America's Cup 2007

[Outbackmanyep]

Its on again!

The oldest sporting trophy in history is again being raced for this year in Valencia, the Louis Vitton Challenger series gets underway tomorrow (our time).....
I think the favourite is Team New Zealand for the challengers, the challenger series thsi time around hasnt been run by conventional means, they have been racing for the past 3 years to accumulate bonus points to settle the table/rankings before the real races start and Team New Zealand is on top, Defender ALINGHI only have themselves to race against but they have been allowed to race with the challengers throughout the Louis Vitton "Acts" ,which is the fleet races that have been held for the last 3 years......
The top 4 challengers have the most bonus points up their sleeve which makes it harder for the bottom teams to get ahead.....

http://www.americascup.com/en/americascup/ranking/ranking_lvcup.php


There are 3 challengers from Italy, one from Spain, one from Sweden, Germany and China and surprisingly only one from the USA (BMW Oracle) , the French are also having a go as well as newcomers South Africa......
Russell Coutts wont be racing as he had a falling out with Alinghi team a couple of years back and as he's contracted until AFTER the 2007 Cup final he can't race with any other team......

Its a shame that Australia has no-one representing, but there is plenty of Australian talent on board other competing yachts......

I hope New Zealand take the cup back although BMW Oracle will be a hard opponent.
I find it funny that Switzerland (current cup holders), a land-locked country, was even allowed to race in 2003 as the requirements for challengers past was that the challenging club/country had to be located with their regatta's held on part or on an arm of a seaway.....

Cheers!

[Outbackmanyep]

The semi's are well underway and New Zealand finished on top of the round robins and they chose 4th place Desafio Espanol (Spain) to race against in their best 5 of 9 semi, New Zealand went 2-0 up but lost the third to Spain, and it stands at 2-1.
In the other semi Italy's Luna Rossa and BMW Oracle (USA) have exchanged victories, Australian helmsman for Luna Rossa, James Spithill, has been in charge of the starting manouveres and has helped Luna Rossa to win 2 races from 3 starts.....2-1 to Luna Rossa....

Looks pretty close!

The loser of the semi's are out and the finals are not too far away!

Should be closely fought Final series.... go to this link to keep updated....4th races are today!

http://www.americascup.com/en/americascup/ranking/ranking_lvcup.php

Cheers!

[Blue Skies]

Yep, I'm keeping a eye on it. Nice to see a not so one-sided competition for a change.

[taminga16]

There are a number of young aussies sailing in the Cup, including from R.Q.Y.S. Joe Newton and Luke Molloy. Greg

[Outbackmanyep]

If Australia get their act together and enter this competiton and are able to harness the Aussie talent going around then we'd have a great chance!

Grant Simmer i believe is a design co-ordinator for the Alinghi team and was in 2001-03......he was the navigator on Australia II.

Top quality sailors, the aussies!

Good on em!:thumbsup:


Luna Rossa is now 3-1 up!
New Zealand hit back and are 3-1 up also!

[CoombellKid]

Go!!! the Kiwi's!!! :D :D :D

Nothing goes down like a good kiwi beer, except an aussie yaght!! :P

I'm sure you will stay afloat this time round :whistle:

regards,CS

[GrahamL]

Rob is there still a kiwi skipper on the cup defending boat ?

It would be real shame if NZ manages to snatch a defeat from the jaws of victory ..again ..:lol: ..:D

[matt]

:lol:

[CoombellKid]

Last I heard, they are all Swede's :whistle:

regards,CS

[Robby]

No, no kiwi's on the Swiss boat. Yay!!!
Go Team NZ. Another good win this morning. Good to see Oracle getting dorked, even with their NZ skipper!
Just don't mention the Rugby! When is the final again?
Cheers

[Outbackmanyep]

Luna Rossa is through! they defeated BMW Oracle 5-1....

NZ needs 1 more win, they got done by Spain again! Its now 4-2
Cant afford those mistakes NZ's!

As far as i knew Butterworth (NZ) is still tactician for Alinghi......
Coutts isnt racing with Alinghi cos he had a falling out with Ernesto Bertarelli a couple of years ago and he is contracted to Alinghi until the end of this America's Cup, so he's a skipper without a boat and a crew......

