, was replaced by a fresh offshore breeze - making for some good shifts on the racecourse and placing a big premium on weather teams, before the start and the afterguards once racing got underway.
After an even start, Emirates Team New Zealand built an excellent lead of 63 seconds around the first mark and was never really in doubt, however she did spend some of that lead on the next two legs, allowing Desafio Espanol to come back into contact, before stretching away to win by 43 seconds.
However the final leg was not without its dramas as the seabreeze overcame the land breeze and both competitors finished under jibs at the end of what was supposed to be a downwind leg.
The second upset, in most pundits books anyway, was the defeat of BMW Oracle Racing by Luna Rossa. Although the Timing Sheets show Luna Rossa as leading at every mark, Chris Dickson and his crew were able to close the game right up at the end of the second leg, luffing ITA-94 hard after making a big gain of 45 seconds.
It was day for the strategists and in this regard, triple Olympic Gold medal winner, Torben Grael has few peers. The renowned Brazilian Star sailor was able to lead Luna Rossa through the upwind minefield to stretch a narrow margin of just seven seconds at the leeward mark to an 81 second advantage by the time they had sailed the three mile windward leg.
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From there it was a simple matter of defence for the Italians - or should have been, except that the breeze crumped out and swung ahead as both closed into the finish line.
Luna Rossa was just able to cross the line with her gennaker set, however BMW Oarcle was caught in the wrong place and the winning margin of 139 seconds for Luna Rossa is not a fair reflection of the race.
Even so, the crew of BMW ORACLE Racing have a struggle ahead of them. Being down by one race in the opening round is not big deal, however it is essential to win the next race - as being 2-0 is starting to get a little difficult.
On the basis of what we saw today the two matches were quite different in their strategy. Emirates Team New Zealand content to play a closer game looking for the win rather than the margin over Desafio Espanol. The other match saw a continuation of the strategies of the Round Robins as the afterguards gambled on the windshifts, and played for the big gains and losses that were on the table.
Tomorrow it is expected that the seabreeze will return, and the race plans should resume a more usual and predictable shape.
However this is Valencia and the America's Cup and anything can happen.
Certainly this is developing into a vital contest, and crews will be well aware that small losses at an early stage of the regatta can have big repercussions in the later stages as they try to make the cut into the next round.
We seem to have missed Bob Fisher's report for today - hopefully there will be a double serving tomorrow.
A new feature today is the Timing Sheets from both matches which show the detail of the racing for the arm-chair analysts to ponder.
Good sailing!
Richard Gladwell
NZ Editor
NZL 92 wins first semi-final match
Emirates Team New Zealand won its first semi-final match today beating Desafio Espanol by 43 seconds. The match finished dramatically. Two thirds of the way down the second downwind leg the wind shifted massively; NZL 92 dropped its gennaker and raised a genoa and finished the leg on the wind....
http://www.sail-world.com/newstext/pda.cfm?Nid=33679&ntid=58
Quotes of the Day: Semi-finals LVC Raceday 1
'It was a risk/reward type calculation the whole time. If you are anything less than 70% confident you can be easily bitten. These are not Lasers and you can't just tack on every wind shift. Coming into the top mark it was very shifty, and there were some pretty close and hairy moments there - they just kept chipping away at us. It is really just a balancing act between the two.'...
http://www.sail-world.com/newstext/pda.cfm?Nid=33678&ntid=58
Emirates Team NZL and Luna Rossa Lead
It was a difficult day to be an afterguard member at the Louis Vuitton Cup on Monday. The first races of the Semi Finals saw an offshore breeze that varied from eight to 18 knots in strength and shifted by nearly 180 degrees. In fact, on the final run, the boats started under spinnaker and finished under genoa, tacking for the finishing line...
http://www.sail-world.com/newstext/pda.cfm?Nid=33676&ntid=58
Massive windshifts prove decisive for USA-98
First blood in the best-of-nine Louis Vuitton Cup semi-final series went to the Italian Luna Rossa Challenge team today in a match marked by massive windshifts, which saw the advantage switch from one boat to the other through the race. The wind strength went from 9 to 19 knots and changed so dramatically on the final leg that USA 98 went from sailing downwind under spinnaker to cross the finish line sailing upwind....
http://www.sail-world.com/newstext/pda.cfm?Nid=33680&ntid=58
From the Blogs: Tack by Tack - Mark Chisnell
Today is Day 1 of the Louis Vuitton Semi-finals, just in case you hadn't noticed. And as we anticipated, Emirates Team New Zealand chose Desafio Espanol for their opponent. Luna Rossa face Oracle and, as Terry Hutchinson (for ETNZ) and Jimmy Spithill (for Luna Rossa) won the toss, those two teams will start with the starboard (or yellow) entry......
http://www.sail-world.com/newstext/pda.cfm?Nid=33684&ntid=58
From the Blogs: SailJuice - Breakaway tactics see Luna Rossa topple BMW Oracle
Two more contrasting styles in match racing you could not have hoped to see today. With the wind blowing off the city for the opening matches of the Louis Vuitton Cup Semi Finals, the fluky, shifty conditions made it a tough call as to whether afterguards should be chasing the best breeze or defending position on the race course....
http://www.sail-world.com/newstext/pda.cfm?Nid=33683&ntid=58
Luna Rossa Cuptoon: Business time!
Mark O'Brien who was a feature of the Louis Vuitton and America's Cups in Auckland, with his Monsta series, is in Valencia as part of the Luna Rossa team. We will be presenting Mark's latest Cup carton when available, either as a separate feature of as part of the Luna Rossa story of the day....
http://www.sail-world.com/newstext/pda.cfm?Nid=33682&ntid=58
Victory for Emirates TNZ against Desafio Espanol
The unstable and changeable wind was the most influential part of the regatta. The Spanish team fought a regatta in which they never gave up. They faced up to their rival right from the pre-start, in which both headed towards the starting line fifteen seconds before the start after a fight for positions, and were side by side until the last second....
http://www.sail-world.com/newstext/pda.cfm?Nid=33686&ntid=58
Luna Rossa beats BMW Oracle in first race
At the end of the race Torben Grael said: 'A race with wind coming from the land: in these cases the breeze tends to be very shifty and it's difficult to have a traditional match race. You really need to position yourself well on the course. On the first downwind leg we gybed a little too early and we had a problem at the end of the run....
http://www.sail-world.com/newstext/pda.cfm?Nid=33681&ntid=58
The Tale of the (Timing) Sheets
Official Timing sheets for Semi Final 1 of the Louis Vuitton Cup...
http://www.sail-world.com/newstext/pda.cfm?Nid=33685&ntid=58
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