Thrown Away

The last day of racing saw curious behaviour on the part of both Italian teams. Both won their start but chose not to cover their opponent - ML going left and LR steering the same course as oneWorld but at a distance that impeded any possible wind coverage.

The result was the same in each case: an uneventful race where the opponent gradually increased its lead to become undisturbed. In instance, Le défi deserved more tha ML to pass given their increased competitiveness in the latter days of racing.

One wonders whether these behaviours were intentional... LR had nothing to earn by winning; tactically it would have been wiser to learn something about their probable opponent in the quarter-finals. ML had bad blood in their veins, as illustrated by the images after the race where Paolo Cian did not acknowledge Onorato's hug as all team members were thanking each other.

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There will be no match between Alinghi & LR. Alinghi, having finished first concedes the point to LR. Tactics...