Day 3 - Round Robin 2

Todays Races:

BMW Oracle Racing bt Damiani Italia Challenge

Greek Challenge bt Team Shosholoza

Team ORIGIN bt Luna Rossa

China Team bt K-Challenge

Emirates Team New Zealand bt the should be ashamed 'The Swiss Team' or Alinghi

Shock, dissapoinment, anger, disbelief, amazement.

Those were all words that could be used to describe todays play of events today on Auckland's Waitemata Harbour.

But first, lets look at how the day played out. I went down to the viaduct early this morning but just missed the boats dock out, oh well.

Anyhow BMW Oracle Racing took a convincing win over Damiani Italia Challenge, no surprise there.

Greek Challenge had a good day, tackling Team Shosholoza but still it was not all smooth sailing.

The First 2 races were delayed until around 1 PM due to lack of wind, but it slowly built up.

Team ORIGIN were off to a good start against Luna Rossa, but then, like the next race, China Team vs K-Challenge, had to be forced to re-start due to lack of wind on the course and not making the top mark within the 20 minute requirement. Both races were re started and sailed again, mainly to how they were before. Team ORIGIN only just beat Luna Rossa, who did a great job all the way through of trying to get through them, on the other hand China Team did a fantastic job in rolling over K-Challenge, but both had their ups & dows with weird wind, weird current, and weird sailing by both. Still got alot to learn these teams, but still they are out here DOING IT which as you will see next, is invaluable.

Next up was the match of the day, a sight we had not seen, and had been anticipating since June 2007, since that last match of the Americas Cup where Alinghi, only just marginally came over the line by 1 second, retaining the Americas Cup.

Emirates Team New Zealand vs Alinghi...I could not wait! And neither could the whole of the Waitemata Harbour spectators and commentators.

Then, the shock annoucement. Alinghi were refusing not to race. At first I thought, oh maybe they think its too late in the day or something but no. The reason was a point they think they can justify by saying it was too risky for them to sail with the potential of getting a point deducted against a team that had nothing to loose since we (ETNZ) were in the finals.

Now this shocked me, and pretty well the whole of NZ as well who were right into this.

Team New Zealand were out on the water anyway so they sailed the prestart and did their pre start manouveres to get their point but their anger was quite visable with Dean Barkers interview with Martin Tasker on New Zealand's biggest news show TV One News at 6PM.

Dean Barker was visably "pissed off" and "disgusted", sharing the feelings of not on Emirates Team New Zealand but the WHOLE community in New Zealand following this event.

I am personally disgusted with Alinghi's actions. I feel this is an insult to the event, to Auckland, New Zealand, Emirates Team New Zealand, Bruno Trouble, Louis Vuitton, and ALL who have tried to make this event the BEST EVER REGATTA to grace our perfect sailing shores. Alinghi have known about this stunt and have waited for the right time to utelise it, their act of sabotage on this event is purely pathetic, a childish act of self consumerism. Not only did they let the teams down, they let the country down, the fans on the water who had waited patiently in New Zealand for 2 years waiting for this showdown while Alinghi were being pricks in the courts with the Americas Cup, 2 years we had waited, anticipated this event, for them to shove it up us and say no.

The news of their stunt has shocked the wider sailing world, and this is comparable to the 1981 underarm bowl incident involving Australia & New Zealand. This is a cheap stunt, a trick like what the Australians pulled out back then, for Alinghi's own advantage, to shatter this event, which is such a success, more so that they could have ever dreamed.

All this on a day that Alinghi boss Enersto Berterelli stood in his old base in Auckland on his first day in the City Of Sails and cowered in the corner like a sheep for slaughter while his team did the most unsportsmanlike gesture of being complete fools.

And I end with the words that started this.

Shock, Dissapointment, Anger, Disbelief, Amazement.

This sums up Day 3, Round Robin 2 of the Louis Vuitton Pacific Series.