****ing right!

There you go! Lets see if Oracle can make this a race! Nice job finding pressure JK and jimmy worried about racing the boat and course and less about covering every tack.

Is it me or do you guys see Oracles lee bow in the water all the time, going upwind? I watch ETNZ's bow, vs. OR's, and ETNZ's is up a good foot out of the water going upwind, while Oracle's seems to be stuck in the water most of the upwind legs.

When I got a good look at ETNZ's hulls, it seems they have a lot more rocker and their bow's are pointed up more, and flatter across the bottoms. That may help explain why their bow is usually up, while Oracle's is in the water.

Nice wheelie ETNZ pulled in that last race, I wonder what caused that? I think it did cost them the race, certainly didn't help!

Watched race one from the bleachers by St. Francis, race two directly in front of GGYC.... amazing day!!

They seemed to be able to sail higher and as fast with the bow down. Looks like OR is starting to settle down.

I agree 100% on Oracle burying the leeward hull upwind. I saw it yesterday in the first two races and you can tell the extra drag isn't helping. They were a solid 1-1.5knts slower yesterday upwind.

I did hear that Oracle went through a setup change that went through the measurement cert for class rule so wondering what was changed? It would seem that a re-cert might indicate more serious changes (daggerboard/foil/rudder/weigh/etc) vs just a setup. Seemed to show today as even in the first race - Oracle was showing even to slightly better speed today. Pleasant surprise to see the boat fast in the higher winds too.

Still - you can see the boat handling difference between the two. ETNZ is still more consistent. Upwind in the second race - Oracle had actually pulled a decent 100+ on NZ 2 tacks in only to give it all back with a slow cover. Same thing coming into mark 4 downwind. Silly late tack and gave up 150+.

Great racing though and a pleasant surprise over the LV Cup which had me worried. I want Oracle to win but honestly - just hoping to see them battle to the end so we all get to see some more great racing. These boats a great to watch out there!

They better settle down. They need to win five more races to conquer this bitch. That's a tall muther truckin' order.

nice

more here

Race 4 Summary

Race 3 Summary

Love it, Ashby's hiking his a$$ off.
[img]http://static.squarespace.com/stati.../1378683981940/JHO_7907.jpg?format=1500w[/img]

Is he hiking his butt off or is it easier on the neck to look up a 100 foot mast continuesly for 2 hours by leaning back?

Interesting that JK and JS did not alter their starting strategy. I don't know if they got better or just lucky that ETNZ weren't as fast as they'd had been off the line coming over the top.

Great to finally see an Oracle win. These were probably the best two races to watch to date.

Mike

RACE 3 DATA
Course: 5 Legs/9.94 nautical miles
Elapsed Time: ETNZ – 25:00, OTUSA – 25:28
Delta: ETNZ +:28
Total distance sailed: ETNZ – 11.8 NM, OTUSA – 12.1 NM
Average Speed: ETNZ – 28.57 knots (33 mph), OTUSA – 28.62 knots (33 mph)
Top Speed: ETNZ – 42.25 knots (49 mph), OTUSA – 41.37 knots (48 mph)
Windspeed: Average – 16.8 knots, Peak – 19.3 knots

RACE 4 DATA
Course: 5 Legs/9.94 nautical miles
Elapsed Time: OTUSA – 22:42, ETNZ – 22:50
Delta: OTUSA +:08
Total distance sailed: OTUSA – 11.7 NM, ETNZ – 11.7 NM
Average Speed: OTUSA – 30.99 knots (36 mph), ETNZ – 30.92 knots (36 mph)
Top Speed: OTUSA – 45.97 knots (53 mph), ETNZ – 44.98 knots (52 mph)
Windspeed: Average – 19.5 knots, Peak – 23.3 knots