Captain always goes down with the ship. Props. (I hope I'm not jinxing it for OTUSA!!!)

I appreciate the shout out, and of course will stubbornly stand by my opinion/experience.

As for the tack, I don't think NZ was trying for a leebow, because as has been pointed out, that rarely works in fast boats (cats or otherwise). To me the decision was (with Oracle being MUCH faster upwind at the time):

1. Cross, which would have given Oracle the favored current and starboard advantage on the next cross

2. Lead back to the boundary where you have room to tack, knowing Oracle will then have to decide to either tack early underneath you or carry to the boundary and fall in line. The foiling low mode Oracle displayed basically killed this option.

I think the decision was much like the foiling tack- the opposing boat had a very clear upwind speed advantage which severely limited tactical options, therefore you have to try a much more uncomfortable move. Your mileage may vary.

I'm betting they won't (if they could?). They would have used it yesterday if it entered their mind. I don't think it's in NZ mindset to do something like that.

Race by Race

Per the rules, the card can only be played for the second race of the day.

They cannot play it. Its lost to them.

Jeff, Ken Read made similar observations. ETNZ was out of good options at that point. Even if they tacked directly in front (without fouling), Oracle was probably close enough to foot and sail through their lee.

Although, that would have been entertaining too...

Mike

Right and had they tacked on top of Oracle, they were quite close to the boundary and would have had to give room to Oracle both on starboard after they tacked and because of the boundary... having to short tack in quick succession without getting up to speed.

They were in a bad spot and to be honest I would have just kept sailing in a straight line.

Well, since I'm an American, I'm pulling for Oracle, even if there's only one American on the boat!

Hey, are there any Americans on ETNZ?

I guess if there were two Americans on ETNZ, I'd have to pull for them?

The Bulldog, on a cat with nine lives, is coming after you DB.

BTW, venue tickets are free today, if you can get there.
Dock out fans

From my buddy Kirk Jockell -

http://strictlysailing.com/?p=118

Wind 265 at 17.0 kts, 18.5 kts peak

Boats should be in the water tuning/warming up!

Another day, another 60,000 people angry at Larry Ellison

I was impressed with ETNZ's speed down wind yesterday. They got the boat moded right for down wind.....

FANTASTIC ARTICLE.

Except that Oracle was faster on average downwind.

Great article. I think one point that a lot of people don't see about sailing is that there are no brakes. You don't just stop if there is a problem. On boats of this size, even stopping with control requires a concerted effort among several crew members. The wind is a beast and we barely have a bit in it's mouth or a toe in a foot strap. The speed IS impressive but the real sensation of sailing performance boats is that you are hooking into a force that you can't necessarily stop when you want to.

Wind 270 at 19.0 kts, 22.0 kts peak

With how much quicker Oracle has been - Kiwi's made up some ground there yesterday - particularly race 1.