Oracle Team USA won two more races against Emirates Team New Zealand to even up the America’s Cup finals on Tuesday, continuing an epic comeback in a regatta that once looked like a Kiwi cakewalk and will now be decided by a single winner-take-all showdown.
The deciding race in what will be the longest America’s Cup in its 162-year history was scheduled for yesterday.
The stunning recovery for the team backed by Oracle co-founder Larry Ellison continued on every front in perfect sailing conditions on Tuesday. The US boat came from behind to win the second race easily and now has seven straight victories, another America’s Cup milestone.
Photo: EPA
New Zealand dominated that start for the first time in recent races, but then committed several tactical errors and Oracle stormed to a lead of nearly a minute at the finish.
In the first race the reeling Kiwi team drew a double penalty as the two boats crossed the starting line, which allowed Oracle to jump to an insurmountable lead.
New Zealand once led the competition 8-1, and numerous Kiwi fans in San Francisco and back home in New Zealand were ready to celebrate victory in a grueling two-year-long cup campaign. The New Zealand government contributed about US$30 million to the effort to bring the cup back to the sailing-crazed nation.
However, boat improvements, superior tactics and sharper sailing by Oracle have turned their fortunes around, evidenced in the second race on Tuesday when the team appeared to show more speed on every leg of the race.
“We’ve been doing a lot of work at night with design engineering technicians,” Oracle skipper Jimmy Spithill said after the first race. “The boat is just going faster and faster, and the boys are really starting to believe.”
New Zealand skipper Dean Barker acknowledged in comments after the races that Oracle were now faster on the upwind legs in heavier winds. New Zealand pioneered the so-called “foiling” in which the big boats lift almost completely out of the water and sail on small horizontal wings attached to their daggerboards and rudders, but Oracle are now doing it more effectively on the critical upwind leg.
“It’s the first time we’ve seen conditions where we were not as good as we needed to be,” Barker said.
Spithill had put on a brave face through the early losses, insisting that the event was “far from over” even when his team needed an implausible nine straight wins to keep the oldest trophy in sports. His bravado, backed by consistently shrewd maneuvers at the start, has now been vindicated.
“There’s a huge wave of momentum we’ve been riding and it just builds and builds and builds,” Spithill said after Tuesday’s victories.
Barker sailed nearly flawlessly for much of the summer as the Kiwis trounced Italian and Swedish challengers for the right to race Oracle. His dominance continued in the early races of the final as the Kiwis showed better speed upwind and much smoother tacking.
However, the team have appeared to come apart in the face of the Oracle comeback and a run of bad luck that saw two races in which it was leading called off due to wind conditions.
The start of Tuesday’s first race featured classic match-racing drama. New Zealand miscalculated and bumped Oracle, which had the right of way, as it maneuvered to block its rival on the approach to the line.
The two 72-foot (21.9m) catamarans made contact again as they drifted across the line. A second foul was called on the Kiwis, which had stopped dead in the water as Oracle sped off to a large lead around the first mark.
New Zealand used textbook starting tactics in the second race to get a solid lead around the first mark, but Oracle gained ground going downwind and, after New Zealand mistimed a tack as the boats converged on the upwind leg, foiled past the Kiwis to open a big lead.
The regatta was supposed to be over on Saturday, but racing has been postponed several times for too much wind, not enough wind and wind from the wrong direction, dragging the event out into a third week. Rule changes lowered the wind limits after the Swedish team suffered a fatal training accident in May.
A two-race penalty against Oracle for illegal boat modifications in a preliminary regatta has also lengthened the competition. Oracle have actually won 10 races on the water, but only eight of them count.
New Zealand yachting fans are now left to wonder whether Barker and his team can take a page from Oracle’s book and find a way to win with their backs to the wall.
“I’m struggling to keep positive. My faith in the team and Dean is being sorely tested. We’re only one [win] away, but my nerves are a bit like our chances, in tatters,” Wellington office worker Will Christie said.
US track and field athletes have about four dozen pieces to choose from when assembling their uniforms at the Olympics. The one grabbing the most attention is a high-cut leotard that barely covers the bikini line and has triggered debate between those who think it is sexist and others who say they do not need the Internet to make sure they have good uniforms. Among those critical or laughing at the uniforms included Paralympian Femita Ayanbeku, sprinter Britton Wilson and even athletes from other countries such as Britain’s Abigail Irozuru, who wrote on social media: “Was ANY female athlete consulted in
Four-time NBA all-star DeMarcus Cousins arrived in Taiwan with his family early yesterday to finish his renewed contract with the Taiwan Beer Leopards in the T1 League. Cousins initially played a four-game contract with the Leopards in January. On March 18, the Taoyuan-based team announced that Cousins had renewed his contract. “Hi what’s up Leopard fans, I’m back. I’m excited to be back and can’t wait to join the team,” Cousins said in a video posted on the Leopard’s Facebook page. “Most of all, can’t wait to see you guys, the fans, next weekend. So make sure you come out and support the Beer
Former US Masters champion Zach Johnson was left embarrassed after a foul-mouthed response to ironic cheers from spectators after a triple bogey at Augusta National on Friday. Johnson, the 2007 Masters winner, missed the cut after his three-over-par round of 75 left him on seven-over 151 for 36 holes, his six on the par-three 12th playing a big role in his downfall. Television footage showed Johnson reacting to sarcastic cheers and applause when he tapped in for the triple bogey by yelling: “Oh fuck off.” Such a response would be considered bad form in any golf tournament, but is particularly out of keeping
Taiwan’s Lee Jhe-huei and Yang Po-hsuan on Saturday won the men’s doubles bronze medal at the Badminton Asia Championships in Ningbo, China, after they were bested by the hosts in their semi-final. The Taiwanese shuttlers lost to China’s Liang Wei Keng and Wang Chang, who advanced to yesterday’s final against Malaysia’s Goh Sze Fei and Nur Izzudin. The Chinese pair outplayed Lee and Yang in straight games. Although the Taiwanese got off to a slow start in the first game, they eventually tied it 14-14, before Liang and Wang went on to blow past them to win 21-17. In the second game, Lee and