Monday 4th June, 2007. Today is a rest day in Valencia and time for the teams to reflect. Emirates Team New Zealand are in the lead by 3-0 against Luna Rossa Challenge. Says New Zealand’s Barry McKay:“One of our big priorities is doing what’s important right now to prepare for the next day. So we’ll spend some time together, probably not all day, but some time together, talking about the next race and what we need to do.”

After dominating BMW ORACLE Racing in their Semi Final, the Italians are in the same position up against Emirates Team New Zealand. Skipper Francesco de Angelis and his team have to get back into the groove and start winning races. The challenge comes in the wake of the most serious loss yesterday by 1:38 minutes. Said de Angelis:“All races are decided by many small things…We will look at the race and will try to understand what happened.”

Match 3 – Emirates Team New Zealand beat Luna Rossa Challenge by 1:38 minutes.
With Luna Rossa holding the advantage of the right-hand entry into the start box, James Spithill drove Dean Barker into a dial-up. Both boats luffed high into the box and even beyond the start line, with things looking increasingly favourable for the Italian boat on the right. Barker was beginning to look in trouble, but eventually he bore away deep on to starboard gybe, with Spithill responding with a tight turn inside.

As they re-crossed the start line both boats gybed on to port, with Italy leading back over to the Race Committee boat side of the starting line. Spithill probably could have inflicted further damage on the Kiwis but peeled away from his attack to focus on a perfect start from the middle of the line. The Italian boat was up to speed as the gun fired, while the Kiwis were struggling to accelerate from the committee boat end.

By the time both boats were up to speed, the Italians were a boat length ahead, looking good, and set to take control of the match. Two minutes later, better breeze from the right had helped pull the New Zealand boat level, and a minute after that Dean Barker had claimed the lead. The Italians’ superiority in the start had come to nothing. They kept on driving out to the left, hoping for something that could get them back ahead of their rivals but it wasn’t coming. When they eventually tacked, the Kiwis tacked to cover and were about two boat lengths ahead.

Barker bounced Spithill back out to the left in a succession of quick tacks, and the Italians found themselves out on the port tack layline with a lot of sailing still to be done up to the windward mark. Sitting in the wake of the New Zealand boat for so long, the delta at the first windward mark was up to 40 seconds.

A flurry of gybes initiated by the Italians downwind was a brave attempt to make a fight of it, but by the leeward gate the gap was up to 55 seconds. Despite the increasing distance, the New Zealand team sailed the match as tight as ever and maintained that 55 second lead around the final mark.

Some smart windspotting by the New Zealand afterguard on the last downwind leg saw Dean Barker almost double his lead. The boat just seemed to get faster and faster, as Emirates Team New Zealand sailed across the line 1 minute and 38 seconds in front of Luna Rossa.

Match 2 – Emirates Team New Zealand beat Luna Rossa Challenge.
Having conceded the right-hand side of the start line yesterday, James Spithill took some risk in getting across the bow of Emirates Team New Zealand while Luna Rossa was on port tack. Despite a Y-flag protest by the Kiwis, the Umpires green-flagged the situation and the Italian gamble had paid off; Spithill was now controlling the right-hand side of the start box.

As the start gun fired however, it was the New Zealand boat that was fully up to speed, with the Italians close to windward but forced into an early tack to the right. That extra momentum off the start gave Dean Barker an early boatlength’s advantage, which he used to tack over and shadow Spithill’s progress to the right.

Like yesterday, the boats looked absolutely matched for speed in these moderate, steady breezes, which made that early advantage to the Kiwis all the more crucial. When the Italians eventually tacked back to face the enemy, the New Zealanders were able to respond to every assault and put added distance on their rivals as a tacking duel ensued.

At the first mark, the Kiwi advantage was up to 25 seconds. The Italians attempted a gybing duel down the run but weren’t close enough to cause any harm. By the leeward gate the gap had extended to 35 seconds. Then it was a more passive second beat as the New Zealand lead was big enough to allow Terry Hutchinson to dictate more of a ‘loose cover’ strategy. In fact at times he even allowed Torben Grael some breathing room, first to the left and then to the right side of the course, but each time the New Zealanders kept on extending.

Match 1 – Emirates Team New Zealand beat Luna Rossa Challenge – DELTA 0:08
Having won the coin toss yesterday, Luna Rossa selected the starboard entry into the start box for its match today. In the pre-start, however, it appeared the Italians preferred the left-hand side of the start as they happily conceded the starboard advantage to Emirates Team New Zealand.

Off the start line, Dean Barker launched NZL 92 into a small lead to the right of James Spithill, but after a minute the Kiwis tacked away. The Italians soon followed, and then both boats sailed for some minutes on port tack, with nothing to choose between the teams for speed or tactical advantage.

However, when Barker eventually tacked back, he accelerated well while the responding Italian tack looked a little slower. The New Zealanders gained a small advantage which they held to the top mark, although considering the breeze had swung slightly to the right, perhaps by not as much as they would have liked. The Italian boat had the speed to hang on to NZL 92 even if it was on the disadvantaged side of the course.

Once Barker had carried the match beyond the port layline, he tacked for the windward mark and led the Italians by 12 seconds around the first mark. Downwind the boats looked very evenly matched for speed, so Torben Grael called for a gybe away from the Kiwis. It wasn’t long before Terry Hutchinson called for a gybe on NZL 92 but when the boats converged again, ITA 94 had made a two boatlength gain on the subtlest of windshifts.

By the leeward gate the deficit to the Kiwis had reduced to just 9 seconds, Luna Rossa rounding the right-hand mark behind Emirates and both boats rolling straight into a tack. With the course axis having shifted 10 degrees to the right, Hutchinson was determined to keep to the right of Grael and kept on bouncing the Italian boat out to the left. After numerous tacks at the top of the course, the delta at the final turning mark was still only 11 seconds.

With the right-hand side of the final run favoured, the Italians played a waiting game, shadowing New Zealand down the course and gybing only after many minutes of sailing. The Italians always looked dangerous, and on the final gybe to the finish they executed a great manoeuvre while the Kiwis had a short delay in getting their spinnaker to fill out of the critical gybe. But Dean Barker took the Kiwis across the finish line 8 seconds ahead of the aggressive Italian team. This was high-quality match racing of the highest order, the outcome of the race decided on the tiniest of details.

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