KEY POINTS:
Team New Zealand 1
Desafio Espanol 0
--
Luna Rossa 1
BMW Oracle Racing 0
Wowee, what a crazy old day in Valencia.
The wind was all over the show. It was like sailing off Takapuna in a south westerly.
There were big wind shifts and also a big range of wind speeds.
Windshifts was what it was all about. They were massive. Looking at the Oracle and Luna Rossa match on the second beat the boats tacked through about 70 degrees. At one stage they did three tacks and they tacked through 40 degrees because of the windshifts.
Team New Zealand got the start they wanted against Desafio Espanol. Dean Barker timed it beautifully. They look like they have got this mode that allows them to hang in that windward position for two or three minutes.
They hooked up on the windward side of the Spanish, then a shift came through and vroom they were 200m ahead. That was a planned move. They had to hold on and hit the first shift. They then kept it close. It is the old small gains, small losses thing.
In the other race Luna Rossa tactician Torben Grael was at his brilliant best. Their weather call was to get the first shift out of the left and they did. For the leading boats on the downwind it is quite difficult because of the pressure differences to defend a lot. I was surprised to see Luna Rossa gybe away on the first downwind run. The second downwind they covered more. Chris Dickson threw that last gybe at them and fell into a windless hole. So it was game, set, match
For Oracle the loss is their second major one in a row. All eyes are now on them to see how they react.
