Tactical.

ETNZ Crosses OTUSA on Day 2 of the 34th America's Cup Match (Photo Credit: ACEA/Ricardo Pinto)

Quite a few people were very surprised by OTUSA pulling their 'postponement' card today. Some even called it unsportsmanlike. 

In reality, it is no different from a timeout in basketball. It is a tactic in each teams playbook that can be used just once. Originally it was intended for a gear breakage, however this would be very hard to police, so was just left open.

Put simply, if JK hadn't pulled the pin, it is highly likely they would be 5-0 down now. This match is approaching the halfway mark, and if Oracle can pull something out of the bag, then perhaps this is the turning point. However, it is more likely to be giving them breathing room to assess where they can make improvements in the time allowed and perhaps turn their campaign around.

To the other people who blame JK for losing the upwind leg, can you really blame that down speed tack they made after the rounding for losing the race? What about the fact ETNZ made up 1 min 25 sec in one leg. Their boat handling needs work for sure, but to blame the tactician for a boatspeed issue is like blaming the pilot for the airline food. It's something that should have been nailed months ago, and could easily be tied back to the fact one team has done over 100 days sailing and the other spent months rebuilding their boat after a capsize.

Whatever happens, it's a shame one team seems to be quietly going from strength to strength and the other is loudly imploding. The racing we have seen has been legendary in the true sense of the word, and hopefully we will see the same come Friday.

With Deano and the boys out in front where it counts.

Set Your Alarms

31/07/2013 - San Francisco (USA,CA) - 34th America's Cup - Open training © ACEA / PHOTO GILLES MARTIN-RAGET

8.15am tomorrow morning (NZT) is the opening race of the Louis Vuitton Semi-Finals. Artemis Racing vs Luna Rossa Challenge. Hopefully there will be the full fruit audio-visual package, with onboard video and all the sailors mic'ed up (we hope this is the case as it is being shown on NBC in the US, and the depth of coverage from the round robins wouldn't be enough for broadcast).

What we do know is that Ken Read will be commentating (Yay!) with Todd Harris (not a yachtie) on the play-by-plays and Gary "I have to explain everything with unnecessary complexity" Jobson rambling about how the boats don't seem to have spinnaker poles anymore.

In terms of the actual racing, the ACEA, Oracle and other media outlets are saying not to discount Artemis, and some have gone so far as to say they are faster on all points of sail.

Even if this is the case (unlikely), turning a corner will still be an issue for the relatively green team on their boat 2.

Luna Rossa have done over 80 days of sailing on their boat, and although they received a number of pantsings from ETNZ, they still have had race practice.

The Semis are a best of 7 (first to 4) series, with a race each day for two days, then one rest day, until ETNZ's LVC Final opponent is found - if it gets to a 3 all situation, the deciding race would be 16th August NZT, however, it could be all over by Sunday morning NZT.

The LVC Finals then start 18th August NZT with 2 races per day for a first to 7 series.
Let the races for keeps begin.

Love Thy Competitor

AC Regatta Director Ian Murray demonstrates locator beacon to be worn by sailors Photo copyright Pierre Orphanidis / www.vsail.info

There has been a lot of name calling, accusations and general naughty words on the part of three of the AC teams and the Regatta Director over the past week. On the one side sits Emirates Team New Zealand and Luna Rossa Challenge, who feel that a couple of the safety recommendations are a guise to push through a more favourable AC72 Class Rule for the Defender, Oracle Team USA, who sit on the other side of the fence, with America's Cup Regatta Director Ian Murray.

Technical details aside, the issue lies with changes to the rudder design and operation with regard to measurement certificates. The current Class Rule does not allow the changes to the rudder bearings or elevators within the scope of one measurement cert, so teams must request multiple certs and choose the night before which one they use. The proposed safety changes from ACRM are to allow for changes to the rudders/bearings up until the warning signal, and larger/different shaped rudder elevators (the horizontal wing shape on the bottom of the rudder).

