America's Cup

http://www.nzherald.co.nz/event/index.cfm?c_id=531

Former Team New Zealand and Alinghi skipper Russell Coutts believes Team New Zealand has the better boat heading into the Louis Vuitton Cup final with Luna Rossa. Coutts said the black boat looks good for the light Valencia conditions, with a distinct advantage in downwind boat speed. He is confident… More

 

What we don't know, is what the comparative, to ETNZ, boat speed/manouvreability mode changes that LR made last. They blew BO out of the water;Was that BO screwup or did LR make significant gains in remoding?
Are we going to get the 8-10knts or 10-12 or 12-14? I hope the conditions make an even playing field with a mix.Looking forward to some close racing!!
Go ETNZ!!!

 

LR vs TNZ

the hull lines are making for sure the difference, in light to moderate breeze conditions (i refer to LR mostly...) however the meticolous....and extreme attention paid to the least detail, made for sure by the crew of LR, has made the fundamental difference. At this stage after many races, sails, spars, rigging and equipment test, I believe a thorough tune-up of the vsl/crew as a whole is @ this point of utmost importance and consequently it makes the real upturn in perfomance (I recon..!! ). .
Furthermore regarding the recent trends in ACC Canoe Body Lines I will post a new thread with some technical speculations on the subject, including alleged lines plan and hydros/parameters on what :!: I believe being a reasonable outcome for best performance in prevailing wind conditions explaining "whys" from infos and docs so far gathered.....(hope of interest.....)

brgds

 

(Scuttlebutt)
No love: Coutts thinks the Italian entry will lose, the 'buttheads thinks so too, and now the Luna Rossa helm James Spithill is now not getting much love from his country. Australian fans will NOT be seeing any of the Louis Vuitton Cup final live on TV. Fox Sports, which holds the Australian rights, will run a highlights package of the LV final afterwards on June 14. However, Fox Sports' current plan is to provide live coverage of the America's Cup match, which begins on June 23rd.

Scuttlebutt's Poll:

# Emirates Team New Zealand - 51.46%
# Luna Rossa Challenge - 48.54%

 

we ger saturated with games called ruggy league which is a game of dull repitition and afl, WHICH IS A TOTALLY undecipherable mess and in which when one team loses instead of shaking hands withe the opposition, they burst into tears,
I can listen live on pc at www.newstalkzb.co.nz, and IF the commentators are good I get pleasure and can (SEE) THE BOATS ANYWAYS, NOT THE SAME BUT i ALREADY SAID aUST. NOT A SAILING NATION AT ALL, whoops scuse caps

 

SA's poll. 43% to LR
34% to ETNZ

AND,
ETNZ practising with Alinghi today!
Very chummy.....
Is this innocuous,a payback, or downright unsporting?
Fecked if I know.... Is it even legal?
BTW, I am a ETNZ supporter.

In a boat of unknown serial and old sails guess that deems it friendly
rivalry,like playing pingpong? eh!

 

those boats , the lines, they stopped looking like, er, um, yachts, ugly bloody things, ah but but the sails, mouth watering

 

"Emirates Team New Zealand won an incredibly close match over Luna Rossa Challenge on Friday to take a 1-0 lead in the Final of the Louis Vuitton Cup. The Kiwis never led by more than 12-seconds around the race course."
DELTA 0:08
GO, LUNA ROSSA!

 

yes i ddi not find a place to view, but seems like it is anyones cup,

 

(Scuttlebutt)
After three days of racing in the Louis Vuitton Challenger finals, Emirates
Team New Zealand (NZL) is up 3 wins to none for the Luna Rossa Challenge
(ITA). The 'buttheads had indicated such a result in the pre-event poll, but
surely they did not expect a shut-out at this stage. Differences in boat
speed - if any - do not appear to be driving this result. While surely not
slow, the Kiwi team is leading this series because they have consistently
converted the first puff/ shift into a well-managed advantage all the way to
the finish.

The starting rhythm that the Italian team so elegantly performed in their
shellacking of BMW Oracle Racing has been reduced to karaoke bar choir.
Their first race start was only okay, the second start was late and slow,
and the third start was, well, let's let Paul Cayard walk us through it:
"Jesse James Spithill appeared Sunday for the first four minutes of the
prestart. He managed to block Dean from maneuvering, but then with 1 minute
to go and his opponent trapped above the line, he mysteriously gybed away
and went for the left end of the line. It was very hard for us spectators to
understand this final minute of the prestart. In fact, Team New Zealand said
after the race that they thought they were done for and suddenly found
themselves getting the start they wanted at the right side of the line."

 

everyone knows Aussies can be bought

 

LR vs TNZ

I start being more and more convinced that is (besides evrything else) the TNZ boat performance by herself which makes the real difference!. I've noticed that VMG has always been in favour (by 0.3 to 0.5kts) of TNZ, for example during the last two races. This means that either the sails have a better cut or the use of the sail type was not adequate to the wind speed encountered, or ......something unusual hase been done to the LR appendage configuration. A new certificate, I heard, has been issued .....would be interesting to know the adjustements beeing made to the....... bulb....winglets....trim-tab....rudder.....who knows..:?:
But it seems to me that some minimal adjustement have been made to LR so as to destabilise the critical compromise attained, resulting in an utter detrimental effect over the yacht performance !!!
I would strongly wish I'd be wrong....
Will see tomorrow the elapsed time on the first upwind buoy.......

 

As previously outlined !!! ....it appears TNZ having a more adequate boat for upwind performance gains in terms of VMG and an optimum canoe body volume distribution for optimum speed at the designed conditions......Who could disagree on that ??

 

That pretty much sums it up for me.Although I think optimum choice of sails for the conditions of the day have had the most effect on ETNZ. And, probably new, unstretched at that.
Couple that with outstanding crewing and good weather calls and you have a winner. Can nailing that number of variables last? Law of averages sayes no.
For now they are on a roll.

 

Roly
i do not care who wins, but last time NZ had cup it really screwed AK for us boatbuilders, the price of berthage went through roof. best for the cup if team nz emirates kept it in Eu?