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Americas Cup

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Lovesick Melody.
Bulletproof Heart
Lovesick Melody.
Age: 83
Gender: Female
Posts: 25760
June 30th, 2007 at 02:45am

Im truly not a big a fan, but the score right now is
Alingi - 3
NZ - 2

So... Discuss!!!


Americas Cup: Areva tells how Alinghi retook the advantage
Friday, 29 June 2007



Today, the Swiss Defender benefitted from a torn spinnaker on board Emirates Team New Zealand, allowing them to pass their rivals and keep the lead until the finish. With two consecutive victories, Alinghi is ahead 3-2 in the series. The Swiss team must win two more matches to have a successful defense of the America’s Cup.

Despite being defeated, Emirates Team New Zealand must nevertheless be relieved. Today’s wind conditions were stronger, from 13-17 knots, and the boats still looked to be even. Tonight, the Kiwi team will debrief their choice of sails and crew work instead of their boat’s potential. Everything had begun perfectly for the Kiwis who entered the starting area with the starboard tack advantage. Dean Barker surprised Ed Baird by refusing the traditional dial up and immediately placed his boat in a hunting position. The result was that Baird, to gain enough separation to carry out a maneuver, had to dive into the spectator fleet, using a media boat as blocker to complete his turn back to the starting line. At the helm of NZL 92, Barker controlled the pre-start perfectly, forcing his opponent to tack right before the start, which resulted in a 5 second advantage for the Kiwi boat. NZL 92 then profited from a very slight left hand shift and accompanied SUI 100 out to the right side of the course, past the layline to the mark. The Kiwis rounded the first mark with a 13 second advantage.

At the beginning of the run, the 5th match immediately announced itself to be extremely exciting. Soon after they rounded the mark, the Kiwis noticed a small tear in their spinnaker. Did the they choose too light of a spinnaker for the conditions? Was the sail defective? They were preparing a second spinnaker when the first one blew out completely. In the confusion, the new sail got hoisted up the mast without connecting all the sheets. In addition, there was some tangling between the two sails. After they got the first, torn spinnaker on board, they hoisted a third spinnaker, which finally filled after an hourglass twist worked itself out.

Meanwhile, the second sail was still flying away from the boat, only attached by the halyard at the top of the mast. Once the third spinnaker was full, the halyard of the second spinnaker was cut and the sail was dropped into the water for the tender to pick up. This fiasco on board NZL 92 obviously benefited the Defender who went from 50 meters behind to 180 meters ahead.

Despite everything, Grant Dalton and his crew hung on and kept their deficit low at only 26 seconds at the leeward gate and 24 seconds at the last mark. On the final run, the Kiwis carried a symmetrical spinnaker versus an asymmetrical spinnaker on board Alinghi. With better gybing ability, the Kiwis were able to make a bit of a comeback, but Ed Baird and Brad Butterworth on Alinghi, were able to keep the lead until the finish, crossing the line 19 seconds ahead.

Saturday’s conditions are forecasted to be similar to today’s, with 13 to 16 knots of sea breeze expected.


32nd America’s Cup – Match 5 results
Alinghi beat Emirates Team New Zealand (0:19)
32nd America’s Cup – Series standings
Alinghi: 1+0+0+1+1 = 3 points
Emirates Team New Zealand: 0+1+1+0+0 = 2 points


Today’s comments

Benoit Briand, Mainsail Trimmer:
“There were two key moments in this fifth match. First of all, Emirates Team New Zealand had a very beautiful start. They surprised Alinghi in the dial up and blocked them from taking an advantage. Alinghi was forced to use a spectator boat to gain enough separation to do their turn back to the starting line.

On the first beat, I then found the passive attitude of Alinghi astonishing. Brad Butterworth and his team found themselves blocked until the layline, without having any opportunity to get clear. This allowed ETNZ to round the first mark ahead. On the run, ETNZ anticipated that their spinnaker would tear, and was preparing a second sail when it did in fact burst. It was a difficult situation to manage before they finally returned to normal. Alinghi thus took the advantage, which they maintained until the finish. By hoisting a symmetrical spinnaker, ETNZ was able to put pressure on the Swiss team throughout the last run, but it was not quite enough. To take stock of this day, I would certainly say that Alinghi takes a point, but it was not an easy point, taking advantage of the incidents on board ETNZ. I think the Kiwis still retain a bit of a psychological advantage.”

Dimitri Nicolopoulos, Design Team Coordinator:
“Today was one interesting day, but inevitably one of the teams was going to take the advantage. We also finally had a strong sea breeze, which was good for analyzing the differences between the boats. It is important to note that the supposed advantage of Alinghi in the breeze is weak, or in any case, not sufficient enough to compensate for a lost start. The drama started when Emirates Team New Zealand tore its spinnaker on the first run, resulting in a 200 meter deficit. ETNZ caught up a little on the second run with their symmetrical spinnaker, but it was not enough to take the victory.

The conclusion is that Alinghi is ahead 3-2 and tomorrow will be a very important day for ETNZ because it will be the difference between a 4-2 series or a 3-3 series. In any case, the New Zealanders can be reassured that they have good boat speed in the breeze.”


Source
the original JULES
Demolition Lover
the original JULES
Age: -
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Posts: 19598
June 30th, 2007 at 03:17am
... What is it?? XD
omg stfu
Demolition Lover
omg stfu
Age: -
Gender: -
Posts: 19648
June 30th, 2007 at 04:09am
Our Avenged Jules:
... What is it?? XD
-slaps-

Lol, the yatch race that I have been busting my ass for staying up until ungodly hours of the night.