Where it gets ugly is that ETNZ/LR have 72s that do not require adjustable rudders to foil stable around the race track. They contend the rule changes are being pushed through to allow Oracle's yachts to actually legally rate within the rule or allow them more control of their foiling, depending on who you listen to.

This is all well and good, but it in fact boils down further.

Should the Class Rule be allowed to be changed a week out from racing (whether or not those changes were proposed in May) or should the current rule stand? If the International Jury rules that the rule changes have to have the unanimous support from all 4 teams, they will not be passed. If they do rule that challengers don't need to vote, they hand a massive chunk of development time to the Defender who doesn't require a Measurement Cert until September.

The final sting in the tail is that Ian Murray has stated that if the changes are voted down, he will go to the Coast Guard and say that he does not believe the current safety measures are enough, effectively torpedoing the event, unless the individual competitors can convince them otherwise.

The Jury convenes on Tuesday NZT.

First Nacra 17 adventure

Photo Credit: Roberto Vuilleumier/Vela Garda Trentino

By Gemma Jones, Skipper of Nacra 17 with Jason Saunders.

We didnt know what to expect when we left in mid March to Europe to sail the Nacra 17 for the first time. We didn't head off with a great start picking up the boat in Holland. We were planning on rigging the boat up and sailing in Holland but when we arrived it was freezing cold and dumping with snow so we said screw this lets get to Palma!

After about a week of straight boatwork all day everyday in Palma and some food poisioning (just casually) we were definitely ready to hit the water and the Nacra 17 exceeded expectations. The curved foils made it exciting downwind and it was a lot better than other cats i had sailed previously and we had a lots of boat handling practice to catch up on quickly before the Trofeo Princesa Sofia began.

We had heard rumours of people double trapezing downwind but didnt really realise that in a wind range of about 10-15 knots its faster to do so. I realised this in the practice race when the helms of the first 5 boats round the top mark in front and stayed on the wire. That was an interesting downwind where we did not make great gains on other boats.

We finished 20th in the Trofeo Princesa Sofia World Cup regatta after a few good races, a few plastic bags and even a t-shirt on the rudders and a lot of learning. This was a start and gave us a good list to work on before the next world cup event in Hyeres.

After the first 2 days of the regatta in Hyeres we started off very slowly and learnt what definitely isn't the right setting for light winds! We were very happy the next day when the wind came up and found some great pace which was very nice after being the slowest boat the previous 2 days. We had high winds for the rest of the regatta which suited us but unfortunately the spinnaker halyard coming undone 100 metres before the finish in one of the races stopped us from making the medal race and we missed out by one point finishing 12th.

Our next event was in the beautiful Lake Garda - Vela Trentino Olympic week - a EUROSAF event. Garda and us didn't get off to a great start after one morning finding our boat upside down and our mast bent 90 degrees. Overnight a freak wind gust blew our boat upside down and down the bank when luckily a security guard found it and with help pulled it up. The mast was unfixable but the hulls only suffered a few scratches. We were very lucky that Tomer (the other New Zealand crew travelling with us) let us use his mast for the regatta!

The Garda wind definitely didn't live up to expectations as it was raining the whole time and we didn't get to see the famous Ora wind that was meant to come in the afternoons. This did enable us to get our light wind speed sorted and we were in second place, one point behind the Austrians, before the medal race. With the new format the race committee were trialling in this regatta it meant that for the 6 boats that made it into the medal race, our points changed to our placing overall, so we were on 2 points. A breakage in the medal race meant we ended up finishing the regatta in 4th place. Needless to say we were not a fan of the new format.

After a bit of drama including Gemma losing a bag with her passport, laptop, boat documents and pretty much all the important stuff, a lot of driving and traffic we made it home to New Zealand and are happy with our Nacra 17 experience so far and are excited for our next trip competing in Kiel week in Germany and the Nacra 17 Worlds in Holland.