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VALENCIA - Team New Zealand was still dangerous, warned skipper Dean Barker after Alinghi took a seemingly impregnable 4-2 lead in the 32nd America's Cup this morning.
"We still have a chance," Barker told a post-race press conference.
"We are still a very dangerous team; I have complete confidence in the entire team.
"We are good enough to get back into it and there is still a chance we will be right there."
However, Barker - always a low-key individual - seemed a little more subdued this morning as the Kiwis realised they could now not afford to drop a single
one of the last three races.
He said trimmer Grant 'Louie' Loretz had been taken to hospital after a stomach problem and, while he had not yet had an update, expected him back with the team soon. The depth of the team meant the Rob Salthouse had come in seamlessly and Barker said he thought 'Salty' had done a fantastic job.
However, Barker also referred to the cold hard facts that they had led Alinghi round the first mark - usually a telling statistic three times in six races. But the score was 4-2 meaning "that they have been better at converting the percentages than we have."
Barker acknowledged that the Kiwis had been surprised by the conditions after they turned the bottom mark to begin the second beat upwind, where they were caught and passed by Alinghi.
"We certainly didn't expect to see so much right or so much pressure on the second beat," he said.
"We have been trying to understand these very tricky conditions all the time," he said.
"It's just tough. I thought we sailed a very good race but the results
just aren't going our way. They [Alinghi] are just doing it better than us at the moment and are taking advantage of their opportunities."
"We went for the left and for a long, long time we were feeling good about life. We thought we were going to be in control of the race but a a shift and a little bit of pressure can mean a lot in these conditions."
