Yowza! What a race! Alinghi has gone up 2-0 and I’m speechless. Ok, let me go on record as saying that I believe NZL-82 is the faster boat. I think it’s faster upwind, I think it’s faster downwind. I think it’s faster in heavy air, and I think it’s faster in light air. So what’s going on here?? It looks to me that Coutts is the much smarter skipper. Don’t get me wrong, I think SUI-64 is a fast boat, too. But somehow Coutts has this ability to sucker his opponents (he did it against Oracle and USA-76 too) to sail in a seriously suboptimal mode when it really counts. I think that if Dean Barker had stuck to VMG sailing down the last run, possibly gybing a couple of extra times to keep his boat in clear air, TNZ would have won the race and leveled the series.

Today’s race was interesting for another reason. It is fairly uncommon for an America’s Cup race to have a lead change, where one boat is ahead and then the other boat is able to pass the first one. This race was unusual because it had not one, but two lead changes. The boats were bow-to-bow up the first beat despite Alinghi getting a good 10 to 15 degree favorable windshift, but Alinghi were able to get around the first mark before TNZ. Then TNZ passed on the first downwind leg. TNZ led around the bottom mark, the next top mark, the next bottom mark and the final top mark. Then Alinghi passed on the last downwind leg. Very dramatic stuff, and it was a blast to watch. I can’t wait for the 11pm recap on TV.

Today was Sunday (fyi, the America’s Cup races take place on days that start with either S or T). Of course, there was the somewhat typical wait for the sea breeze which didn’t fill in until after 3pm and then they had to herd a bunch of uncooperative spectator boats off the course. Of course, Sunday is the lame day for bus service with runs only every other hour and the last bus at 5:30. Since the race didn’t end until after 6:00, I had a choice: I could walk back to Orewa or I could get a taxi. I figured that since I was planning on doing the Kepler Track when I got to the South Island, my feet needed some training. Two hours later I was in Orewa.