Check-up Time
Luna Rossa got clear signals yesterday. Notwithstanding Spithill's skills and a great first beat, there are hard lessons to swallow.
First, under such stable conditions, on *must* cover. The only mistake LR made, decision-wise, yesterday was to let Oracle split off, turning into a 38 second catch-up. Otherwise, teh 2 points were in the bag.
But the greatest lesson is leeward. The worries are confirmed. There is a speed gap. Since they can do changes at will, they can go ahead and get their measurments vetted in the same evening.
When Italian media holler 'LR dominates, but then...' we cringe. Oracle dominated downwind; in a normal match race, they should never have come back from such a distance, unless the boat was vastly superior.
The loss was a slap in the face. But it can be of great benefit: with the possibility to adjust and the experience the team has, it is a real possibility that these changes get made.
And the score is still tied!
* * * * *
Well, well...surprise! Oracle went and had some measurment changes approved. With dying winds, they probably sought to compensate for a visible weakness windward. After luffing matches, now bluffing games?
The match is decided at the start with LR and Oracle picking different sides... intentionally. Grael's push to the righ ends up being a winner. Spithill was also good at crowding Oracle in, on the basis of their pick, but the course pick was still the deciding factor.
The good news is that windward, LR still has an edge (+30 and +21) seconds, while on the run the gap isn't as obvious (-5 and -14 seconds, covering tightly this time). The Oracle changes are evident.
Still there are areas of concern, after all Oracle did do 5 extra tacks or gybes. Leeward over 12 knots is definitely an area of concern.
TNZ does not seem to have any competition. If this goes on today, we may see a 5-race semi there...
Today though, TNZ takes a pretty agressive - maybe out of desperation facing Jablonski's maneuvers - penalty. But again, the choice of the left-hand side of the course ended up penalising them heavily.
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| Team | 1 | 2 | 3 | 4 | 5 | 6 | 7 | 8 | 9 | Totale |
| New Zealand | 1 | 1 | | | | - | - | - | - | 2 |
|---|
| Desafío Español | 0 | 0 | | | | - | - | - | - | 0 |
|---|
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| Bmw Oracle | 0 | 1 | | | | | - | - | - | 1 |
|---|
| Luna Rossa | 1 | 0 | | | | | - | - | - | 1 |
|---|
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