Alingi - Prada: Russell Coutts, who initially has the right of way with his boat, does not manage the dial-up very well. He is too fast and does not stop the boat optimally to get into the classic blockade position diagonally backwards on the opponent's right side.
Instead of turning round, he turns left in front of Prada's bow towards the death zone. An unconventional manoeuvre. The master of the match race is always throwing in unexpected moves like this. Even if they do little more than briefly unsettle his opponent at the start. Coutts tries not to make himself predictable and to gain a psychological advantage. Perhaps this was due to the fact that Coutts almost forced Prada into another dial-up in the middle of the pre-start, which could have blocked the Italians' path to the start. However, Prada's starting helmsman Rod Davies narrowly escapes and makes a clean start downwind. The wind is far to the left and gives the Italians a lead of 15 metres. But they cannot turn round. The gap between the two boats remains unchanged for around three minutes, then Alinghi accelerates upwind and takes the lead. It is 29 seconds at the windward mark. As seen in the previous races, Prada continues to catch up under spinnaker, but is unable to overtake.
Then the last cross. The Alinghi crew messes up the spinnaker recovery manoeuvre and has to listen to the skipper's insults because he can't tack. He has to let Prada sail to the right all alone. He promptly turns right by 20 degrees and the Italians are 30 metres in the lead. But after a 10-degree turn to the left, the Swiss come back and can attack Prada with wind from starboard. Actually a bad position, because the Italians prevent them from tacking to the buoy. But it seems as if designer Rolf Vrolijk has installed an accelerator pedal that can be depressed in dicey situations. Alinghi suddenly shows a speed advantage that it hasn't had in the entire race, heads out to leeward and turns in front of Francesco de Angelis. The race is over. Even though the Italians reduce their lead to eight seconds under spinnaker, they cannot overtake.
Conclusion: The finishing margins between the two opponents are the closest of all matches, and yet you can't shake off the feeling that Alinghi only shows its potential when it needs to. The Italians probably see it the same way. That's how you can understand their withdrawal from the quarter-finals. If they want to win the America's Cup, they will probably have to beat the Swiss, and for that they need more speed on the cross.
OneWorld - Oracle BMWAfter an aggressive pre-start phase with advantages for Oracle BMW, Ellison's boat starts on the favoured left-hand start line and after a tack is one boat length ahead of OneWorld, which has immediately moved to the right. The race seems to be decided early on. But when the wind shifts 20 degrees to the right, OneWorld is suddenly past and extends its lead to 80 metres.
At the windward mark, however, Oracle BMW is back to within eight seconds and then shows an astonishing speed under spinnaker. So far, OneWorld has tended to have the advantage on this course. But Oracle BWM creates a leeward overlap with its opponent with wind from starboard and pushes it past the leeward mark to the right. After that, Chris Dickson at the helm of the Ellison boat leaves nothing to be desired.
Conclusion: A close match with every chance in favour of OneWorld. But Oracle BMW is the decisive tick better.
Le Defi Areva - Victory Challenge:
Philippe Presti has decided not to dial up, perhaps in response to the crew's weaknesses in the last two races. The team had not managed to keep the boat safely upwind for long. After that, the pre-start is unspectacular, as both teams favour the other side of the start line according to the on-board radio. Presti starts on the right and Magnus Holmberg, who is at the helm for Jesper Bank (celebrating his birthday with his son), uses the first left-hand turn to take a ten-metre lead.
After the wind shifts to the right, the French are able to force the Swedes to tack left again, but then the wind shifts 20 degrees to the left. That is the decision in favour of Victory. After that, Tim Kröger's team had no chance.
Conclusion: The French are selling well, but still have no chance due to their speed disadvantage.
Team Dennis Conner - GBR ChallengeAfter the dial-up, both teams are in the wind for almost three minutes until Ken Read can no longer hold on to the right-hand side. Nevertheless, there is not enough time for the English team to make a good run to the line and so they start upwind almost a boat length behind their opponents.
After the first left turn, Ken Read turns into the cover position, after which the English have no more chance. The Conner boat shows significantly improved speed.
Conclusion: A frustrating race for the Brits. It doesn't look like they will be able to fight back again.
