The fifth day of racing on the Hauraki Gulf made it clear that all-round boats are needed to win the Louis Vuitton Cup. While the previous races were sailed just under the wind limit of 22 knots, today was characterised by extremely shifty light winds.
Only two races were sailed on the Romeo course. The two duels on the Juliet course will be made up at the end of the first round robin series.
In these light wind conditions, the lookout man is used on the ACC Cuppers. This means that a sailor from the tactical group is pulled into the 32 metre high mast and spends the entire race at a lofty height. He communicates with the tactician via microphone about the wind situation on the course.
Former New Zealand FD top sailor Murray Jones has been entrusted with this task at Alinghi. He did a good job today in the duel with the British "Wight Lightning". With his information, tactician Brad Butterworth and tactical strategist Jochen Schümann showed helmsman Russell Coutts the right way on an extremely tight starting cross. The lead of 4.33 minutes belies the tight match, as the Brits sailed the last downwind leg without a spinnaker after it was torn. Until then, they were only 1.49 minutes behind. They always stayed close to the Swiss and were even well ahead on the left side of the starting cross. But before the buoy came the decisive right-hand turn that put Alinghi in the lead. The British were then unable to find an overtaking lane. Especially not after their man kicked a hole in the mainsail in the mast. The three metre long tear could only be patched up in a makeshift manner.
The second race on the Romeo course, in which OneWorld competed against Team Dennis Conner, was also open for a long time. Until James Spithill at the wheel of "OneWorld" was able to bring home a 1.21-minute lead. Although OneWorld was already 1.57 minutes ahead at the first mark, Ken Read dramatically closed the gap to 16 seconds on the second downwind. The men from Seattle then pulled away again to 4.35 minutes by the final mark, but again lost three minutes on the last downwind. It may have been down to the huge furling gennaker that OneWorld deployed downwind. But mast tactician Charlie McKee disagrees: "Today was all about finding the right gust fields."
Score:
1. OneWorld 4 : 0 (one point will be deducted)
2nd Alinghi 4 : 1
3. Oracle BMW 3 : 0
3rd Victory Challenge 3 : 0
5th team Dennis Conner 2 : 3
6. prada 1: 3
6th GBR Challenge 1 : 3
8th Le Défi Areva 0 : 4
8th Mascalzone Latino 0 : 4
