Smashed it!
If one wanted to find a pivotal moment in New Zealand’s march to victory in the 35th America’s Cup Match, a strong candi- date would have to be the pre-start duel in the eighth race. With just under a minute to go, Jimmy Spithill led to the bottom of the start box and turned back for the final approach to the line, slowing to under 10kt on starboard tack and setting up for the final, decisive engagement. Peter Burling trailing downwind on port crossed behind and, instead
of the easier option of gybing around to engage, executed a very tight tack. Judging by the sharp exclamation from Spithill’s tactician – ‘He’s
tacked! he’s tacked!’ – the move came as a surprise. Oracle were hulls down and slow in
32 SEAHORSE
the water while Burling swept around on foils in a sharp S-turn, which brought New Zealander tight up on the leeward side. Then, like a stunt driver doing one of
those slick handbrake parking moves, Burl- ing dropped off the foils to trap the Ameri- can boat to windward, pushing up and slowing them almost to a standstill. Finally, with a couple of casual hand waves to emphasise a final nudge up, New Zealand peeled off, popped back on their foils and crossed the startline 14 seconds ahead. The inevitable victory that followed
brought Team New Zealand to match point and Oracle to crisis point. A subdued Spithill came to the media centre and admitted the start was a big mistake. ‘We handed it to Pete.’ Everything, said Spithill, was now on the table, including his own position at the helm. It was a humbling moment for a proud and combative athlete. Coming into the event, starting was seen
as Burling’s weak point. Unquestionably a strong high-performance sailor from his Olympic skiff background, his match racing experience was very limited.
Late to arrive in Bermuda, New Zealand
did not have the benefit of long practice sessions with other teams. Instead, they trialled their AC50 alone at home, with only a team RIB for competition, and practised skills on simulators at the base. In the early round robins the New
Zealand starts were tentative and they seemed content to follow around the first mark, relying on their sailing performance and opponent errors to find a passing opportunity. They lost both their matches against Oracle in the first qualifier round and Spithill’s parting shots were to taunt Burling’s ‘rookie’ mistakes. ‘Both times we raced ETNZ they have made fundamental match-racing mistakes,’ he chided. Starting was a problem for the Kiwis
through to the Challenger finals against the more aggressive Artemis. By Race 3 of that series they had lost the start and trailed at the first mark six races in succession (including three semi-final races). ‘If ETNZ don’t figure out how to get off the startline Oracle are going to be licking their chops,’ warned commentator Ken Read.
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