KEY POINTS:
The reactions of the billionaires spoke volumes.
Team New Zealand and Luna Rossa survived the tactical minefield that greeted the teams on the opening day of the challenger series semifinals, chalking up wins over Desafio Espanol and Oracle respectively.
The often volatile Prada boss and Luna Rossa syndicate
head Patrizio Bertelli, who was on board as 18th man, was on his feet in a flash to shake the hands of his sailors.
On BMW Oracle Racing, software tycoon and syndicate owner Larry Ellison, who sails in the afterguard, had a face like thunder.
Standing at the back of the boat, arms crossed, face grim, Ellison, the sixth-richest man in the world, did not look impressed.
His team, the most well funded in the competition, were now one-down against Bertelli's Luna Rossa.
On the Spanish boat, the King of Spain was happy enough despite their loss to Team New Zealand. A keen sailor, the King had told his team they had done well on a tricky day.
However, the person whose body language best summed up the day's racing was Terry Hutchinson, the tactician on Team New Zealand.
When his team crossed the line, Hutchison simply took his cap off and wiped his brow with his arm. He had been made to work for his money.
Emirates Team New Zealand sailed a smart, conservative race to beat Desafio Espanol by 43 seconds. Luna Rossa took a lot more risks in their approach but came away with a convincing 2 minute 19s win over Chris Dickson's Oracle.
"We had a fantastic race against the Spanish," Team New Zealand navigator Kevin Hall said. "We are just glad it is over."
The opening day was draining for the afterguards. It was the first time in the regatta that the teams had raced in an offshore breeze.
In some places on the race track yesterday there was next to no wind, in others it was gusting up to 18 knots.
It was a day when boat speed counted for nothing and match-racing skills went out the window.
It was a day when, if you were out in front, you had to decide whether to back yourself and chase the wind shifts or stay close to your opponents and cover.
Team New Zealand chose the latter. Luna Rossa the former.
The New Zealanders started perfectly to windward of the Spanish. The weather call had been to go to the right and the right was the place to be as they made a huge gain over their opponents early up the first beat.
Team New Zealand proceeded to sail a cool and calm race keeping themselves between their opponent and the mark. Desafio Espanol navigator Matt Wachowicz had plenty of praise for Hutchinson.
"Terry [Hutchinson] is an excellent tactician, he did a really job good throughout the whole race in maintaining the controlling position."
In the other match, the Italians backed themselves and played the windshifts, mostly with success. They almost came unstuck on the first run where they gybed off to the centre while Oracle headed down the right where they found better pressure and came screaming back.
Oracle recouped a 400m deficit and rounded the gate just 7 seconds behind. Again both boats gambled with their respective sides of the course and again the Italians' faith in the left paid off as they leaped to another 400m lead.
This time Luna Rossa did a better job of shadowing the Americans down the final run. Even when the breeze shifted nearly 180 degrees just before the finish, Luna Rossa capitalised on the changeable conditions and stretched the winning margin to over two minutes at the finish.
"I think it was probably quite hard for him not to say anything during the whole race," tactician Torben Grael said of the passionate Bertelli, who as 18th man was not allowed to speak during the race.
* The challenger series semifinals are a best of nine races. Race two was overnight and race three tonight. Race four will continue on Friday after a day off tomorrow.
