Not Great, Yet…
Those who forecast yesterday that ETNZ would run away with this MedCup had to eat their words today and we were among them. Italy’s Francesco Bruni calling tactics for Argentinean TP52 Matador challenge Kiwi dominance with a first and a second place in gentle sea-breeze conditions, bringing the ETNZ guys back to earth with a bump today.
Grant Dalton CEO and Mast-man Emirates Team New Zealand: “We were deep in both races and I guess we learned as much in Alicante as with other regattas that if you are deep you are not going to win the race but, number one, you try not to make the situation worse which is not hard to do.”
Simon Fry, trimmer Matador: “It was really quite tricky and the aim was just to keep the heads out of the boat, to keep an eye on the left. The first race Francesco liked the left and basically we nailed the start and off we went. Second race we were a bit sticky downwind, but we have a new A1 to card, so I think that will see the light of day tomorrow."
Terry Hutchinson, skipper-helm of Quantum Racing: “The biggest mistake we could make at the moment would be to over react. What we have to focus on for sure is making good starts, figuring where the first shift is coming from and concentrate on our good boat handling. For sure, we are now experiencing what some of our competitors went through last season when we had a speed edge. Now we kind of have to re-calibrate and try to figure out where we go from here.”
In the GP42 Series, which managed to complete all three scheduled races, Vasco Vascotto guided Airis to win the first two races, while the Italian monopoly was maintained as Series leader Roma won the third contest. The above pic from Ian Roman is of Synergy, looking good and sporting some new Quantum Sails.More pics from what seems like half the world’s top photogs here.
