Who thinks Oracle threw their race with the Kiwis today?

I do.

Joe Walter #24

Naaah! They had a good start and a 69m lead to begin with then a huge shift to the right put ETNZ way in front. Once New Zealand got their huge lead, I do believe both teams went into conservative mode.

Why would they do that and give up the ability to choose the pair offs for the semi-finals?

Unless they are confident enough looking ahead to the semi and finals and didn't want to show off anything extra they might have speed wise, hence allowing ETNZ to split away as far as they did.

Reichard Kahle
Charleston, SC

It's not that they "threw" the race; I just think BMW/Oracle was perfectly happy sailing their own race on the first beat off to the left side of the course and not engaging in a side-by-side, boatspeed-measuring close cover on the first beat.

They expect they will beat either the #3 or #4 boat in the next round, so the result was relatively meaningless.

Chris

That is my point, the result was meaningless except to earn the choice of who to sail. I think they threw the race from the stand point that they did not care. If they kept their lead on the first beat, I think they would have defended it down the run, but why not at least throw a loose cover on the Kiwis if at least to give the spectators a race? Why let them split that far?

I think they have some speed in reserve and did not want to show it to the Kiwis. They also wanted to conserve their sail inventory.

Like Dickson said in the press conference, "the bad news is we don't get to choose, the good news is we don't get to choose!"

Baring any equipment failures, I think Oracle sweeps Luna Rosa.

It only took a couple of minutes for NZL to make a huge gain, but these guys know how much they are gaining or loosing second by second. Once they saw NZL make even the smallest gain, they would have tacked to get back. The fact that they did not, says to me that they did not care.

Joe Walter #24

I bet Prada gets 1 or 2 out of us.

Reichard Kahle
Charleston, SC

One Beam and Coke it is then.

Joe Walter #24

Hi Guys, this is putting a cat amongst the pidgeons, from my recollection of sailing crews on both Oracle and Emirates Team New Zealand there were approx 25 Kiwis amongst the 34 sailors on the water. To my way of thinking that makes Kiwis the winners [:D][:D]

ROD LIDDY
"LEGEND"
EC12 NZL 115
EC12 NZL 135

Rod, I will not disagree with you on that. There was a time when everyone on board the boat had to be from the country of origin. Once the Kiwis "stole" the Auld Mug, they changed the rules so all the teams could hire the best. I remember reading something about 40-45 percent of the sailors in the cup (all boats) are from NZL.

We send our kids to baseball camp, you guys send your kids to sailing camp.

I wish I grew up in New Zealand[:(]

Joe Walter #24

Does anyone know if any of this action is available on DirecTV reception?

Paul

I am not sure about your neck of the woods Paul, but down here in the Southeast, it will be on Versus TV starting Monday. There was supposed to be updates during the last round robins, but I never saw them. You can see highlights and long story videos at Americas Cup Anywhere. The link is in the Americas Cup web site http://www.americascup.com/en/index.php


Joe Walter #24

Joe, thanks
A little sleuth work and I found it - DirecTV channel 608. Tivo has been set for Season Pass.

Paul

Pour that into a tall glass, Joe.

Reichard Kahle
Charleston, SC

Well I owe Reichard a drink. I don't know what is wrong with Dickson. You just don't split that much, even if the wind is going your way. You need to keep it close. If they keep splitting like that, it will be all over pretty quick.

On another note, the coverage on Versus TV is lame. Too many commercials and three very boring commentators.

Joe Walter #24

Hi Capt. Flack: I agree with your comments...........I listen to the Radio broadcast commentary which is much better in my estimation. The Virtual Sailing Broadcast timing seems to lag by about 30 seconds. All in all, it is all better than not having any broadcast at all![:)][8D]Tony Bollers, EC12-195

I will bring you your drink Reichard, just as you as you have my new rigs finished. LOL

Well, I need to put the tape in tomorrow. I can't afford to play hooky all week.

Joe Walter #24