Steady Wind = Pure Boat Speed

Yesterday saw four classic match races, but no drama at all. Steady winds, gradually increasing in strength bascially pitted each boats speed and team members's execution skills to work. As no team made any notable mistake, we witnessed pure boat speeds: whomever won at the start and chose the right course gradually saw their lead increase at each mark.

As a net result of these first two days of racing, Stars&Stripes is looking weaker by the day. oneWorld suffered its first loss and was trailing ML yesterday for the first lap; they so not seem to have progressed. Oracle also has its share of problems - as witnessed by Larry Ellison's decison to put Chris Dickson at the helm.

Alinghi certainly is the leader of the pack. In addition, their margin of victory gives them an advantage over oneWorld in case of a tie as the aggregate delta is in their favour. Luna Rossa is definitely improved - they have beat two boats to whom they lost in RR1 and have generated better aggregate deltas in the process. Their competitiveness against oneWorld and Alinghi are the next challenges: flight 4 against Alinghi and flight 9 against oneWorld.