The closest race at the start of the second round of qualifying for the 35th America's Cup was the first: once again there were several lead changes in the duel between the Swedish team Artemis and Emirates Team New Zealand, whose opening edition yesterday was decided by an unjustified "penalty" in favour of the New Zealanders. Both teams made mistakes, as a result of which they suffered a stall and fell off the foils. The Kiwis were hit first before the second turning mark. They plunged both hulls deep into the waters of the Great Sound. The mishap cost them around 20 seconds. Artemis helmsman Nathan Outteridge, his tactician Iain Percy and the crew quickly built up a lead of more than 200 metres. But then the Swedes experienced their own Waterloo at the sixth and final turning mark before the sprint to the finish. It was a very costly mistake that cost them a lot of time and a possible victory. Overall, the New Zealanders looked slightly superior tactically and strategically in this duel. The positioning of the Kiwis in particular was often more purposeful. "And we had a few really good tacks," added helmsman Peter Burling in an interview shortly after crossing the finish line.
There were also surprises on day 4. What the helmsmen had to say and how they explain their performances
The defending champions opened the second race of the day on Tuesday evening so confidently that the duel with the weak French was almost boring. In contrast, the Americans worked with a creatively designed camouflage steering wheel, the printed nickname "Spitbull" for their helmsman Jimmy Spithill (nickname: "Pitbull") and their tactician Tom Slingsby on a pedal drive. Larry Ellison's Oracle Team USA completed the course almost nonchalantly, eventually crossing the finish line 1:31 minutes ahead of Groupama Team France, who failed to surprise in their first encounter of the second leg. In the press conference afterwards, Spithill amused the audience with a cheeky answer to the question about Slingsby on the "bike": "The Kiwis have installed a type of racing bike. We have a BMX bike. We're kind of a younger generation. And that works pretty well. Tom and our Shore crew have been working on it for a while. We think it's a pretty good mix." Jimmy finds it hard to stifle a grin. He is 37 years old, his tactician Slingsby 32, while his New Zealand rival Peter Burling is only 26. This neat little Spithill tip can certainly be seen as the start of a series. Spithill is a master at "poking" his opponents early on. At the current stage of qualifying, the Kiwis have emerged as the number one favourites to be the Americans' eventual challengers.
Sir Ben Ainslie and his Land Rover BAR team managed to break free on Tuesday in the third duel of the day, in which the Swedes, who had previously been beaten by the Kiwis, had to go at it again. The start is very competitive. Artemis Racing was able to keep the Brits at bay for a long time on the way to the line. But in the last few seconds, they still manage to get past the "Magic Blue" and cross the line almost at the same time, but at a much higher speed. It is already the preliminary decision in a surprisingly one-sided match. After obvious changes to the boat and intensive debriefings following the series of defeats, the English have kept their promise from the previous evening when Ainslie said: "It's far from over. We will regroup and come back stronger!"
The new foils under Ainslie's "Rita" and the use of Jono Macbeth were striking. The New Zealander is one of the few non-Brits in the very nationally orientated Team Land Rover BAR and enjoys Ainslie's complete trust as Sailing Team Manager. Together with Ainslie, Macbeth co-won the 34th America's Cup in the service of the Americans. Together they scored the ninth and decisive winning point against New Zealand in 2013 after fending off eight match points. This was Macbeth's third Cup victory of his career. He had once lifted the jug to the skies above Auckland with his compatriots in 2000 and triumphed twice with the Americans. Ainslie took Macbeth from there to his new team and worked with him to build the squad that would win the Cup for Great Britain for the first time.
However, the two met even earlier: as members of Emirates Team New Zealand, they won the Louis Vuitton Cup of Challengers in 2007 and narrowly missed out on victory against Alinghi in the final. Macbeth came on board as grinder on Tuesday, a man who is also psychologically important for Ainslie - with resounding success for the time being. As a person, the likeable and modest New Zealander is the opposite of the military leader and tyrant Macbeth described by William Shakespeare in his tragedy of the same name. The sailing Macbeth is extremely popular in the Land Rover BAR team and is regarded as a strong motivator.
Tatjana Pokorny
Sports reporter
