Oracle Wins, Get Out the Rally Caps

It’s been 50 years since we were as frustrated as we were yesterday afternoon hoping for the start of a second America’s Cup race of the day. Those many years ago we were on second base with the babe of high school babes and, having hustled our way to second base, were being waved in to home plate. Then, just moments from ecstacy, we heard her parents at the front door. "Hi, we’re home early." Dammit, dammit, dammit!

Well, dammit, dammit, dammit is the way all the sailing fans gathered along the San Francisco waterfront and watching on their televisions felt. To say nothing of the competitors on the Kiwi and Oracle boats. But with less than a minute to go before the start of the second race, it had to be called off because the ebb-assisted wind had exceeded the safety limits.

The day, like all the remaining America’s Cup days, started with Oracle in a ‘win or it’s over’ situation. But Spithill used excellent tactics to get a great start, and won wire-to-wire. That doesn’t mean it wasn’t nail-biter, however, as the margins at the marks were 5 seconds, 11, 10, 29 and 31 seconds at the finish, Oracle’s lead built and shrank, and at one point early on the weather leg, Stan Honey’s graphics showed the Kiwis had briefly pulled ahead. It was another great America’s Cup match race, and left the crowd lusting for more as much as we had lusted for . . . well, you don’t need to know her name.

When asked at the post-race press conference if the boats should have continued the racing, Spithill took a little jab at the Kiwis, saying that the Oracle team had written a letter to the Kiwis asking that the boats be allowed to race in slightly stronger winds, but the Kiwis declined.

Barker, the Kiwi skipper, responded by saying that when lower wind limits were suggested after the death of Andrew Simpson, the Kiwis wanted 25 knots, while Oracle lobbied for an even lower limit.

Spithill said that was true, but back then they hardly knew how to sail the AC72s, and now they felt they had very good control over them, and it was no longer a safety issue.

While that’s certainly true, Barker pointed out they had set up their boat for certain wind limit conditions, and it would be unfair to change the rules in the middle of the game.

It was a great back and forth of good and valid points, and was reminiscent of the action on the water.

Setting up the highly sensitive AC72s in general, and then for each day, is a big deal. In fact, the Kiwis suggested that a contributing factor — but certainly not the cause — of their losing yesterday was that they’d set their boat up for what were expected to have been lighter winds.

While the Kiwis still have a comfortable 8 to 2 lead — having won eight races and lost four — an ugly possibility is beginning to rear its head. With Oracle showing much better boat speed — foiling upwind at 34 knots at one point — and better crew work, it’s possible that they could ultimately win one more race than the Kiwis and still lose the Cup. This is, of course, thanks to the two-race penalty laid on Oracle by the International Jury. God knows that nobody, least of all the Kiwis, want that kind of hollow victory.

To even approach that point, however, it will take more perfect sailing by Spithill and crew. But Spithill, a cool and confident leader, makes it seem believable when he says that Oracle can do it. Indeed, he looked as if he was more enthusiastic to hit the course again than did Barker, who, while unfailingly polite, looked as though he’d rather have a root canal than do another press conference. If you didn’t know better, Spithill, not Barker, appeared to be the skipper in the catbird seat.

Interestingly enough, for the last couple of press conferences Barker has mentioned that if the AC72s had bigger rudder stabilizers/elevators, they would be easier to control. Ironically, it was the Kiwis who fought — and won — to keep them smaller than ideal. We can’t remember Spithill mentioning the issue once. Spithill’s theme has been how much better they know their boat than they did on the first race, and how they are still making dramatic improvements in technique and speed. We asked Spithill if he could rate their speed on a scale of 1 to 10 during the first race to yesterdays 12th race. He declined to give specific numbers, but said the improvements had been huge, and had they more time, would continue to grow.

We’ve asked countless people what they think of the Cup Finals, and we haven’t run across anybody with a discouraging word. In fact, it’s been 99% superlatives. Everybody acknowledges that there have been numerous bungles on the road to the Finals, but that the Finals have set a standard that will be extremely difficult to equal or top in the future. One encouraging aspect is that many of the spectators aren’t sailors, but have been attracted by the spectacle and the competition.

Two races are slated each day until one team wins. With rain expected soon, who knows what that might do to wind speed and direction. There’s a chance that one or more races could be unseasonable crapshoots.

Although Oracle came on strong yesterday, they are in a deep hole, so some Oracle supporters have gone into rally mode, led by Nancy Cantrell of San Rafael. In fact, just after Cantrell put her Oracle hat on upside down in rally mode, what came up in a golf cart, but the America’s Cup itself! Feeling supremely confident, Cantrell was ready to accept the Cup then and there on behalf of Oracle. The guards wouldn’t allow it. But clearly the surprise appearance of the Cup as soon as Oracle’s fans went into rally mode had to be a good omen.