Photo Gallery of today's raceKEY POINTS:
Team New Zealand crew gave their reactions to and detailed analysis of today's nail-biting victory over Alinghi:
Navigator Kevin Hall:
I tell you my heart rate would be doing about 180 right now but it's nice to be towing in and looking at them back there instead of in front of us like they were in the second beat.
We said half way up the first beat it could be a tough race. We chose the left gate down on the bottom for pressure on the right on the beat and we ended up a little thin on the lay line and lifted so we decided to switch to the right gate and start left, which would have been fine.
But just as we were about to commit to the right gate we got a shift and the right gate ceased to be an option, and we had to scramble to get around the left gate. It wasn't as pretty as we would have hoped but it wasn't so bad that we couldn't stay in the race and get the job done later.
It was a shifty [final] run with lanes of pressure and often just staying on the long side is a safe bet and that's what they chose. We flicked over the inshore side of them and towards the end of the run we saw some good pressure and a pretty big shift for the separation that we ended up with.
It probably hasn't happened very often that you see three passes in an America's Cup race. It's a testament to the strength of both teams.
Tactician Terry Hutchinson
It was a very random day today. The weather call was to watch the right hand side. Dean did a nice job. We got the split tack which was fine and Beasho liked the bottom right for a bit of pressure. We came off the line in a nice lefty and sailed through the first right shift and tacked. At intersection there was better pressure on the right hand side so we bounced them and sent them left and set up to windward of him. Obviously the beat was over basically the second time we tacked.
The first downwind was a 'stay between your man and the hoop' type of run and nothing major happened. We got down to the bottom and we gybed on a nice layline for the left-hand gate and the breeze lifted us 10 degrees so we were going to gybe and take the right hand gate. About 6 lengths from the gybe we got a 20 degree left shift and 3 knots more pressure. It was going to be ugly but there was so much bias that we needed to do whatever we had to do to round the left gate.
It's a horrible spot to put the guys in the middle and the front of the boat. Then it gets worse. We get around the mark and we're headed and headed some more and the breeze jumps back 20 degrees left, just about when they round the mark. From there in my mind I thought the right was going to be better.
We were so aware that it wasn't going to be the first mistake that we made that would bite us, it would be the second or the third. They took advantage of the opportunities that we presented them and they beat us around the top mark. So as pretty as the first beat was, the second was as heinous.
In the final run Ray and Beasho were pretty adamant that the breeze had potential to go left. We were getting lifted so we gybed back at Alinghi and they continued in phase (on starboard).
We picked up a nice bit of pressure before we gybed on port. We gybed and the breeze went to 110 (left) and we thought well, we have a chance now. We sailed a couple of minutes and the breeze went to 105 and we were ahead of them by 3 degrees. Then it went to right and left and right again before the last shift was a lefty and we crossed them at the finish.
We went around the top mark for the first time with the kind of delta that we did and Dean said on the run, 'this race is far from over'. And when you do this enough that you know it's far from over.
You can't underestimate the heart of the team and how well the guys sailed under incredible pressure. It was that type of day. It wasn't necessarily about getting the first one right or the second or the third one. It was getting the last one right, and today we did.
Strategist Ray Davies
It was a tough day and we'll take the win however it comes. When the breeze starts dropping with those big waves around it's so hard to attack and certainly to defend a narrow lead downwind. So there was certainly a bit of dice rolling. There's luck involved but there's also the wind behaving as it has many times so there are certainly some patterns there as well.
Down that last run there would have been a dozen lead changes just the way the wind was swinging.
Alinghi did a good job up the second beat spotting that the wind was going left and chipping away at us and holding on to the left when they could. They did a good job of protecting the left at the top and actually passing us. We felt pretty strong at that last intersection with the dial down that we did and thought we could control to the top mark.
Traveller Adam Beashel
Just before entry we thought there was quite a bit of right shift to come so it became a must win right for us and Deano did a good job of winning the right hand side if a little bit down speed but we were hopeful that the right hand shift was going to come and it did, so it was a pretty late call but it turned out well for us.
On the last run it was getting very tricky to call. But Ray and Terry and everyone else on the boat did a fantastic job as the breeze got soft. As it worked out we felt there was a little better pressure on the right hand side and history tells us that late in the day, with that a delayed start you can get quite a late left hand shift and Ray was emphasising that and it worked out pretty well for us.
TODAY'S FULL SAILING TEAM:
Skipper - Dean Barker
Tactician - Terry Hutchinson
Navigator - Kevin Hall
Strategist - Ray Davies
Traveller - Adam Beashel
Mainsail trimmer - Don Cowie
Trimmer upwind - Grant Loretz
Trimmer downwind - James Dagg
Main grinder - Chris Ward
Grinder - Rob Waddell
Grinder - Jono Macbeth
Pit - Barry McKay
Runner/pit - Tony Rae
Mast - Matt Mason
Floater - Grant Dalton
Mid-Bow - Richard Meacham
Bow - Jeremy Lomas
Full coverage of the America's Cup from nzherald.co.nz/americascup and desktoptv.co.nz
