| Alinghi
Wins Again
Alinghi
skipper Russell Coutts got the better of his young
protégé, Kiwi skipper Dean Barker
on Sunday in a thrilling race to go up 2 - 0 in
the America's Cup Match. Coutts made an incredible
pass on the final run, breaking hearts across New
Zealand as Alinghi slipped by just a few hundred
metres from the finish.
Racing
was delayed for over two and half hours to allow
the sea breeze to stabilise on Sunday, and the warning
signal eventually sounded with 8 - 10 knot Northeasterlies
on the race course.
Coutts
and Alinghi looked strong in the pre-start as the
Swiss team won the favoured left side of the start
line. Halfway up the first beat Alinghi crossed
ahead of Team New Zealand, and hometown sailing
fans had their hearts in their mouths.
But
after trailing around the first mark, Team New Zealand
showed an impressive display of speed on the first
run, and 40-minutes into the race, the Kiwi black
boat crossed ahead of its opponent for the first
time in the XXXI'st America's Cup match.
Team
New Zealand completed the first lap of the course
with a 34-second lead and looked as if they would
hold on the rest of the way. But on the final run
to the finish, Alinghi rolled past NZL-82 after
some ferocious luffing duels, and Coutts enjoyed
his 11th consecutive America's Cup win.
Monday
is an 'off' day. Race Three is scheduled to start
at 13:15 on Tuesday afternoon.
31ST
AMERICA'S CUP MATCH
Alinghi
(SUI-64) beat Team New Zealand (NZL-82) - Delta:
0:07 Alinghi leads Team New Zealand in the best-of-nine
series, 2 - 0.
Race
Two of the America's Cup got underway in light conditions
with the breeze struggling to top 10 knots. With
positions reversed for the entry into the starting
box, Alinghi entered from the left and Team New
Zealand from the right. But as the breeze started
to shift around to the left further up the course
it became clear that the left hand side of the start
line would be favoured.
After
a close quarters pre-start tussle, Alinghi held
on to the favoured end of the line, forcing Team
New Zealand to tack away and start on port.
As
the first leg unfurled Alinghi did indeed appear
to have the advantage as the breeze slipped to the
left. Yet even though Team New Zealand was further
to the right, they didn't seem to be losing out.
At
the weather mark the Kiwis were 12 seconds behind
Alinghi.
As
both boats sailed downwind from the weather mark
on port, Team New Zealand kept the pressure on by
appearing to sail at the same speed but lower than
the Swiss. Eventually they gybed away and shortly
afterwards started to pull ahead rapidly.
On
rounding the first leeward mark they had overtaken
the Swiss to lead for the first time and were 130m
ahead with a delta of 34 seconds.
The
second beat saw Barker and his crew hold onto most
of their lead despite the tricky conditions. At
the weather mark, Alinghi were 26 seconds behind
but by the leeward mark Alinghi had hauled back
some of this advantage to close to the gap to just
14 seconds.
On
the last beat the breeze had dropped to 7-8 knots
and Coutts' team seemed keen on engaging Team New
Zealand in a down-speed tacking duel. But as the
pair bounced off each other it was Team New Zealand
that appeared to gain the advantage, stretching
their lead metre by metre with every tack.
At
the last weather mark rounding, both boats had thrown
in 33 tacks and Team New Zealand was ahead by 26
seconds. Choosing to perform a bear away set may
have cost them the race as Alinghi opted for a gybe
set. Team New Zealand were quick to respond and
gybed over onto starboard but as the pair sailed
downwind Alinghi, to weather, managed get the puffs
first, sailing deeper at the same speed and soaking
down to Team New Zealand.
What
followed next was one of the closest finishes of
the series, as Coutts' team fought to break through.
Initially, Barker managed to hold Alinghi off, carrying
the Swiss team out to and beyond the port gybe lay
line. But after the gybe, Alinghi managed to drive
over the top of NZL-82 yet again to win by seven
seconds. |
