The 32nd America’s Cup has now been over for nearly two months, so how did it meet expectations? My expectation, and that of many, was that it was most likely to be another procession with the winner known from half way up the first ‘work’ of the first race, as in the majority of races in the Cup’s one hundred and fifty six year history.
Only true sailing fanatics would stay in front of the television trying to stay awake and in the forlorn hope that something unexpected would happen; the rest of sports fans would switch back to their favorite sport, content to leave the billionaires to get on with it.
So what actually happened? What happened was we witnessed one of the most gripping sporting contests you are ever likely to see. Years of input from the most professional group of sailors and technicians ever assembled plus unlimited financial resources had gradually removed the wide discrepancies in ability between the boats so that, following an exhaustive Louis Vuitton Cup to sort out the fastest challenger, we arrived at a position in which the finalists were the most evenly matched yachts in Cup history. As Grant Simmer, the Australian design co-ordinator of Alinghi put it, “it’s now a match of metres.”
To put it in context, it’s worth taking a look at the last seventeen races in which Alinghi and Emirates Team New Zealand were involved; number of wins 9 to Alinghi, 8 to Team New Zealand; number of times leading at the start 5 to 6 (with 6 judged even); number of times leading at the first mark, 7 to 10. In just 2 of the last 6 races of the Cup itself had one team led all the way around the course.
Team New Zealand led two of the three last races at the top mark the first time, and would have expected to convert these leads into wins, but each time Alinghi managed to “own” the right hand side of the course and thus right of way under the rules. Team New Zealand was never quite fast enough, or could never point quite high enough to overcome this advantage, and probably in the end the wining edge came down to a tiny fraction more speed and height from Alinghi..
The races had everything a yachtie could want: dramatic starts, tactical battles with mistakes when you least expected them, and even a classic moment when Team New Zealand managed to have a crew over the side and not one, not two but three giant spinnakers up at the same time. Many a week end sailor enjoyed their moment of schadenfreude as they watched an absolute shambles taking place amongst some of the world’s best sailors.
The last race will remain a sporting classic with a piece of tactical slight-of-hand from Alinghi which would have pleased a Chess Grand Master. Alinghi used it’s starboard right of way advantage to “dial down” on Team New Zealand and force a breach of the rules necessitating a three sixty degree penalty, the equivalent of check mate in match racing. However “Huie”, the sailor’s weather God, wasn’t finished. Alinghi let Team New Zealand break away, figuring their 12 second advantage at the last mark was game over, but from nowhere came a 180 degree wind shift putting the yachts back “on the wind.” Alinghi then fouled its spinnaker drop and Team New Zealand was back in the race. As history records Alinghi won by one second, a distance which must have been only discernible with a laser, and the series was over. Show me a Formula 1 race with half the drama.
So now it looks like the 33rd Cup will be back in Valencia in 2009, half the time normally allotted between series. Not only that, the new boats will be bigger (over 90feet), have crews of twenty, go faster and be harder to sail. Four challengers have already entered. England, South Africa, Spain and New Zealand and for sure the final count will be at least ten challengers. There are even rumors that Australia may re-emerge. Well, whatever happens, I for one can’t wait.
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