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America's Cup - Race 5 & 6


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Looks good, what still scares me is that these boats are only ever 1 small mistake away from total destruction. Whoracle could probably take that & keep going, I don't think we can.

It's still a coin toss till the last point of 9 is in the bag.

Fingers crossed! :thumbup:

 

fully agree... and will Spithill go into Kamikaze mode to take us out.... we only have the one boat...

 

I think that is one of the reasons why ETNZ drove for the leeward end of the start ... because its safer. Can't be luffed up, can't (legally) be rammed and if you manage to get to the zone at the first mark you have rights ... and if you don't you're right on their hammer and can't be taken up all round the place. In addition you might be able to inflict your own harm on the opponent. You do have to live with being gassed if you don't get it exactly right. But, if you have a fair idea that you've got the legs on the upwind part of the course, its a safe and conservative way to play it.

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An additional thought - Jimmy Spithill is hyped as being the match racing starting Wonderkid but after looking at the virtual eye footage of R5 I'd say that of the 5 starts so far DB has won 3 of them. Today's race ETNZ were 1 second ahead of OTUSA at the start line and going the same speed in clear air. That's a win in my book. The problem was that OTUSA was 2-3 knots faster on that first reach possibly because they've gone to a downwind oriented foil package or perhaps raked their wing aft more or something in order to get that additional speed. The problem is that the additional speed on the reach and downwind legs means you have to pay for it on the upwind leg ..... and boy did they pay for it today.

 

It's kinda like golf .... drive for show, putt for dough. Looks good to be blasting on a reach or downwind but if you're slow as a wet week upwind you're going to be disappointed.

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From the rumors that I have heard apparently Russel Coutts is going to make an appearance on the boat now as Tactician. This should make for some interesting media attention and hopefully some more Coutts bashing.

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From the rumors that I have heard apparently Russel Coutts is going to make an appearance on the boat now as Tactician. This should make for some interesting media attention and hopefully some more Coutts bashing.

 

Really???

 

I can't see a JS/RC pairing working seamlessly .... especially if they haven't sailed in that configuration before. Two big egos on the boat would probably end up in a dick measuring contest before too long. RC would also need to be able to take on John Kostecki's grinding duties in addition to calling tactics. Unless he's been training intensively to be able to do that, I can't see him being able to survive an entire race on the pumps, let alone make sensible tactical decisions at the same time (I think that's a big part of JK's problem at the moment .... that and a slow boat upwind). RC would also be putting his reputation as never having lost an America's Cup race at risk .... as shallow as that may sound its probably not something he's willing to risk. He may need all the credentials he can get on his CV after all this is done and dusted.

 

It's a nice rumour but I can't really see it happening.

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Is John Kosteki grinding as well as calling tactics? surely not!

These boats move so fast and the race is so short, surely the tactics man has to be 100% dedicated - the driver needs to be looking in the "now" (wind / trim / the other boat), the tactics man looking at the "next" - up the track and where to next - he can't do that if he's got his head down grunting like a bull in a herd of dairy cows :!:

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I think the OR boat is not very "ergonomic"

 

JK has to grind allot more then RD. RD only grinds before and after tacks and then spends his time plotting the next few moves.

 

I think RD is the man. You can hear him calling 2, 3 even 4 moves ahead all the time. Very impressive :D

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I think RD is the man. You can hear him calling 2, 3 even 4 moves ahead all the time. Very impressive :D

 

The first tack all the way up to the traz looked like it was perfect. According to the arrows on tv :) they ended up out of the tide longer and with less tacks. To me that was the boat race right there. Although boat speed also had its say :lol:

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just saw on the rnzys fb page that sir ben and sir wussell are planningvavmove. Could be bar talk. Could be wishfull thinking. No matter how you look at it team usa and a hamdfull of redheads are in shitcreek

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If Coutts races on the boat it will be just like Star Wars, the evil empire and Darf Vader battling the young Luke Skywalker.

Oracle being the evil empire, Coutts playing Darf Vader and Dean Baker the young Luke Skywalker. Barker was Coutts prodigy back in the Team NZ days.

 

I can just hear it now over their helmet radio headsets - "Dean, I am your Father"

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quick heads up, perfectly timed (or coordinated) booze checkpoint right outside the ngapipi road boat sheds 9.30 this morning ........go easy out there

If some fucker is going to go drinking and driving and endanger my family on the road let them get caught and screwed fucker

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