Matthew Sheahan checks in from Auckland after the first two days of America’s Cup racingI am going to need therapy after this America\u2019s Cup. In 30 years of covering events as a journalist\/commentator I can\u2019t think of one that has so consistently delivered the opposite to what was expected.
\nIt\u2019s enough to have you question your judgement every day. Fortunately, it seems that even the real experts are as confused as I am as to what to expect and have eaten so much humble pie over the last few weeks as to put on weight through opinion alone.
\nBut no one is complaining.
\nToday I had a natter with INEOS grinder Freddie Carr at the Cup\u2019s favourite gossip venue about what he was reading into the Cup so far.
\nI was delighted and relieved to discover that he too is changing his mind as quickly as the rest of us. But, what makes his views so interesting is that he\u2019s looking at things from a point of view of someone who\u2019s been there and is used to analysing the opposition.
\nIf you want to know more about how the teams compare it\u2019s worth listening to what he has to say.
\nMeanwhile, as far as this America\u2019s Cup Day 2 is concerned, after talking to regatta director Iain Murray this morning I started off thinking that there was a good chance that we wouldn\u2019t see any racing today.
\nArticle continues below\u2026<\/p>\n
\t\t\t\t\t\tAmerica\u2019s Cup: Day two, d\u00e9j\u00e0 vu as both teams still level<\/p>\n
\t\t\t\t\t\t\tOn Wednesday 10th March, after the first day of the America\u2019s Cup racing, we said the racing could be simplified\u2026<\/p>\n
\t\t\t\t\t\tAmerica\u2019s Cup: Why it\u2019s good to be wrong<\/p>\n
\t\t\t\t\t\t\tThere are some days when you\u2019re pleased to be wrong\u2026today \u2013 the first day of the America\u2019s Cup \u2013 was\u2026<\/p>\n
As a result, I started thinking about light weather sailing and what we might see and this had me thinking about an advert that\u2019s been on Kiwi TV screens for at least the last three months.
\nIt\u2019s a commercial for Kiwi sponsors McDonalds and features a young lad and his dad in a model boat race where they win by deploying a code zero fashioned from a cheeseburger wrapper, (I have yet to run this past North Sails president Ken Read but suspect there\u2019s a new technology here too).
\nWhen I got up early this (Friday) morning to study the weather and write the online morning briefing the penny dropped. Just a few days ago we had seen the Kiwis sailing with a new, high clew code zero. And while they were being coy about whether they would use it or not, they didn\u2019t challenge the suggestion that perhaps this would be an insurance policy just for the last leg to the finish.
\nSurely it would make sense?
\nThey had got caught out in the America\u2019s Cup World Series when they dropped off their foils when the breeze dropped and lost out to Luna Rossa.
\nLooking further back to San Francisco (for the 2013 America\u2019s Cup) they had been unable to finish a race that could have helped to deliver a Cup win when they ran out of time on the last leg.
\nPhoto: ACE \/ Studio Borlenghi
\nBut what if they wanted us and more importantly their opponents, to think that?
\nWhat if instead, they had some way of using a code zero throughout the race simply to stay on the foils and to get to where the breeze was? As with any light airs racing, getting to the breeze is often more important than the direction you are sailing and in these boats it\u2019s even more crucial.
\nAnd what if they could deploy it in the pre-start?
\nI\u2019m probably going wildly off piste here, Ken tells me that a code zero would be flapping in the breeze as soon as the beast got up on the foils and therefore useless for this. I guess he\u2019s right, so I blame the caffeine and hanging around for Cup races for my wayward thinking.
\nAnyway, fortunately what the speculation hasn\u2019t done is make me hungry enough to want a quarter pounder\u2026 yet.
\nBut all this speculation turned out to be a waste of time for Day 2 as we got sailing where none was expected, and once the stray spectators had been cleared off the course, racing got away largely on time.
\nAs I\u2019m sure you know the scoreline ended up with another draw and while there were no lead changes and therefore little in the way of tension, (something that the naysayers will leap on I\u2019m sure), the fact that we are even-Stephens after two days is pretty unusual. Add to this the fact that we are in a brand new class where the teams have done precious little racing when compared to years gone by and it\u2019s interesting to see how far we are down the development line already.
\nPhoto: ACE \/ Studio Borlenghi
\nBut if what you want is a quick synopsis as to how the teams compare, the answer is that the first race showed us that the Italians are indeed quicker in the light, especially upwind. The Kiwis have the edge downwind and that the starts are critical.
\nThe second race of the day demonstrated that much of what we thought we knew from the previous races had to be reconsidered. After the Kiwis had won the start and bounced Luna Rossa off to the right when the left was the side that paid, the Kiwis simply stretched out their lead leg after leg.
\nThe bottom line is that after two days and 4 races we are as good at predicting the outcome as we are the weather. And that booking some time on a couch after all this is over may be a smart move.
\nTo read more of Matthew Sheahan\u2019s thoughts from Auckland, head over to his blog at: www.planetsail.org.
\nThe post America\u2019s Cup: Why day 2 made things exciting and confusing appeared first on Yachting World.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"
Matthew Sheahan checks in from Auckland after the first two days of America’s Cup racingI am going to need therapy after this America\u2019s Cup. In 30 years of covering events as a journalist\/commentator I can\u2019t think of one that has … <\/p>\n