KEY POINTS:
Team New Zealand and Italy's Luna Rossa took different tacks today as they made winning starts to the America's Cup challengers yachting semifinals off Valencia in Spain.
On an afternoon when the breeze fluctuated and shifted wildly, Team NZ beat hometown rivals Desafio Espanol by 43 seconds in their best-of-nine Louis Vuitton Cup eliminator.
Meanwhile, Luna Rossa upset Americans Oracle Racing by two minutes 19 seconds in an encounter where there were dramatic gains and losses.
The matches were sailed in eight to 18-knot winds that swung nearly 180deg and Team NZ's victory came via a conservative gameplan.
Skipper Dean Barker and his crew opted to guard an advantage earned on the first leg after their weather team again came up trumps with a call to target the right-hand side of the course.
Luna Rossa's success after leading most of the way was based on chasing the wind shifts, and they were often happy to let Oracle head off to a different part of the race track.
Team NZ strategist Ray Davies said it was balancing act between playing the opposition or playing the wind.
"It was a risk/reward-type calculation the whole time," he said.
"If you are anything less than 70 per cent confident, you can get easily beaten. These aren't Lasers and you can't just tack on every wind shift."
Davies said Team NZ felt they had to maintain a cover over Desafio and there were some "pretty close and hairy moments" as the Spaniards kept coming back at them.
"It was tough to keep close, defend and back yourself," he said.
"We felt we had to keep the hammer on and keep them boxed in."
Both NZL92 and ESP97 made clean starts, but the New Zealanders got the end they wanted, headed out to the right and hooked into the predicted breeze.
They gradually pulled away and rounded the top mark 1min 03sec ahead.
The Spaniards -- with King Juan Carlos, a former Olympic sailor, on board as the non-participating 18th man -- made gains on the next two legs but could not get close enough to mount a real attack.
On the run home, the wind shifted right around, and both NZL92 and ESP97 dropped their spinnakers and hoisted jibs to get over the finish line.
The end of the Luna Rossa-Oracle encounter minutes earlier was even more notable, with the two boats finishing under different sails.
Luna Rossa were able to keep their spinnaker up, but Oracle were caught in a flat patch as a new breeze fill in and also had switch to a jib to get home.
Earlier, the rival crews opted for opposite sides of the course up the first beat, a move that paid dividends for Luna Rossa.
The Italians were up by 52sec at the top mark, but USA98 made big move downwind, closing a 400m gap to just 7sec at the bottom gate.
However, Luna Rossa were able to guard the left-hand side and, when both boats again took their chances on different parts of the course, the Italians again came up with the goods.
They made a gain of 1min 14sec on the third leg, before extending their margin further over the final run.
Tactician Torben Grael admitted that allowing a big lateral separation between the yachts was a risk, but the alternative was also risky.
"On a day like today, normal match-race style can go wrong," he said.
"Playing the shifts and the pressure is important with so many holes and big puffs."
The semifinals continue with race two tomorrow.
- NZPA
