Links...
FAQ Eng
Aiuto It
|
|
||||||||||||||||
Exiting on a Victorious Note Curiosity of curiosities. Luna Rossa earned a victory to close their adventure in this edition of the America's Cup. Well, part of the victory was gifted by oneWorld who, on the first beat decided to try and increase its lead and suffered a wind shift in LR's favour. The wind also played an additional twist on the fortunes of the already proclaimed winner of this first phase of the semi finals, trapping it in a deep hole. Pity. The Defenders set some rules for themselves that may end up bouncing out a boat better suited for kiwi summer weather. Luna Rossa showed every sign of being well designed for weak wind conditions. While in the start & dial-up phase, ITA-74 seems less manouverable, the boat (with the wise handling of De Angelis) managed to avoid stalling in the dead wind. Nonetheless, too many things did go wrong in this edition to deserve advancing. * * * * * * * * Statistical data around number 17... The penalty tha was really costly, was against rule 17. Race 4 was closed when LR had 17 seconds delay at the leeward mark. LR could not get past the level of 17 wins. The contest closed on the 17th. With a gap of 17 minutes. * * * * * * * * A few comments on the commentators... During the last transmission everything and its opposite was put forth, including "It's El Niño's fault'. Granted anything is better than dead air & 5 hours of live TV is hard to handle. But journalists should try to make up thier minds. One last observation which Italiana commentators missed, regarding rules, sailing limits, etc. Challengers make rules between themselves to take the Cup away from the Defender. Yet the Defender and Challenger of record decide the AC rules sets that the Challengers have to deal with. And TNZ has no, absolutely no, interest in changing the present conditions. New Zealand is a small country, with limited financial ressources. If they lose the Cup, it may never return. So they want boats built for spring conditions and fight them off during the summer. The rules are set that way and negotiating them off that stance is going to be hard to do.
|
||||||||||||||||