BAR personnel

For me I think it a systemic organisational issue. There tactic is to continually develop. They have brought in F1 supremo Martin Whitmarsh presumably because of is understanding of the team dynamics required for hi-tec, constantly developing sport. Unfortunately Sailing is far more unpredictable than motor racing. Slapping on a new bit of aero on to a car and testing it will give far more predictable results on any given race track. Even if that bit of areo flexes more and the detaches the flow. Slap on a new bit of areo on a yacht and sail the same race track (sailing area) and you'll get a thousand different results. Hence why you two boat test. And it takes more time than they are allotting to achieve control over there developments than they have. In my opinion. So you might be faster with a foil with a bigger bucket curve than the one your graph tells you if super quick. Just because you can't sail it well enough because of the variables. For me BAR look like they are chasing the computer numbers to much. And have forgotten about having enough margin. Unlike ETNZ, who look like they have taken the very pragmatic approach of being able to always have enough 'fluid pressure' to pull off manoeuvres that they didn't expect. Which gives them a hefty margin to work with. We are on the edge, and repeatedly fall off it.

Originally posted by JimC

Too deep for me jimc.
Presumably damage from collision with Japanese boat?

I suspect NZ are concentrating on power to weight ratio for crew.
Maybe lighter crew but powerful? Any info?
But light wind sailing takes extreme light wind skills from the helm.

My take on that last race.
Looked like BAR made classic mistakes against USA in the last race.
They were gaining on USA but losing it again.
Despite getting most of the wind shifts right they overstood the lay lines.
Also best to win the start if you want to win.
Also they could have aimed more downwind like USA to help save a gybe perhaps?
Their tacks did not look as good as USA, have they still got damage?
USA got the tactics and strategy right.
Had BAR won the start they would probably have won the race despite everything else.