High-tech Italians unveil X-factor

By Selwyn Parker

Between the lines


For students of human resources who watched the racing on the Hauraki Gulf, the Louis Vuitton finals provided a lesson in the relationship between technology and people.

Although the Prada and AmericaOne syndicates spent a combined $170 million, it wasn't money that won it for the Italians.

Ultimately, victory came from one decisive incident which had nothing to do with trick keels, wing masts, carbon fibre, laser guns, backstays, hydraulic rams or the way the 17th man held his mouth.

It came from the crew adding value to all that technology.

In the penultimate race the yachts converged almost bow-to-bow on the second mark. The first yacht around would probably win the race, and at that point it looked very much like AmericaOne.

With AmericaOne about to secure the crucial overlap on the buoy, Prada had seconds to rescue their challenge and uncharacteristically they went for the jugular. In the most aggressive move of the finals, Prada used their fast-disappearing luffing rights to drive the startled Americans straight past the wrong side of the mark.

The Americans, screaming foul, struggled to regain their composure while the Italians, so sloppy with their spinnaker work just two days earlier, this time did a copybook drop, gybed back for the mark, and re-rounded in good order. To boot, the Americans copped a penalty. The race was over and, as it would turn out, so was the finals.

The Italians' manoeuvre was a premeditated example of yachtie intellect in action. Off the water, this added-value principle applies. It's becoming axiomatic in the manufacturing sector that special equipment doesn't make the real difference. As in yacht-racing, the best tools are widely available. It's how tools are applied that counts.

This is even truer of service industries like software engineering, accountancy, law, advertising and marketing where the relative importance of the tools vis-a-vis expertise and experience declines even further. Here it's people who add by far the most value. Does this mean that technology doesn't matter? Hardly. Without equivalent equipment, you are disadvantaged. Likewise, it would be naive to argue that budgets don't matter - in general in the America's Cup the underfunded campaigns left first. But budgets only matter to the point where the quality of the tools is more or less equal, as the Louis Vuitton finals illustrated once again.

Superficially, the withdrawal by a damaged AmericaOne in the heavy-weather race looked like an equipment issue when it was more an issue of judgment. As Cayard confessed, AmericaOne hadn't sailed in 30-knot winds before. If it had, its fragility in extreme conditions would presumably have shown up earlier, and when it didn't matter.

Meantime, Prada powered on intact in a convincing demonstration that technology is to be harnessed, not blamed.