I hope NZ will get to win it back, but look out for an aggressive aussie James Spithill in the starting box in the Louis Vuitton Finals with Luna Rossa! It'll be close!:thumbsup:

Cheers!

[ving]

havent followed it since the australia2 won :lol:

[Outbackmanyep]

I wouldnt be surprised if NZ pulled our bungs out on that one! Seeing as though OneAustralia was the only boat that had beaten NZ in the 1995 Challenger eliminations! :P

I agree though, go the Kiwi's......:thumbsup:

[GrahamL]

cept for this guy robby;)

http://www.americascup.com/en/acclopaedia/circlinggalaxy/profil.php?idContent=5144

An extremely experianced and successfull opponent no matter who sails against him.

[Outbackmanyep]

New Zealand def Desafio Espanol 5-2

Luna Rossa VS New Zealand in the Louis Vuitton Cup Final.....

Should be a close contest!

Cheers!

[CoombellKid]

Very Cool! :D :cool: :D

Onya! New Zealand :2thumbs: :2thumbs: :2thumbs:

I haven't been following the event from here, how are the Aussies doing?

regards,CS

[DeanoNZL]

As long as we don't get too cocky, cross the t's, dot the i's, anything is possible.
We need an Aussie boat in there next time. Competitive spirit and all.:P
Hopefully, if we can bring it home, it will be closer for our southern teams.

[Outbackmanyep]

Actually i heard after the 2003 AC that Australia and New Zealand were gonna do a joint challenge, but it never took off...the OzBoyz Challenge tried to get kickstarted from the Aussies side but they withdrew when the challenger notification deadline came up, lack of funds etc.....its about time Australian corporate sponsorship woke up to themselves and backed this sort of thing cos it'll generate billions of dollars to whoever holds the Americas Cup....As if the bloody ANZ bank hasnt enough money already......they could spare a couple of mil.....its what that NZ bloke "Michael Fay" said in 87 that they were racing for the "Americas Cup industry".......Australia II's win basically took it from rich boys and their toys to a world wide industry......

I do hope NZ win it back!:thumbsup:

[CoombellKid]

:)

regards,CS

[Outbackmanyep]

New Zealand 1-0 over Luna Rossa, NZ won by 8 seconds!

Tight as!

[Outbackmanyep]

New Zealand 2-0 up now, won 2nd race by 40 seconds.....
Kiwi's are going well!

Luna Rossa just need a good start!

[gbeal]

And what about today's racing then? 40 seconds. Still, that corpulent lady isn't exercising her vocal cords, not yet.

[CoombellKid]

That'll be :) :) / :shrug: :shrug: to the Kiwi's :D

regards,CS

[Outbackmanyep]

The kiwi's are doing well, the boat is being sailed well and they're capitalizing on opposition errors....don't expect Luna Rossa to get soft now though!

I see the All Blacks walloped France in the Rugby too....although in league they're not doing too well are they!
Its been a MAD weekend for sport in Sydney, the League,Soccer and AFL all in one night! Add to that the Union in Brissy.......public transport nightmare!

[gbeal]

3-0 today, but again, still early days

[CoombellKid]

:) :) :) / :shrug: :shrug: :shrug: = :D for NZ

What is it, the best out of 9?

regards,CS

[Outbackmanyep]

Best 5 of 9

[Outbackmanyep]

New Zealand 4
Luna Rossa 0

1 more to go and New Zealand are in the match again!
I'd love to see a 5-4 series though!
Bit more exciting than a whitewash....

The last close time was when Australia II won 4-3 in 1983....ever since then its been walkovers in the America's Cup match....
I do believe they're only racing 18 Nautical miles these days instead of the 24 Nautical Miles that Australia II raced in!

[gbeal]

OK, now we can take a short break, before we ramp up another notch. 5-0

[CoombellKid]

:) :) :) :) :) /:shrug: :shrug: :shrug: :( :sadeyes: = :D for the Kiwi's

regards,CS

[DeanoNZL]

Go the "Black Boat"

[Outbackmanyep]

Luna Rossa is out! GOOOOOOOOONE!
NZ 5 - 0.

New Zealand to challenge for the cup.....:party2:

Lets hope they pry it off Alinghi!
GO NZ!