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NZ capitalizes on tactical mistakes
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Emirates Team New Zealand beat defending champion Oracle Team USA so soundly in Race 5 of the America’s Cup on Tuesday that Larry Ellison’s syndicate had to postpone Race 6.
The New Zealanders took advantage of a tactical mistake by Oracle Team USA to win in a runaway on San Francisco Bay, finishing 1 minute, 5 seconds ahead of the American boat.
Ellison, the software billionaire who runs Oracle Corp, has made crew changes before, and some could be coming after a major blunder by his team let Team New Zealand speed off to a resounding victory.
Not long before the scheduled start of Race 6, Oracle Team USA radioed in to the race committee that it was playing its one postponement card of the regatta, meaning the race was scrubbed until today.
The Kiwis crushed the momentum Oracle gained with its heart-stopping win in Race 4 on Sunday.
Team New Zealand leads 4 to minus-1 and needs five more wins to claim the oldest trophy in international sports for the Royal New Zealand Yacht Squadron.
Oracle was docked two points by an international jury and wing sail trimmer Dirk de Ridder was booted from the regatta in the biggest cheating scandal in the 162-year history of the America’s Cup. It needs 10 wins to keep the Auld Mug.
Skipper Jimmy Spithill said Oracle Team USA needs to regroup and make some changes. Whether they are to the 72-foot catamaran, the crew or tactics — or all three — remains to be seen. Oracle has made numerous errors this regatta and Team New Zealand continues to make strong gains sailing upwind.
Either way, it was a stunning move for the well-funded team that won the America’s Cup in 2010.
After Oracle announced it was playing its card, Spithill hopped onto a chase boat and conferred with syndicate CEO Russell Coutts, who won the first two of his four America’s Cups as skipper of Team New Zealand in 1995 and 2000.
Spithill declined to recap that conversation.
“Oh, we were just talking about rugby, weather,” Spithill cracked.
Asked how safe he feels, the Australian said: “You can be a rooster one day and a feather duster the next, mate.”
Spithill said nothing has been decided yet.
“I can’t guarantee anything,” he said. “I probably can’t guarantee I’ll be on there. It’s too early to make a decision right now. It’s really part of the reason why we played the card. We need time.”
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