The daily newspaper "Giornale de Sicilia" ran the following headline the day after the impressive victory over Team Germany: "The invincible Alinghi". The Swiss had equalised a 300-metre deficit halfway through the race on Sunday after a break in the equipment - an extraordinary demonstration of power by the Dream Team.
After 32 match race victories in a row, Alinghi remains the measure of all things in the 2005 America's Cup season one day before the end of the Louis Vuitton Act 8 off Trapani. The team without a defeat even has to put up with the question of whether it has ever been forced to go to its own performance limit this season.
"Perhaps we are the only team that has ever pushed Alinghi to peak performance this season,
"Maybe we're the only team that has pushed Alinghi to peak performance this season," said Jesper Bank after the duel, in which his GER-72 had a lead of around 300 metres before Alinghi's crew completed the repairs to their main halyard and started the race to catch up.
In fact, more and more sailors and observers are wondering whether the Swiss will ever have to go all out, or whether they can shake a few extra knots out of their sleeves at any time.
Alinghi's strategist Peter Holmberg called his team's impressively quick and precise
repair work carried out by his team at the weekend "a good little fire drill for everyone in the team". That sounds serene and confident. In fact, his team had discussed this rather rare case just two weeks earlier and prepared appropriate measures.
"They simply have an answer to everything," Jesper Bank
Jesper Bank, "if we were in Formula 1, I would say that they have one more wheel
wheel more than anyone else."
When a New Zealand journalist asked Jesper Bank whether the devastating defeat against Alinghi had been more inspiring or frustrating for the Germans, the Danish double Olympic champion grinned and said, half amused and half exasperated: "Oh, absolutely inspiring. I'm just getting inspired to see if I shouldn't look for another job." The not entirely serious answer underlines the realisation that Bank shares with most other sailors and also observers in the America's Cup: "Alinghi sails in a world of its own. It's simply frightening."
One day before the end of the series, the cards in the battle for points and
places are clearly divided: Alinghi is unchallenged at the top. All hopes of
hopes of inflicting a defeat on the "Incredibiles" now rest on Larry Ellison's elite BMW Oracle Racing squad. The Cup defenders and the Challenger of Record will meet in their eleventh and final duel on Tuesday.
Behind Alinghi, the usual suspects have gathered in the battle for the
runner-up title in Act 8: Luna Rossa, Emirates Team New Zealand and BMW Oracle Racing. This trio is still holding the door to its own small top class.
But the middle class is already shaking things up. K-Challenge has improved significantly compared to the previous regattas in Valencia and Malmö. With a surprise victory over Team New Zealand, the French announced their claim to promotion on the very first day of the series. The Spaniards and the Swedes have had their ups and downs to contend with
ups and downs, but are undoubtedly in the midfield.
And then there's the lower house. Here we practise every day how to make a lot out of a little. Or not. The so-called small teams pay for their low budgets, limited experience and technological backwardness with broken equipment, tactical mistakes and a lack of boat speed.
On board the GER-72, the third spinnaker in a row burst on Monday and the South African team Shosholoza also had another problem with the mainsail. While the Germans had to abandon their first race against the Spaniards with technical problems, the South Africans were unable to start at all. Incidents that are probably unthinkable from Alinghi's point of view.
In the second race of the day, the United Internet Team Germany narrowly avoided defeat against the China Team after a poor start. It was only on the last downwind course that they managed to overtake thanks to a better boost speed.
After briefly taking the lead, the South Africans beat themselves in the match against the Victory Challenge. After benefiting from a heavy right-hand spin, helmsman Ian Ainslie and his team abandoned their heavily favoured right-hand side without need and fell behind again on the left, which was impossible to make up.
