Hurricane Paul an Ill Wind for Cubens : Defenders: America 3 praises Il Moro di Venezia skipper for making the race a “super battle.” Comeback buoys Koch’s crew.

It was America 3 bowman Jerry Kirby who said there would be days like this. No sooner was it out of his mouth, Hurricane Paul blew in.

After Saturday’s A3 victory, “hairy days ahead,” was Kirby’s prediction of the remaining America’s Cup matches between the U.S. defender and the challenging Il Moro di Venezia.

They don’t get much more wild than Italy’s three-second victory over the Cubens Sunday. This was rock n’ roll on the Pacific, where protests, tacking duels, cut-throat tactics and a thrilling finish were all played out at a fervent pace.

“It was great--racing like this is what you live for,” Kirby said. “Ideally you want to win, but it was a super battle. This was it. This is as close as they get.”

Cayard thanked both teams for making it all possible: “I don’t think they get any finer than that. I have to congratulate my crew for doing a three-second better job.”

So close was the race, in fact, that the winner was in doubt and the race committee didn’t trip over itself hurrying to set the record straight.

The crews had to wait a good three minutes before they were advised of the outcome, and even then, it was ESPN’s Peter Isler who beamed aboard Il Moro and told Cayard his team was victorious.

“We didn’t know who won, that’s definitely a first in the America’s Cup,” said Kirby. That would explain the clueless expressions he and Il Moro bowman Alberto Fantini exchanged at the finish.

“Albie and I just looked at each other and shrugged. He didn’t know (who won) either.”

Although Kirby was on the bow at the time, he said the position of America 3’s spinnaker obscured a crystal clear view of the finish.

“I could see the buoy, I knew where the race committee was, and I thought we were over the line first. I could see (Il Moro’s) chute, but at our angle it’s hard to see exactly where their boat was just like from their angle it’s hard to see where our boat was.”

But both boats knew they had engaged in one of the most taxing races in the history of the America’s Cup.

Among the elements that turned up the heat out at sea: During the three downwind legs, the sides exchanged close to 90 tacks; Il Moro dropped one protest flag to A3’s three; and Cayard was relentless in his needling of America 3.

John Hufnagel, who shares grinding duties with three others and is busiest during tacking, said he had no idea there were so many tacks in the race.

“Holy smokes, that’s pretty good,” he said. “That’s about as classic a match race as you can get. It was definitely a race we helped win or lose, and I think we helped win it. Unfortunately, we didn’t cross the line first, but we gave the Italians something to consider.”

But the Cubens were busy considering how well the Italians held them off.

“They did a super job,” Kirby said. “Cayard is a bad dude.”

Cayard’s ability to keep America 3 in check despite an apparent downwind speed advantage was impressive by anyone’s standards.

“In a classic match race, the best way is to stay in our face, and there he was all day,” said Kirby, who has sailed with and against Cayard enough to tire of his heroics.

Speaking of heros, syndicate head Raul Gardini was Il Moro’s 17th man Sunday, but Kirby swore he saw someone else.

“Tom Blackaller. I think that was his ghost I saw sitting up there on the rail,” he said of the man Cayard sailed with in back-to-back Cup campaigns in 1983 and 1987.

Cuben boss Bill Koch summed up the feeling of the team when he said, “it certainly was an exciting race, but I don’t enjoy losing.” But Kirby said the tenacity A3 demonstrated Sunday was enough to bring back the adrenaline for Tuesday’s rematch.

“It’s always disappointing to lose, but in general, we got behind, scratched back, stayed in it, and took it to the limits,” he said. “That pumped us up.”

The results of the first two days of racing have been decided by 33 seconds. Expect more of the same for the rest of the series.

“There are more dogfights to come,” Kirby said. “This could probably end up being one of the best, if not the best America’s Cup regattas.”