It was the closest race so far. As Jimmy Spithill, co-skipper of the Italians, said yesterday: "It's not over until one team gets the trophy." For a long time in the ninth clash between defender and challenger, it looked as if he would be proved right, as if the Italians would win this race and close the gap to 4:5. But the weather gods were against them.
There were many key moments in this race, two of which showed very impressively what match racing means and why there is always a bit of luck involved in racing.
Race 9 in the replay
At first the start had to be postponed for half an hour because the wind was too light, but then it bristled up and the race was started at 12 to 13 knots.
Initially, both start almost perfectly, New Zealand to leeward, Italy to windward. The Italians are able to hold on, although the New Zealanders go into high mode on the beat to the left-hand side of the course in an attempt to nip the Italians to windward, but fail.
After the due tack due to the course limit, the New Zealanders are upwind of the Italians, but this time with a little more distance to leeward, can hold on for a long time without sinking away under the Italians, but not enough to the right course limit, which would have given them the chance to turn under the Italians. So they have to tack away beforehand, which gives their opponents the chance to sail a little further and then complete the beat to the left in free wind. They can even approach the windward gate, which gives them the decisive advantage on this first upwind course: one less tack than the New Zealanders and right of way at the gate.
Both go round different marks of the gate, the Italians round the left, the New Zealanders round the right, just one second behind. By the fourth leg of the course, neither team will be more than nine seconds behind.
The New Zealanders initially have the better wind, after both teams jibe they pass just ahead of the Italians with right of way.
However, the Italians then have better speed and pass the New Zealanders at the next encounter, jibing to leeward of them. The New Zealanders, for their part, could now jibe immediately in order to counter-course the Italians. However, this would mean one more gybe to the leeward gate, and they would also be approaching from behind with a significant speed surplus.
They decide in favour of the windward position to the Italians, probably speculating that they might still manage to pass them to windward. It is a hair's breadth. On reaching the layline, the Italians are able to keep the overlap to leeward, blocking the New Zealanders' path to the leeward gate.
And they don't jibe, but sail beyond the layline. The New Zealanders have no choice but to go along.
The New Zealanders have to sail the longer way, the outer curve, and after the gybe the course to the leeward gate has become so sharp that they can only follow the Italians.
These round the left-hand mark of the gate, and the New Zealanders also have to take it, because a power jibe around the right-hand barrel would probably be too risky on this sharp course and would cost too much speed.
After the rounding, the New Zealanders roll directly into a power turn to escape the Italians' control, which costs them a lot of speed. A marginal gap immediately becomes around 100 metres. A classic match-race manoeuvre, perfectly executed by the Italians' helmsmen, Jimmy Spithill and Francesco Bruni.
But the New Zealanders hit back. At the first encounter, the Italians tack to windward of them, the New Zealanders are able to pull out to leeward, and around 1100 metres before the windward gate, both are on an equal footing.
But the Italians are able to keep to windward, the left-hand course limit comes too early for the New Zealanders, they have to turn, the Italians go with them and take control again.
They defend their narrow lead from the wind and are even able to pull away to just under 200 metres. However, the New Zealanders catch up on the run directly to the leeward gate, both round the marks with a gap of just two seconds, the Italians on the right, the New Zealanders on the left. It's something like a restart.
The race is decided on this upwind course, about 1300 metres before the windward gate. The Italians have a narrow lead from the left, the New Zealanders from the right. The Italians tack upwind of the New Zealanders so that they are directly downwind of them. They have no choice but to tack away - another classic sailing manoeuvre. The Italians, who had previously made up some ground on the left-hand side, continue on this side, not wanting to let the New Zealanders tack to the left; hence their manoeuvre, which forces the New Zealanders to the right. Alternatives would have been to sail to the right themselves without tacking, in which case they would have left the left side to the New Zealanders. Or they could have tacked to windward abeam of the New Zealanders, which would have given them free wind, while the Italians would have retained control of the race. Then both would probably have sailed parallel to each other to the left.
In retrospect, both alternatives would have been better, but you're always smarter afterwards.
The wind shifts to the right just as they both have to tack at the course markers. The gods are with the New Zealanders, Jimmy Spithill can clearly be heard saying "Aaaach...". The New Zealanders turn a gap of around 60 metres into a lead of almost 200 metres at the windward gate in a matter of seconds. The race is decided.
The second race of the day is cancelled and postponed due to unstable winds.
The New Zealanders now have one hand on the silver jug and are just one win away from successfully defending the Cup. For the Italians, every race is now a final race. Good winds of around 15 knots are forecast for tomorrow and the 36th America's Cup could be decided tomorrow.
Lars Bolle
Chief Editor Digital
