Four races done

Love it, Slingsby (I think) just said "don't be afraid to be faster right now guys", slightly more poetic than Bens "this is it, work your arses off" ))

Originally posted by GarethT What more could the Kiwis have done in that race? Didn't seem to do much wrong, but just not quick enough. Bit of an anti-climax really.

Anti climax? Don't worry it will look better when Hollywood get hold of it.

My quick report online at http://www.yachtsandyachting.com/news/172487/ORACLE-TEAM-USA-win-the-34th-Americas-Cup

Watched 'live'on Sky Sports from start to finish,ie, taped and watched later to cut out ads. It was magnificent to see these giant boats going so well and the crews making it look so easy. I sailed a fast cat and I know it is not.
Unfortunately apart from the starts and one or two close races most were drag races after one team broke away. I think Oracle was probably the faster hull right from the beginning but the crew was not up to speed. That was probably due to their training boat prior to the racing not really being fast enough to give Spithill and crew real competition except for starting. So when the racing started TeamNZ was walking all over Oracle except at the starts. But huge credit must go to Jimmy Spithill and crew to eventually match and surpass by a large margin Dean Barker and his crew and eventually walk all over HIM.
Team NZ were very unfortunate to lose the Regatta as they were only 2 mins away from closing it out. But after that race they were never in the hunt. At first I thought it was TeamNZ choking but it gradually became obvious that they were just not fast enough. I have one criticism of Dean B, ie, maybe he was too complacent at the starts when he had a huge lead. He was outclassed there for a spell and it does not do team morale any good to lose the starts like he was doing.
But all in all great for sailing. Can someone now produce a small single handed foiling cat? I might come back sailing if they did.