We're losing. "/
the original JULES
Demolition Lover
the original JULES
Age: -
Gender: Female
Posts: 19598
June 30th, 2007 at 04:38am
LMFAO.
Ohhhhhhhh, fair enough.
I totally knew that! Shifty
I was just testing to see if everyone else knew what it was... Duhhh. XD
Lovesick Melody.
Bulletproof Heart
Lovesick Melody.
Age: 83
Gender: Female
Posts: 25760
July 2nd, 2007 at 02:43am

^^
lmfao

Happy Birthday BTW!!

Its I think....
Swiss - 4
NZ - 3/2?
Lovesick Melody.
Bulletproof Heart
Lovesick Melody.
Age: 83
Gender: Female
Posts: 25760
July 2nd, 2007 at 02:51am
Our Avenged Jules:
... What is it?? XD


Oh.. I should really put that in there... Im sorry! lmfao

The America's Cup is the most famous and most prestigious regatta and Match Race in the sport of sailing, and the oldest active trophy in international sport, predating the Modern Olympics by 45 years. The sport attracts top sailors and yacht designers because of its long history and prestige as the “Holy Grail” of yachting. Although the most salient aspect of the regatta is its yacht races, it is also a test of boat design, sail design, fundraising, and management skills. The cup, originally offered as the Royal Yacht Squadron cup, is now named after the first yacht to win the trophy, the schooner America. The trophy remained in the hands of the New York Yacht Club of the United States from 1852 or 1857 (when the syndicate that won the Cup donated the trophy to the club) until 1983 when the Cup was won by the challenger, Australia II of Australia, ending the longest winning streak in the history of sport. The skipper of Australia II, John Bertrand, was quoted in saying, “This puts yacht racing back on the map!”

The America’s Cup regatta is a challenge-driven yacht series that currently involves a best-of-nine series of match racing (a duel between two boats). Since the 1992 match, the regatta has been sailed with the International America’s Cup Class (IACC) sloop, a monohull boat that has an average length of about 75 feet (23 m). Any challenger who meets the requirements specified in the Deed of Gift, which governs the regatta, has the right to challenge the yacht club that holds the Cup. Since 1983, Louis Vuitton has sponsored the Louis Vuitton Cup as a prize for the winner of the challenger selection series (which was inaugurated for the 1970 match). The America’s Cup is a race between the winner of the Louis Vuitton Cup and the current holder. If the challenging team wins the cup, the cup’s ownership is transferred from the defender’s yacht club to the winning team’s yacht club.



There we go!!
Source
Lovesick Melody.
Bulletproof Heart
Lovesick Melody.
Age: 83
Gender: Female
Posts: 25760
July 4th, 2007 at 12:02am

Close, but not close enough for Team NZ
7:49AM Wednesday July 04, 2007
By Robert Lowe

Disappointed Team New Zealand crew after their America's Cup dream was shattered by Alinghi.

VALENCIA - Close, but not close enough, has been the story of Team New Zealand's bid to wrest yachting's America's Cup from Swiss defenders Alinghi, tactician Terry Hutchinson said today.

Team NZ lost by one second, the narrowest margin in a cup race in the event's 156-year history, to go down 2-5 to Alinghi.

The finish off Valencia was a true nailbiter. SUI100 was in the lead but NZL92, with a penalty to perform, was running the defenders down on the final leg.

Team NZ got some good breeze to overtake Alinghi, who had problems with their spinnaker as the wind swung round, and completed their penalty turn, only to hit a rogue wave and see their opponents pip them at the death.

Hutchinson said Team NZ were relying on Mother Nature to give them a helping hand and she came to the party.

"We knew the breeze was going to go left and it was a matter of throwing the dice down," he said.

"They went our way, but just not enough and not by enough has been a common theme in the last three races."

While the two yachts had appeared to be even in a range of conditions during the cup match, Hutchinson suggested that boat speed was an issue this afternoon.

"We just didn't have enough jets today," he said of the earlier stages of the contest.

He also said he would be haunted by the decision, as in the previous race, to go for the opposite end of the leeward gate than Alinghi.

As in race six, the Swiss were behind after the second leg, but the separation they got on the next beat gave them the opportunity to pass.

Hutchinson said he had opted for the left-hand buoy because the prevailing wind made it favoured.

However, in the ensuing beat, Team NZ were unable to shake off Alinghi and paid near the top mark when they copped their penalty.

Hutchinson, an American, joined Team NZ after the syndicate's 0-5 loss to Alinghi in Auckland four years ago and said the turnaround under managing director Grant Dalton had been "unbelievable".


"It's nice to be involved in a team that had the character and heart that our team had," he said.

"To be defeated in the manner that they were and to come back like they did, it's nice to be included and to have some influence over that.

"It's just that, every now and then, you need a couple of breaks to go your way and in the last couple of races they didn't.

"Not one really went our way and it's a sign that Alinghi did a really good job.

"They were going well and you can't say enough about the calibre of that team."

- NZPA


Full coverage of the America's Cup from nzherald.co.nz/americascup and desktoptv.co.nz

hip like badass
Motor Baby
hip like badass
Age: 34
Gender: Female
Posts: 919
July 4th, 2007 at 09:19am
;_; We lost. I was so proud when we won way back when..now I'm ASHAMED...and and...DISGUSTED!

ok I actually don't care that much.
Jesserz
Salute You in Your Grave
Jesserz
Age: 34
Gender: Female
Posts: 2616
July 6th, 2007 at 08:45pm
We suck.
Everyone at a party that i was at went to bed when we found out we lost.
I was gutted. About the party, not losing..