Yachting: One error is one too many

By Chris Dickson

Team New Zealand were as vulnerable as they are ever likely to be yesterday.

The black boat and the silver boat looked very similar in speed for a change, and the light winds also made New Zealand struggle to build speed out of the tacks.

A good pre-start from Francesco de Angelis saw Prada with space to move and Russell Coutts under a little pressure.

The result was perfect timing by Coutts, while a few seconds misjudged by de Angelis left Prada a little behind rather than equal shortly after the gun.

The big difference yesterday was that Prada finally got their hands on the coveted right-hand side of the course and although they were fighting with a 20m deficit, the starboard tack advantage was significant enough to see them hold Team NZ at bay.

Ultimately, Prada gained enough on the right-hand side to force Team NZ into dipping behind. And for Prada, it was decision time. Continue on starboard, saving an expensive light-air tack and hope the wind goes left, or give up a little bit of the lead in order to keep the starboard tack advantage by tacking to the right of Team NZ?

Prada went for the big gain and the rest is history. The dice did not roll their way. On a day of difficult, shifty winds, Team NZ got it right and Prada did not.

For Prada, it was perhaps their only big error of the day, but against Team NZ, one error is one too many.

Team NZ have spent five years on the Hauraki Gulf, recording the wind and analysing which side of the course is favored for each wind direction.

Perhaps it was their wind "play-book" that gave them an edge, perhaps it was a better forecast, perhaps the on-the-water weather programme that gave them better information, or maybe the on-board eyes of the crew seeing more pressure to the right.

Whatever the reasons, Brad Butterworth elected to take Prada's stern and clearly wanted the right-hand side. The resulting change in wind direction saw Black Magic turn a 30m deficit into a 200m gain.

Party over and thank you very much.

With a score sheet of 4-0, it is more than safe now to talk about how Team NZ have ended up with such a commanding edge over the best of the rest of the world.

For starters, Team NZ won the America's Cup in San Diego five years ago in straight races with about a one per cent performance advantage over her rivals.

It is mostly the same team who have been together ever since, and the difference again looks like a shade over one per cent. For the 2000 Cup, Team NZ started ahead of everyone else, and have stayed about the same margin ahead.

In a world of diminishing returns, this is no mean feat. It is not that the challengers have done a bad job. In fact, they have done well to catch up and surpass the level attained by the 1995 Team NZ.

It's just tough luck, folks, but Team NZ have moved the goalposts and guess who is still out in front?

It is now clear to all of us watching that the close racing in the Louis Vuitton Cup was not a sign that the performance of America's Cup boats had plateaued, but in fact that the challenging boats had come up with a lot of good ideas but none actually had the whole package.

And what did Team NZ really think of the challengers? After studying in detail their starts, tactics, sails, spars, hulls and crew work, did Team NZ have cause for confidence?

You bet they did. However, at no time have they sat back and relaxed. They have kept the pressure on. The race four unrolling yesterday of a "code zero" masthead genoa was just one more sign that there is no complacency and Team NZ have a whole quiver of unused arrows just waiting to be used.

The fact is that firing more arrows would just be overkill. But then again, what better way to soften up your competition for the next Cup than to absolutely demoralise them in this one?