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Emirates Team New Zealand - Source: Photosport -
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The Louis Vuitton Pacific Series of yachting is proving to be far more successful and interesting than many people predicted.
Quite a number of the overseas visitors, including many of the leading sailing journalists from a variety of countries, came here expecting this to be a regatta of limited quality and wondered if it would generate much interest.
Their main expectation was that there might be a few stories regarding the on-going saga of the America's Cup and that the yachting would be a mediocre contest at best.
But they quickly changed their opinion on that.
With most of the best match racing skippers in the world here, there was simply no way this would be anything other than extraordinarily competitive. That is exactly what has eventuated.
The knockout rounds on Thursday produced a stunning finish with a margin of just one second separating Luna Ross and Team China.
In fact the steady improvement of the China crew has been one of the talking points, as has the surprise performance of the Greek Challenge and the quality of Damiani Italia. The emergence of these new crews and the fact some of the new breed of yachting superstars are scoring some impressive victories have been stories in themselves.
Ian Williams, Sebastian Col and Ben Ainslie will soon be as well known as Coutts, Cayard and Baird.
But perhaps the biggest talking point will be the form of Emirates Team New Zealand. They are widely acknowledged as being of the highest class and yet they scored only one victory on the water in the second round robin.
If they had been sailing for points, rather than just getting tuned up for the final, they would be in an embarrassingly low position.
Unlike the America's Cup, boat design advantages do not play a part in this regatta. The boats being used are very similar, so it has been a test of crew expertise.
The time ETNZ spent racing was a disappointment for them, and they have endured an agonising wait while their potential opponents got plenty of chances to improve on the water.
BMW Oracle Racing's crew is all class and were always going to be the likely opponents for Alinghi in the Challenger final.
But Alinghi loom as the best of the lot and proved it will their clinical dispatching of Oracle on Thursday.
In the upcoming best-of-seven final the Swiss might have too many advantages over the home crew.
The sailing fraternity has been eagerly awaiting the possibility of a rematch between Alinghi and Emirates Team New Zealand, but many of the Kiwi supporters are unconvinced Team New Zealand are as close to the top of their game as they will need to be for the final.
The mistakes they have made will need to be eliminated if they are to prevent the Louis Vuitton Pacific Series cup from heading overseas.
What do you think? Can Team New Zealand lift their game in time to win the Louis Vuitton Pacific Series?
Have your say and send your message of support to Team New Zealand on our message board below.
Add a Comment:
Post new commentac-klaxon said on 2009-02-14 @ 10:10 NZDT: Report abusive post
Go Kiwis Go! ! !
radar832004 said on 2009-02-14 @ 01:15 NZDT: Report abusive post
Go team New Zealand we love you regardless of the results you are OUR BOYS
radar832004 said on 2009-02-14 @ 01:08 NZDT: Report abusive post
and the reason they sued was legitimate they signed on for the 2009 americas cup and what happend to it? so breaching a contract is allowed? it wasn't just oracle suing alinghi it was the appeal after appeal by both teams it just turns into a farce with billionaires trying to prove that they have a big package to go with the big egos