Round robin 1, 29 Aug, day one
Orient Express Racing of France on port, Alinghi Red Bull Racing on starboard. A soft 6-8 knots easterly breeze, a little stronger at the top mark.
I’m guessing that most of us are guessing Alinghi will take this one, but Orient Express is looking sharp in the light, light airs. Alinghi loves to scrap, but it’s too light to get funky and risk a splashdown.
Hey, wait a minute… Orient Express is in control, wants the left and is sending Alinghi out to the right for a split tack start, Orient Express ahead on the line. Well, with the delays as the breeze filled in, I nearly dozed but I’d better wake up because already this is new.
Orient Express bought its design package from ETNZ and said they wouldn’t mess with it. They’ve been rumoured to have a light airs advantage and here it is today off Barcelona. They just have to stay on the foils.
Delta one: 27 seconds.
Alinghi on the downwind leg. In the olden days, ie, in the days of lead mines, the downwind legs were a chance for the trailing boats to put dirty air on the leading boat, but when the boats are going so much faster than the wind, the trailing boat needs to avoid dirty air upwind and downwind.
One leg two, the Swiss sail into good pressure and take a big chunk out of the lead. The boats are demonstrating huge mast rotation and big camber in the double-skin mainsails; they are doing about 34 knots boat speed in 7 knots of true wind speed.
Coming into mark two, Orient Express leading into the mark but the delta now is 13, wow, that’s a big bite out of the lead. Both boats are in danger of dawdling along at 20 knots in the light airs which could get them into sticky gybe territory.
But Orient Express is protecting that left hand side and has made a 100m gain. Whatever they have been doing in the last four days, Alinghi wants some.
Gate 3, halfway around the race: Alinghi got a big knock coming into the mark so they had to sail further and the delta is 46 seconds. Ouch.
I know I’m stressed because I’m getting my tenses mixed up but there is no time to fix it now.
Orient Express has got to keep it clean. Their average speed is 30.9 vs 29.5 for Alinghi. Lead extending to 544m.
Orient Express looks as elegant as Audrey Hepburn as they sail across the finish line. I was so excited to see the underdog slip its collar, I forgot to look at the final delta but it was lots.
Tres bien.
Now for ETNZ and Italy.
I’m wide awake.
Photo credit: Ian Roman, America's Cup
© Rebecca Hayter
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