Alinghi still holding the aces

BMW Oracle’s victory in Louis Vuitton Act 10 proves that America’s Cup racing is not always won on pure speed. Pundits around Valencia have been marvelling at the ability of USA-87 to turn through an incredibly tight turning circle – a valuable trait not only for pre-start manoeuvring but for executing the killer move that Chris Dickson pulled on the Italians aboard Luna Rossa.

After the young (but older than his years) James Spithill won the better start and bounced Dickson off to the right just seconds after the gun fired, Luna Rossa seized control of the match in the early stages. Things were always nip and tuck between these two brand new Version 5 hulls, but Spithill still appeared to be holding the upper hand as he approached the windward mark on starboard tack. Dickson went to duck (the first and only dip of the regatta) the transom of ITA-86 and Spithill bore away accordingly, looking to make life as difficult as possible for Dickson.

But USA-87 dipped the Italian stern and almost immediately Dickson span the wheel into a tack. Now having dipped a transom and then immediately rounded up the other way into a tack, you might have thought the Italians would have enough pace on to be able to tack onto port and squeeze across the Americans to lead round the windward mark. Clearly that’s what Spithill was thinking because he held on to the very end before both boats luffed to avoid a collision. It was a clear penalty, and from there the Italians faced an uphill struggle that they never overcame. Act 10 went to Larry Ellison, who steered his own boat across the finish line.

Mainsheet trimmer Jonathan McKee defended Spithill’s error of judgement when talking to the media after racing. “If we didn’t get across them, it was unlikely we were going to win the race. There wasn’t any other very appetising option, really.” But he did concede that USA-87 has some impressive qualities. “They do seem pretty good tacking. Whether it’s their technique, or their sails or something else - I’m not in a very good position to speculate on that.”

As for straightline boatspeed, observers thought the Kiwis’ new boat looked pretty tasty, while USA-87 and ITA-86 appeared to struggle at times. But no one really knows what subtle games are being played out there. Without actually saying it, Chris Dickson hinted in a press conference at the beginning of the week that they might not be revealing their full hand. Sandbagging is definitely on the agenda at this stage. At times, USA-87 has looked quite ordinary and at others quite extraordinary. A few people round the media centre certainly believe Dickson is holding back.

Alinghi’s fourth-place finish doesn’t sound great, but the challengers remain concerned about Swiss potential. SUI-75 is still a good boat, as McKee pointed out. “She’s not slow, and they still have two new boats to come, so they’re not in a bad position, but for sure the gap has been closed. That’s good news for all of us and probably good news for the event too.”

Terry Hutchinson was less optimistic. “You have to wonder what they have sitting in that shed over there. They were at least half a generation ahead of everyone in 2005, so if they make another generation jump, they’ll be another half-generation ahead of where the challengers are now. They’re obviously very good at what they do, so I think we all have our work cut out. We need to press on it for the next year.”

Vasco Vascotto, skipper of Mascalzone Latino-Capitalia, was most forthright of all. He belittled the design efforts of the big challengers. “Alinghi continues to be the benchmark. This means that the strongest teams have already thrown away a new boat just to get to where Alinghi was. This is good news for the smaller teams that will only build one boat.”