With an unorthodox strategy and help from an America's Cup navigator, the United States finally broke their run of silver medals to clinch gold at the team racing world championships yesterday.
The Americans, coached by OneWorld afterguard member Kevin Hall, beat traditional rivals Great Britain 3-0 in the final on a
sparkling Waitemata Harbour.
The US team had to overcome defending champions New Zealand in the semifinal, breaking an historic pattern on the way.
The rivals had finished 1-2 in the last two world championships, with the United States team from New England always the bridesmaid.
A disappointed New Zealand side, led by Andrew Murdoch, of Kerikeri, won the bronze medal, beating Ireland 3-0 in the sail-off.
American team captain Tim Fallon said his team were thrilled and relieved to finally break their unwanted streak.
"Even in the national team racing championships, my team-mate Graham Woodworth and I have won five silver medals, but never a gold. It's an incredible feeling.
"We were confident that we could do it this time, but the wind was so shifty out there, we knew anything could happen.
"It was much closer than the final scoreline shows."
Fallon, 27, put his team's success down to three reasons; having Hall as coach for the first time, a good team karma built over five years together, and a regatta strategy involving little team racing.
"Our biggest asset is our speed around the racecourse," he said. "Our crews are really fast.
"Our strategy was to not do too much team racing.
"We've done so much of it in our lives - it's ingrained in our heads, so we just concentrated on getting around the track fast."
It was a strategy which paid big dividends for the lightweight United States combination.
They clinched the gold with three come-from-behind wins against the strong British line-up.
Great Britain, always a superpower in world team racing, were favourites going into the final. They had topped the round-robin, then beat Ireland 3-1 in the other semifinal.
The New Zealand team, from the Kerikeri Yacht Club, had a confident start to their semi, twice leading the Americans off the startline, but eventually lost 3-1.
The Kiwis found the going tough in the streaky breezes of the Waitemata Harbour, where the winds swung around the dial and fluctuated between two and 30 knots during the week.
Regatta organiser Jim Murdoch admitted to being disappointed for the New Zealanders, who included his three children, but was more than happy with the way the 16-team event panned out.
"We had a great range of wind conditions through the regatta.
"The race committee did a marvellous job pushing the races through," he said.
It was a major turnaround from the last world champs in the Czech Republic where the light winds allowed only one round robin.
"Auckland can be a testing place to hold a boat race, as we've seen in the America's Cup," Murdoch said.
"Make one small mistake and you get punished."
FINAL STANDINGS
USA 2, 1
Great Britain 2, 2
New Zealand 1, 3
Ireland 1, 4
Great Britain 1, 5
USA 1, 6
Netherlands, 7
Australia 1, 8
New Zealand 2, 9
Czech Republic, 10
Japan 2, 11
Ireland 2, 12
India 1, 13
Japan 1, 14
Australia 2, 15
India 2, 16
Semifinals
USA 2 bt NZL 2, 3-1
GBR 2 bt IRL 1, 3-1
Final
USA 2 bt GBR 2, 3-0
For third
NZL 2 bt IRL 1, 3-0
With an unorthodox strategy and help from an America's Cup navigator, the United States finally broke their run of silver medals to clinch gold at the team racing world championships yesterday.
The Americans, coached by OneWorld afterguard member Kevin Hall, beat traditional rivals Great Britain 3-0 in the final on a
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