The challenge from Oracle BMW skipper Chris Dickson is clear: "We have still found a lot of boat speed in various areas. Only the sail number of our boat has remained the same since the last duel with Alinghi, but not much else."
However, massive changes are also necessary if Oracle BMW still wants to have a chance. The statistics speak against the team. Alinghi has won five out of six duels so far. The average lead was one minute. Alinghi has gained a total of 7.13 minutes on its opponent over the 99 race miles. This compares to 2.26 minutes for the Americans. This means that Oracle BMW has to make up almost three seconds per mile on the Swiss in order to draw level with them.
This is all the more difficult because the Alinghi team has worked hard in the time since winning the semi-final. Design coordinator Grant Simmer says that SUI 64 has improved so much since its launch in May 2001 that it sails the race course one and a half minutes faster. The last 20 to 30 seconds have only just been found in the last three months of the Louis Vuitton Cup and the statements of the two team spokesmen have a lot to do with pre-start skirmishes. But what are the real chances?
The fact is that Alinghi is the favourite going into the final. Oracle BMW is in a difficult position. The team had to make significant changes to the boat in order to stand a chance against Alinghi. Changes that were certainly not used before the hopeful race against OneWorld. This means that the Americans simply have to take greater risks now. This could mean optimising their boat for a smaller wind window and then hoping that this is exactly the weather that prevails in the final. But it could also mean that they implement promising design ideas that have not yet been fully tested due to a lack of time.
However, this strategic situation does not present Alinghi with an easy task either. Should they also take greater risks in order to react to a supposedly dramatically improved opponent, or should they stick to the supposedly safe conservative path? Both could backfire. We'll know more tomorrow, but in the meantime, the debate about the New Zealanders' innovative underwater attachment "Hula" continues to rage.
While many observers unabashedly talk of cheating because the purpose of the rules is being undermined, surprisingly moderate tones can be heard from the challengers' camp. This is because this is currently a side issue for them, but obviously they do not seem to be particularly alarmed by the New Zealanders' development. Chris Dickson even announced that the confidential enquiry to the surveyors 18 months ago came from Oracle BMW and not the New Zealanders. Obviously, the Americans have been working very hard on the design. And if it was as useful as many observers suspect, Oracle would certainly have installed the attachment.&apos
Alinghi seems to take a similar view. Coutts was politely complimentary about the Kiwi design: "Hula looks as we expected. It looks like a good job has been done." Like his colleague Dickson, he made it clear that they had no intention of protesting. That doesn't sound like fear.
However, the jury has now also made it clear that the challengers have a poor hand in the event of a protest. It placed the burden of proof on the protester. It is disputed whether the attachment, which is only attached at a few points, touches the hull during violent manoeuvres or under the influence of waves. If so, it would not be admissible. "Before the jury can take action, the protesting party must provide evidence that Hula is touching the hull," says jury chief Bryan Willis
There will be two changes in tomorrow's final. Both opponents have decided to dispense with the laser pistols that all Cup teams have used to date. However, according to a jury decision last week, the devices used by the navigator to obtain information about the distance and speed of the opponent are prohibited. The teams also agreed to have referees on board during the races.
"That's a good idea," says Chris Dickson. "It will improve the quality of the refereeing decisions." Most of the other participants in the Louis Vuitton Cup had previously resisted this measure. The on-board umpire informs the skipper and chief umpire about overlap situations and articulates loudly when he considers his boat's tack to be complete.
