AMERICA’S CUP DAILY REPORT : CHALLENGER TRIALS : Nippon’s Luck Finally Runs Out
The America’s Cup’s richest syndicate had managed no better than a split with the other three top challenge contenders through two rounds of trials. All that money, all that talent and all those boats didn’t add up to dominance until Il Moro di Venezia found one more important ingredient: 16 angry Italians.
Forced to resail Sunday’s 11-second victory over Nippon, Il Moro got the Japanese in a stranglehold at the start Monday, and this time the big red boat made it stick, by 46 seconds.
No meandering marks, no navigational nightmares, no adverse juries, no mercy.
“Let’s say we were plenty motivated for today’s race,” skipper Paul Cayard said. “We feel like the Japanese are the cat with nine lives. What do we have to do with these guys--shoot them?”
During last month’s first round, Il Moro sailed so far toward the wrong mark that Nippon was able to come from behind and win--and also survive an Il Moro protest that Nippon’s gennaker wasn’t attached to its spinnaker pole on a reaching leg.
Then on Sunday, Il Moro won by 11 seconds, but Sunday night the challengers’ international jury ordered the race resailed because a mark had drifted, forcing Nippon to sail “between 8 to 16 seconds” longer than Il Moro to reach it, the jury ruled.
Cayard said: “The first round they were found to have infringed a rule, but the jury decided that didn’t matter. Then this thing . . . they said, well, they probably lost so many seconds because the mark drifted, and they lost by only 11 seconds.
“Well, you know when you’re in a match race it’s not like when you’re in a (handicap) race trying to win on time. You sometimes spend a little bit of your lead to ensure the victory (by covering the opponent).
“I thought that was very shortsighted of the international jury to conclude that because they finished only 11 seconds behind they might have won the race. With as many shifts and different things that go on out there, that wasn’t a big deal.”
The jury offered to split the points, two and two, but neither side wanted that, least of all the Italians.
“We got the points we feel we were due,” Cayard said, “and the second round is over.”
The victory lifted Il Moro (11-3) past Nippon into second place with 29 points. New Zealand (13-1) has 34, Nippon (11-3) 26 and France (9-5) 21. But points escalate from four to eight points during the third round, starting March 8.
“To me, (second place) is not worth much right now,” Cayard said. “(For) morale it’s good. And maybe the sponsors like to see that.”
Nippon tactician John Cutler said: “We were happy with the jury decision. We felt it was reasonably clear-cut that we’d been disadvantaged. We were happy to go out and have another go. It’s probably the best training we’ll ever get . . . an extra race that everyone else isn’t getting.”