Americas Cup - thrilling racing at last

rb_stretch said:
I would agree. Oracle seem to lose out on tacks for two reasons 1) The boat, apparently the bows dig in slowing the tack 2) Teamwork, they're just not as fluid as the Kiwi's. The boat may also play a part in the team work as the Oracle team are all in pods and need to get in and out.
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The Kiwi's also have a self tacking jib that speeds up tacking for them. But at the end of the day the Kiwi's are just the better crew who have mastered foiling those things far better than the americans have.
 
The post-race press conference was entertaining. When the American skipper/helm Jimmy Spithill, who is actually Australian, was asked if he thought he'd still be skipper at the next race he replied, "You can be a rooster one day and a feather duster the next"!! :D
 
I suspect it would be premature to write off Oracle based upon one rash and stupid error (tacking off rather than covering)

Oracle seemed to invincible at the start tactics and first reach - whichever side Team NZ went. Perhaps if they had covered TNZ properly upwind it could have been a very different outcome, as much more tricky to get past upwind if covered. We could easily have seen USA win race 5, physche out TNZ over their poor starts / first reach and bag the second race the same way.
Then it could have been 3 all on the water and it would be TNZ who were looking at risk.

These things can swing very quickly -and I wouldn't underestimate the Oracle team's (multi-national) talent base
 
dunedin said:
I suspect it would be premature to write off Oracle based upon one rash and stupid error (tacking off rather than covering)
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It would be very premature to write off Oracle as they certainly have the advantage of the Kiwis in some areas and they're all top level professionals. What the 5th race showed though that Oracle was uncomfortable being in front. It wasn't one mistake. It was the tactical mistake compounded by a second mistake, which was poor execution, but the worst mistake of all was that despite being in the lead they accepted defeat and just let the Kiwis take the right hand side of the beat. That was followed by a whole series of mistake afterwards as I've waffled on about a few posts up.

On a boat that 'knew' they were going to win the skipper would've have just said something like "stay focused, we're still in the lead" and they'd have continued knowing victory was their 'right'.

You see it all the time in racing with boats accepting they have a place in the pecking order and some form of 'vertigo' inducing mistakes when they occasionally get above their station.
 
Iain C said:
Practice day...JK off, Sir Ben on...

Now who the hell are we supposed to support?
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Even with Ben in I just can't support Oracle, I can't stomach they way they have used to courts to attain the cup which they don't have the skill to win on the water.
 
Woodlouse said:
Race 6 was probably the best of the series so far. But I hate to say it, despite the spectacle it's starting to get boring. Oracle just seem hopeless.
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I agree. Once you get used to the sight of the boats at speed, the action is not all that close or exciting.
 
A1Sailor said:
Watching race 6 live just now. Astonished that upwind at port/starboard crosses, once the boat on port bears away to duck under the stbd one, the guy on stbd is allowed to bear away also! Is this a feature of the rules for match racing? How far is the guy on stbd allowed to bear away?

EDIT:
Live at https://www.youtube.com/user/AmericasCup
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It's a feature of the rules generally, as long as you give them room to keep clear. Not much point in fleet racing and I suspect there would be a tendancy for protest committes to give the benefit of the doubt to the port tacker as to whether you had given that room.
 
It's kinda difficult to comment. We need a good close race with maybe a mild collision but then you realise what a joke this is when a life has been taken. More so when you see what's been left behind.

It's thrilling stuff and I am hooked but I just don't know what to think or what to say when one team creams it ..
 
It has been thrilling. Unfortunately it now just seems predictable. Fortunately if it carries on like this we only have to sit through another three races. If it doesn't carry on like this then it will at least have got interesting again.
 
flaming said:
I agree. Once you get used to the sight of the boats at speed, the action is not all that close or exciting.
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I was actually quite bored with the Louis Vutton Cup and the Extreme 40 racing as it was all speed and no tactics. (Bit like Twenty20 Vs test match cricket). But the racing so far in the America's Cup has been good. What today has shown is that the Kiwis definitely do have the advantage upwind especially in a tacking duel (brilliant that they are having tacking duels however). You got the sense that the Kiwis weren't really that upset that they lost the start of the 6th race, because they knew they could get it back.

In the end all that Ben Ainslie seems to have achieved is getting the Kiwis advantage down to boat speed & boat handling.

If nothing else, at least the Aussies should be racing on an Australian boat the next time.
 
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