Alinghi

Alinghi

Alinghi angry race was held

By GREG FORD in Valencia - Fairfax Media Wednesday, 27 June 2007
Reuters
GO KIWI!: A young fan cheers Team New Zealand on their return to base after winning race three of the America's Cup against Alinghi.
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Team New Zealand won it by 25 seconds going 2-1 up in the best-of-nine series.
Some observers were calling the clash the best race in Cup history.
But Alinghi's Dean Phipps, a former New Zealander, said fickle winds in Valencia today, which oscillated by as much as 20 degrees, turned race three into a lottery.
He suggested Team New Zealand's win was borne from luck rather than skill.
"We have worked four years and we were looking forward to an even boat race," he said.
"You could have played tiddly-winks today or tossed a coin and got the same result."
"We've got two even boats, two even crews, let's put on a race course that's an even spread," he said.
"It obviously wasn't today in some respects. Team NZ had a good shift on the first beat and we had a good shift out of the bottom mark and closed up 100-odd metres. Is that fair? For us, it's probably not. We just want a good close boat race in consistent conditions."
Alinghi syndicate boss, Ernesto Bertarelli also criticised the racing decision.
"It was a little bit of Las Vegas which is why I don't think the race should have happened, but it did and now the result is here so we will take it," he told Sail-World.com.
"We look forward to tomorrow. I think we raced well but we were just unlucky."
Bertarelli added he didn't come to the America's Cup "to do this sort of racing".
"It's match racing at the end of the day. It's not offshore racing where you just have to see whether the wind decides the regatta.
"I don't think the wind should decide the regatta, the competitors should decide it on their ability.
"The wind should be way more stable than it was today for the race to take place.
"I'm sure for those who are watching it is exciting for sure, but you can go to Las Vegas for that.
"It's not exactly what sailing should be about.'
Phipps, however, admitted that Alinghi might not have done as much practice in today's conditions as Team NZ.
"We've done obviously our own in-house racing but I guess we might have pulled the pin a little earlier when the breeze was flukey like that," he said.
"We've done our fair share, but probably not the intensity that the challengers have had."
However, Team NZ crewman Matthew Mason said there had been worse conditions during the Louis Vuitton Cup challengers' series.
"This is their venue," he said.
"That's what Valencia is like on some of these days. You would lose a lot of days if you didn't go out and sail on a day like today."
Regatta organiser Peter Reggio delayed the start by two hours, waiting until the last available minute before giving both teams the green light when the winds appeared to stabilise.
But it soon started to oscillate again, with Alinghi claiming that meant fate rather then skill was rewarded.
"For us it wasn't (fair) because we wanted a close boat race in consistent conditions," Phipps said.
But Team New Zealand strongly disagreed.
Their chief wind spotter Adam Beashel said the Kiwis were happy to race, pointedly noting "sometimes you make your own luck."
"We were keen to race and thought it could have gone a bit earlier in fact."
Phipps strong comments were also dismissed as sour grapes by the world's media.
The race, which Phipps said shouldn't go ahead, was outstanding.
The international press was so impressed it greeted both crews at the after match press conference with a rousing ovation - a rare event.
The lead in any America's Cup race changes rarely more than once.
But on the run home alone when Alinghi were 100 metres in front the momentum changed more than a dozen times, according to Team New Zealand strategist Ray Davies.
He said his team was "stoked" to have finally claimed victory after make a staggeringly good start and then staggeringly bad hash of the second leg.
A crew error - mid bowman Richard Meachem was washed overboard - and then a spinnaker was caught in the genoa block saw Alinghi close a gap of over a minute at the third mark.
Davies said "things turned to custard".
"It was a terrible rounding," he said.
"It was a pretty ugly look for us and Dick got a bit wet so we took the mickey out of him for that one."
Former Alinghi and Team New Zealand skipper Russell Coutts, commentating on television, was critical of the defender's tactics at different times of the race, particularly the important final leg when the Kiwis mowed down the Swiss syndicate.- with NZPA