| AC
commentary
For Yacht Racing .com
By Rich Roberts
Myths
of the America's Cup:
--The
faster boat always wins.
--The
top crews are equal.
--The
"hula" hull appendage is the biggest breakthrough
in sailing since Dacron.
Welcome
to reality. No, it's not over yet. Team New Zealand
could win five of six . . . the day a kiwi bird
learns to fly.
The
defenders, after their boat became a bathtub and
started blowing apart in Race 1, have lost by only
7 and 23 seconds in the next two races. That isn't
nearly as bad as three years ago when another Team
New Zealand blitzed Prada five straight with winning
margins of 48 seconds to 2 minutes 43 seconds.
Make
a note of that for future consolation, because that's
about all it's worth.
Of
no consolation is that TNZ may have the faster boat
but still can't win. It certainly doesn't seem any
slower than Alinghi. Mark one for the hula.
So
the difference must be luck—that is, Alinghi
is lucky to have Russell Coutts and Brad Butterworth
on its side.
Sometimes
Butterworth seems to have ethereal powers. It was
worth a chuckle recently when the company that makes
Butterworth's sunglasses ran an ad claiming he could
"see" breeze that others could not. Now
I'm starting to believe it.
If
Butterworth had been telling TNZ skipper Dean Barker
to take the right side for the Race 3 start, overriding
the opinions of others on board, today we would
be writing comeback stories for the Kiwis at 2-1.
And
if Coutts, nervously looking over his shoulder,
which he seldom does, hadn't sensed his lead eroding
and insisted on tacking back to cover TNZ just in
time to keep Alinghi in front, we'd all be writing
that even the infallible ones could blunder victory
into defeat.
Barker
is the equal of Coutts as a match-racing helmsman,
I still believe, but he may not have as able a supporting
cast---a view raised by some seemingly minor gaffes
that can make the difference in winning or losing
by 7 or 23 seconds. A few seconds' delay in setting
the spinnaker for the final run in Race 3 left TNZ
little chance to attack.
TNZ
and Barker also get points for remaining competitive
after the unbelievable gear failures in Race 1.
Days like that do not instill great confidence in
one's boat. Then after Race 2, when Coutts &
Co. seized the bone from TNZ's mouth as the Kiwis
were about to square the series at 1-1, Barker slumped
over the wheel and the crew appeared to be emotionally
devastated. Teams of lesser resolve in past America's
Cups would just be showing up for a suntan by now.
The
character of the New Zealand sailor remains intact,
but the best ones are no longer exclusive to the
home team. Coutts and Butterworth took the pick
of the litter with them to Switzerland, as the next
level jumped ship to Seattle and San Francisco.
Even the world's deepest little reservoir of sailing
talent has to feel the loss.
Isn't
that what we're seeing now? |
