Update
No place for old men and certainly not for old America’s Cup yachts. Dennis Conner’s famous 1987 Cup-winner USA-55, the fastest ever 12 Metre in a breeze and one of the slowest ever in the light, was seen recently badly damaged on a mooring in the Caribbean; while Daniel Andrieu’s pretty 12 Metre Challenge France from the same Cup era is slowly being reclaimed by nature in a French field
four races going to Luna Rossa. But that was the intriguing part of the regatta, both teams winning races in the other’s strong conditions. In many ways that is a nod towards the potential of TNZ’s boat and team. Watching it from the sidelines you could see in the races that if TNZ were behind they would never go away. Boatspeed does that for you. Turning points. Race #7. Luna Rossa led for five out of the six
laps in an uprange shifty puffy racetrack. Eighty per cent of the way up the last beat Luna Rossa tack on TNZ and keep the left. The split sent TNZ off to the right-hand side which at the time looked correct. But occasionally the wind gods shine or frown on you and luckily for TNZ this time the breeze filled off the beach, went hard right and handed the lead to ETNZ. With one leg to the finish and superior downwind speed TNZ sailed off for the win. Race #9. This race showed the true potential of TNZ. Halfway
down the first run TNZ come off the foil and fall a long way behind, Luna Rossa sailing off to an almost guaranteed win. But again the wind gods frown on Luna Rossa and the last tack into the right- hand gate they fall off their foils. From this moment TNZ had plenty of work to do: a dying breeze, small jib and three tacks to execute up the beat to catch and overtake Luna Rossa was not an easy task. TNZ truly showed in this race their strength of design and aero set-up. They sailed off with a huge margin of victory but more impressive
was the manner that they manoeuvred down range. With the small- est foils in the fleet, TNZ’s ability to ‘roll tack’ and the aero set- up ability to camber up through each tack and gybe were impressive! If the series was ever in doubt race #9 was a clear demonstration of the defender’s dominance. On reflection I would again give high praise to Luna Rossa for
racing a solid regatta. They were sailing a slower boat and did great work keeping it close. The clever set-up of the two helmsmen which was touted as a strength through the challenger series could not
18 SEAHORSE
overcome the faster boat. TNZ was the team that we all expected. TNZ did not peak too early, they developed all the way through the event, and the strength of the team comes out of consistent leadership at all levels. An impressive win. From New Zealand it was back to Maryland to start working on
what is next. I am certain there are a lot of good things in the future for all of sailing but for the moment re-entry into non-foiling monohull racing started with Bora Gulari in a reduced Melges 24 Gold Cup. I have not spent a lot of time on Charleston Harbour and well
it showed. Bora and the team carried this tactician and my inex- perience on this racetrack. I will say this racing was awesome. The Melges 24 is just a great platform. The racing is close and Charleston Harbour and its current turn the game of inches into massive gain or losses if not judged properly. We did get most right and while we were far from perfect each day we got better. The result was a bronze but it did feel good to get back out and
mix it up. Racing with Bora, Ian, Kyle and Norm was awesome – these guys are a great reminder of how much talent exists in the younger generation. One other reminder was regatta winner Harry Melges IV, 19 years old – the apple didn’t fall too far from the tree. A successful re-entry and plenty of things to work on and improve
in the months to come. Standing by in Harwood, Maryland!
ROUND TWO – Russell Coutts SailGP CEO Sir Russell Coutts talked to Rob Kothe about changes in F50 foiling cat world. Seahorse: Quite the new line-up… RC: It’s incredibly exciting that we have this line-up of really the best-recognised sailors in the world and what is even more exciting is they are sailing identical and tightly controlled boats. Ainslie, Burling, Outteridge, Robertson, Besson, Slingsby, Spithill all fleet
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