Races 7 and 8 will be remembered by Cup fans for a long time to come - especially number 8: who would ever have thought that a race in which one team was already leading over 2500 metres could still be exciting?
It was no longer just the starts that decided the outcome, both races were decided in their respective courses, but in completely different ways. Both times the New Zealanders were ahead at the finish, now leading 5:3 against the Italians and needing two more wins to defend the Cup. For the first time, they were also able to convert their clear speed advantage on the course into a lead change.
Race 7
The Italians start better upwind of the New Zealanders. Peter Burling is a little too early with the New Zealand boat, can't go full speed, would be too early at the leeward mark. Right at the signal, the Italians are seven knots faster and slip upwind of the New Zealanders until they are roughly parallel.
Burling luffed up, as Jimmy Spithill had done before with the Italians, to penalise them for evading too late or even to get them off the foils. But the Italians are able to hold their ground, the windward manoeuvre costs the New Zealanders speed, the Italians are ahead upwind. The tack that is now due due to the course limit cements the situation. The Italians are able to tack to leeward of the New Zealanders, who are only just above their wake, sinking to leeward. It is actually a hopeless position.
But for the first time it becomes very clear that the New Zealanders have a speed advantage. They sail significantly lower than the Italians, but also faster and are thus able to free themselves from their downwind leg. As a result, the gap at the windward gate is only eight seconds.
The New Zealanders are unable to catch up on the downwind leg, but they don't lose either, passing the leeward gate just ten seconds behind. This is where the race is decided. The Italians ahead decide to round the left mark and sail to the left side of the course. The New Zealanders also round the left-hand mark, but immediately roll into a turn and sail to the right-hand side. This is the logical attack manoeuvre for the New Zealanders. The Italians do not react immediately with a tack, it is the decisive mistake; in retrospect, they should have tacked immediately. Perhaps they were too impressed by the speed of the New Zealanders on the upwind course beforehand and didn't want to risk them coming out to leeward, preferring instead to rely on a wind advantage.
"In situations like this, the decision is made according to your own boat speed and what the wind will do," said Italy's co-steersman Jimmy Spithill. Apparently his team was speculating on a left-hand turn, but it only came later. "We will look at the situation again and learn from our mistakes."
Once out of the Italians' control, the New Zealanders are able to capitalise on their speed advantage of almost two knots of wind, and they also seem to have the luck of a slight wind shift to the right. At the next encounter they are just ahead, but now with free wind and freedom of choice and simply sail away from the Italians. They are also around two knots faster downwind, finishing 58 seconds ahead. It was a very impressive performance.
Obviously, the fact that the New Zealanders had set a smaller headsail with the Genoa 3 than the Italians with the Genoa 1.5 contributed to the speed advantage. In the second half of the race, this decision proved to be the right one in winds of up to 12 or 13 knots, as the smaller sail generates less resistance under sufficient pressure.
Race 8
The Italians are in a tight spot. They are sticking with the large genoa, the New Zealanders with the smaller one. Apparently, the weather consultants of both teams have different opinions about the wind development in the second race of the day. The Italians should be right, the wind will drop from around ten knots at the start to just over six knots, which should result in a dramatic development. "It was the wrong sail for the second race," said New Zealand's foil controller Blair Tuke.
Jimmy Spithill explains the difficulty in deciding which sail to choose: "You can't wait until the start, you have to decide 15, at the latest ten minutes before the start. You look at what the wind will be like on the first upwind course, you can hardly see any further into the future."
This time the New Zealanders start upwind of the Italians, both at full speed and on a par. Apparently the Italians wanted to start on the left in order to maintain the left-hand side of the course, which actually turned out to be better. They immediately set their so-called high mode, which allows them to sail higher but also slower. The New Zealanders react immediately and tack away. When the Italians tack shortly afterwards, they benefit from a left-hand tack and are able to maintain the lead at the next encounter despite a slight speed disadvantage. They keep this lead until the windward gate.
The drama begins on the first downwind leg. The Italians apparently have a problem with the handling of the genoa, it can't be properly schoonered. The New Zealanders come up. Both are sailing with wind from starboard. The New Zealanders have to decide whether to sail upwind over the Italians or downwind through them. The windward option harbours the danger of not being able to get clear of the Italians until the right-hand limit of the course. The way to leeward would be blocked by them, the course limit would force you to jibe into their control.
The New Zealanders decide to jibe off the stern of the Italians. But the wind has dropped, oscillating between just over six and eight knots, and they also have to jibe directly into the downwind of the Italians. The result: the boat falls off the foils. Not bad, you might think, but not in this wind. The New Zealanders simply can't get their boat out of the water again. The Italians fly away, almost leading a course leg a little later. When the two boats meet again, the Italians are on the upwind course, but the New Zealanders are still on the downwind course, albeit back on their foils. The Italians are 2500 metres ahead and everything seems to be over.
But anyone who went to brew their morning coffee at the latest now has missed the best part. In the last third of the second upwind course, the Italians dropped off the foils after a tack. And just as the distance meter for the Italians was counting up rapidly before, the numbers are now tumbling again. The New Zealanders fly in from behind, passing the Italians, who are still trying to get back into flying mode, oversailing the course limits several times and incurring penalties, on the verge of disqualification.
When asked about the take-off behaviour of the boats, i.e. which one comes out of the water faster in these light wind conditions, Blair Tuke said: "We are very happy with our boat, especially when you consider that we had a smaller headsail, which was a clear disadvantage." Francesco Bruni, co-steersman of the Italians, added: "I don't think there is much difference. We need about the same wind to get on the foils."
When the Italians finally fly again, the New Zealanders lead by over 2000 metres. Nevertheless, it remains exciting right to the finish. Every turn that the New Zealanders still have to make can cause a touchdown, which would put the Italians back in the game. At every tack, the speed indicators and the underside of the hull are watched closely to see whether it is touching the water or not. If the speed drops below 20 knots, the touchdown is virtually unavoidable. "We knew that one mistake and the Italians would be over again," said Burling.
But the New Zealanders survived their manoeuvres and crossed the finish line with a large lead, having already recovered their genoa when the Italians also crossed the finish line almost four minutes behind.
The score is now 5:3 in favour of the New Zealanders and the Italians are under a lot of pressure. The New Zealanders have won twice by a clear margin and have also shown speed advantages. Three wins in a row are now in New Zealand's favour, which means an additional psychological advantage. The winner of the 36th America's Cup could be decided as early as tomorrow if the New Zealanders manage two more victories. However, the forecast is for very light winds again and there could be another day of cancellations.
And the Italians want to fight. "It's not over yet, not until the trophy is handed over," said Jimmy Spithill. "I'm absolutely confident that we can fight back."
Lars Bolle
Chief Editor Digital
