KEY POINTS:
The start is often the most exciting part of an America's Cup race. Winning the start - or, more importantly, the favoured side - is crucial, possibly even more so this time around where little is expected to separate the top teams. Julie Ash spoke to Emirates Team New Zealand afterguard coach Rod Davis about his team's tactics at the start.
Ten minutes to the start
A 10-minute warning gun is fired to bring the racing crew to attention and to give them time to get rid of unwanted sails and equipment and receive the last bit of weather information from their weather team and coaches before a communications blackout begins.
Rod Davis: "The weather team is still talking to strategist Ray Davies giving him their observations. About 30 seconds before they enter the start box, a canister is thrown over the side which contains the radios where the information from the weather boat is coming from.
"They try to wait as long as they can to do that. Torben Grael used to drive me crazy [at Prada] because he'd do it in the last five seconds. At the same time that is going on, they decide on what jib [foresail] they are going to use. Usually it is [trimmer] Grant Loretz who calls whatever jib he wants for that beat. We start hoisting the jib about eight minutes before the start, two minutes into the last 10-minute sequence.
"Before that we usually try and have a little chill out period - slow down, take a breather, look at the race course, pick the right sail.
"[Tactician] Terry [Hutchinson], after listening to Ray [Davies] comes up with the final game plan. That is usually communicated to the team with about a minute to the five minute gun.
"Ray is still listening to the weather team in case some big wind shift appears at the last second. Dean [Barker] will on the final entry tell them him what he thinks is going to happen around the starting line (i.e. we are going to get dialled up, we are not going to dial up).
"He usually does this right when we are entering."
Five minutes to the start
When the five-minute gun is fired the crews are under the starter's orders and no outside assistance is allowed. A crew will take their boat downwind into the starting box. Each boat enters from different ends of the starting line. The boat entering from the right end of the line will fly a yellow flag from its stern, the boat entering from the left will fly a blue flag. The pre-start period is used by both opponents to attempt to dominate the opposition through a series of manoeuvres, set plays and skill. The pre-start has two aims, to start well and on the correct side and to avoid being penalised while trying to force a penalty onto your opponent.
Rod Davis: "Kevin Hall [navigator] calls the time to the line off a computer system [how long the computer thinks the boat will take to get to the line]. He can also call the laylines and whether there is enough time to do another circle.
"Terry [Hutchinson] calls the laylines and the other boat. He also calls whether the other boat has completed a tack or gybe from a rules standpoint. But by and large Dean has to do his own thing around the startline. Things happen so quick. Dean is taking on what he thinks is the pertinent information.
"If the boats are an even speed, then starting is a big portion of the yacht race. We know that whoever wins the first cross wins 85-90 per cent of the races, the starts are a big part of that. In the semis and finals of the challenger series you'll find that people tend to get more conservative in their starting. You don't want to take yourself out of the ball game at the start so you tend to me a bit more conservative.
"But if your boat is slow it is not the time to be conservative. If our opponent has a quick boat we would try and get a penalty or get a good jump over the start and beat them back with a stick all day. If we need to change our starting style we will, for sure. We keep a log of everyone's starting styles and before we go and race them, we sit down and come up with their most likely moves, everyone tends to fall into a comfort zone. We do the same thing for ourselves and change Dean's style so he is not too predictable for the guys he races against."
The lead-in
Judging the time and distance in the final approach to the start line, with the aim of hitting it at full speed as the gun goes is critical, and represents one of the most sought-after skills in a cup helmsman. Cross too early and a boat must return and start again. Cross too late and the opposition will benefit hugely.
Rod Davis: "Most of the starts are won in the last minute and a half. A lot is on the helmsman because he has to make these calls himself, instinct takes over. If you over-analyse it you'll probably be a bit slow in making the decisions and get caught out.
"Dean has a direct link to [bowman] Jeremy Lomas. They can hear each other and the guys in the cockpit can hear Jeremy as well. We rely a lot on Jeremy as far as how far off the line we are. We have run that drill endlessly to try and nail it. There are times when you have won the start and you don't need to push it and there are times when you need to be really up on the line. The computer is pretty accurate especially when you are a minute's sailing distance from the line, when your eye isn't that good. The computer inputs both makers but the markers are actually moving so you have to be a little bit careful in the last tiny bit.
"That is something that Russell Coutts is very good at. Starting on the line on the gun. We have worked very hard to get up to that level ... we are reasonably confident we have closed some gaps there.
"We see a lot more waves in Valencia than we do here. That is something we need to go and adjust all our times and our eyes to, because we'll close on the line slower and the waves tend to slow the boats down a lot when they are luffing. It makes it harder for the boat to accelerate. Here, say it takes 20s to accelerate, in Valencia it would be 25-27s. We can't adjust for that until we get to Valencia."
Davis on the skippers
* Team New Zealand's Dean Barker: "Dean is not an overly aggressive starter like Peter Gilmour or Gavin Brady. From a consistency point of view he is very good. The normal way you beat an aggressive starter is let them beat themselves, they make one move too many. Dean is excellent in his positioning in the dial-ups. I don't think there is anyone better, whether he is coming in from the left or right. He doesn't make many mistakes. It would be very unusual to blow Dean off the startline and get a big jump. On the other side it is probably a little bit unusual for Dean to get a huge jump on someone else. But from a consistency point of view we are happy with that. I expect everyone's style to change a little bit to last year. It is coming up with nice game plans to go against their style knowing that they are doing the same thing to us."
* BMW Oracle Racing's Chris Dickson: Aggressive.
* Luna Rossa's James Spithill: Started life aggressive but has got more conservative, I think he is better for it.
* Alinghi's Peter Holmberg: Aggressive: Peter will either run hot or cold.
* Alinghi's Ed Baird: Is much more like Dean, very consistent, does a lot of things well. Not overly aggressive.
