The right hand shift was there and they picked it.
At the start they fought hard for the right. They probably gave away a little bit of lee-bow advantage to get it.They then tacked and there was a big chunk of separation with Team New Zealand out to the right and Oracle out to the left. The surprising thing was Oracle didn't go with them. They made a mistake or they had different weather information.
Half way up the beat it looked like it was all over for Oracle looking at their body language.
For Team New Zealand you can put the first beat down to good information pre-start, a good start, and hitting the first shift. Although they were 54s ahead at the top mark then they just continued.
The match indicates the boats are still very even. NZL92 looked like NZL84 did last year. When there is a sea breeze, 10-11 knots, it looks good. It heels over a lot and uses a lot of water line length when they want to sail the boat fast. It is very good in these conditions.
Well after 24 days of racing the round robin competition is finally over. Seven of the teams are out of here while Team New Zealand, Oracle. Luna Rossa and Desafio Espanol advance to the semis where the game really begins.
But before then, there is the Louis Vuitton Ball in a couple of hours. Rumour has it the original venue in the city fell over a month ago and Louis Vuitton had to scramble to find an alternative. It is believed they found a derelict, old monastery just out of town. In order to get it ready in time they had 400 people working on it every day. And we think we are tired! Bring on the Moet!
