Alinghi wins first America's Cup match race
by Volker Weber
This did not look good for Emirates Team New Zealand. SUI 100 seems to be the faster boat.
Comments
When do you close the last poll and publish the result?
Usually when I have the next question. In this case, after the last race. :-)
SUI 100 seems to be the faster boat, but I agree with the Kiwi helmsman that this still needs to be determined due to the special conditions today. No time to lean back and relax for the Swiss.
I still contend that a Kiwi skipper will sail home with the victory.... ;)
Seriously though, the sooner New Zealand get their hearts out of this boat race and leave our talented sailors to get on with earning some good $$$ working for rich men who chase meaningless trophys, the better for all of us. The Americas cup is a rich mans sport, nothing more, nothing less.
No surprise here, everybody knows the Swiss are the best sailors in the world.
You can't beat them.
Especially when there is an American at the helm and a Kiwi that tells him how to sail the boat. :)
Update.
Today race day-2, the KiWi take their revenge. It's history already.
First time ever, the Swiss loose a sail race in the America's cup.
This time the Kiwis are not shooting themselves. :-) And the Swiss lost a lot of races with their 2000 campaign. Before they acquired a Kiwi crew.
Yeah! Four more to come...
I think it's going to be a really really interesting challenge this time.
I do have one question however, after today's race.
What is the fastest boat?
Yesterday it appeared to be SUI-100, today things seemed to be quite different but perhaps it was just the crew performing so well on ETNZ.
Today I thought that SUI 100 was again the faster boat. They lost it on the second upwind leg when they chose the wrong side of the track and giving away control of the race.
Then again, maybe to Kiwi is better in light wind conditions.
Or to say it in the words of the Swiss sports commentator: the Alinghi lost because they made a few mistakes while the Kiwis did everything perfectly.
I'm slightly getting nervous because this victory was a psychologically important one.
Update on Tuesday, 18.55 CET. NZ beats Alinghi, just now.
Geez.... this race was tough.! :)
Indeed. Alinghi was again the faster boat and still lost it.
Volker, please send aspirin to Switzerland. =(
Here is your Aspirin: the numbers in the poll are going up for Alinghi.
Two all. Best Aspirin for Philipp.
Well, after today it looks indeed like when Alinghi get their act together, things turn to be sweet for them.
Once more SUI-100 has proven to be faster than it's challenger.
It's all up to the crews now.
Well, news got out that their second victory has been confirmed. More exciting races to come - Aspirin can not only heal head aches, but also helps in case of heart attacks. ;-)
Tuesday 3rd of July update.
This was to be expected, bye bye ETNZ, nice try.
The CUP will stay in Europe another few years.. :D
It's kind of weird, I always thought I'd be happy if the Alinghi successfully defends the Auld Mug, but currently I feel rather bad for the Kiwis. They did a really good job this year and this cup deserves two winners.
In Switzerland there's some weird kind of mood. On the one hand, everyone expected the Alinghi to win and sports commentators already loudly thought about the time after the victory since last weekend, but at the same time everyone was making sure that expectations are downgraded at the same time again because the Kiwis were such a strong competitor. In the last race, they just proved it once again.