Luna Rossa is biting on steel

Photo (c) Chris Cameron

This is hard to digest for Luna Rossa, yesterday they focused on a good start not paying to much attention to the side. Today they got the right side but agiang a to expensive price. Dean invited James in to a dial down right before the start which forced the Italian a bear away hardly and forcing James to be late at the line.
Right after the start Luna Rossa had to tack away to the right side and the wind shifted slowly to the left and again a hard bill to pay for the Italians.
The kiwis are sailing by the bock, they tacked 23 times, no mistakes, the team is working like a Swiss watch not giving any chance to the Italians.
Yesterday on the run the Kiwis struggled to increase there lead, but not today.
During the second beat Luna Rossa gave everything to get back in the game tacking duel agin. ETNZ pushes Luna Rossa more and more to the right. Up at the weather mark the Kiwis coming in on port had all the time prepare the foredeck for the run, Luna Rossa approaching the mark 30 seconds lather had to tack and bear away to the downwind course, allowing the kiwis to extend their lead again.
Torben was pushing hard even on the run forcing ETNZ to one gybe after the other, and again we could see a perfect teamwork. The staysail cam up very fast after every gybe on both boats, but no way to reduce the gap.
With a lead of 40 seconds ETNZ sores 2:0 in this final.
Difficult situation for Luna Rossa, tomorrow they need a win to reduce the pressure on the team. Before the cup there was a lot of talking about the fastest boat being the winner, now
it looks like there is no much speed difference between the boats witch give a stronger weight to the human factor.
Let’s hope that Luna Rossa makes the point which give them a chance to catch up and us spectators a longer show.

Juerg Kaufmann

Great show in Valencia

That’s exactly what we all expected, an intense race between the 2 LVC finalists.

Both team did a great job ETNZ managed to get the right at the start, maybe also as it looked like LR was going for the leeward of ETNZ and ending up on the left side.

Now the wind in Valencia is up and stable at 13 – 15 knots and therefore it turns with the sun to the right during the day. The race started at 110 and slowly it went to 140 together with the sun.

In the first upwind the right shift gave ETNZ a small chance and by the book they capitalized on it. LR managed to stay close the entire race. They did not waste any chance to take over the lead, however ETNZ managed to defend all of there attacks.

During the first run the kiwis managed to extend a bit there lead but on the following beat James went in to a hard taking duel and catching up meter by meter.

The second run was simply fantastic, we all believed hat LR would be slower but even here they gaind meter after meter unfortunately not enough to overtake the lead and therefore the standing for today 1:0 for the kiwis.

Well done for both teams, we look forward to see more tomorrow.

Juerg

Crazy Day

Photo (c) Chris Cameron

What a Crazy day, big wind shifts up to almost 70 degrees. The racing area in fron of Valencia is challenging for the remaining fours.

Results of the day:
Team New Zealand 1

Desafio Espanol o

Luna Rossa 1

BMW Oracle Racing 0

It seems to be in Hauraki gulf with this kind of wind. The big surprise of today is the way BMW Oracle lost against Luna Rossa. This is the second loss from Larry's guys; all the eyes are on them now to see how they go ahead.

The match between ETNZ and Desafio was close until the end this keeps the race interesting.
Do Karol will be able to beat Dean, he is a strong helmsman and is performing well under pressure. Let's see what's happening tomorrow.