Blow Hard

Now that the wind is really blowing, the racing isn't blowing at all. Some great match races yesterday, with the Spanish lime green dream getting into a tight one with the South Africans. Well, it was tight for the first part of the race at least.

As was the duel between Luna Rosa and +39, with the scrappy Sicilians actually challenging their fancy pants compatriots for the entire first leg. After that, however, Luna Rosa started to pull away, and it was the same old sad story for +39.

Is there any relief in sight for +39? Well, they say the boat was designed to run better in rougher water. Ok... but there is much more immediate help on the way, and it will be speaking German and Chinese. That's right, on friday they have the Louis Vuitton equivalent of a walk in the park. They race against the hapless Germans, and the plain dreadfull Chinese.

Rumours that Angela Merkel is claiming the German boat is so slow because all of their best scientists were taken by the Americans and Russians after WWII, are unfounded.

The Chinese are another story. After jumping the start and then retiring from the race altogether, Team China reached a new low yesterday against Mascalzone. The team looked full of self doubt, and this is noteworthy because it is the first time in history that human clones have shown this emotion.

Yes, in the grand Chinese tradition of, "If you can't beat it, copy it", it has been revealed that the entire Chinese Team is actually just an attempted duplicate of Team Alinghi. That's right, the team is just another cheap Chinese knock off. What does this mean? This means that they aren't pirates but pirated. There is a difference.

Uh Oh

After riding high from the first two rounds, Luna Rosa and Mascalzone buth go down at once. What happened? After beating Team New Zealand, how could Mascalzone lose to the lowly Spaniards and their lime green boat? Can a green boat possibly be fast?

And what of Luna Rosa? Maybe the South African's aren't the scrubs everyone took them to be. They were leading BMW Oracle as well, before a stupid mistake cost them the race. This time, no mistake and they hold on to win. Maybe they are actually quite good. Maybe their old boat isn't so bad. We shall see.

In the battle of the losers, United Internet Team Germany beat the Chinese. Wow, the Chinese are really bad... really, really bad. And they want to put a man on the moon? Not like this they won't. They might want to think about pulling out now... seriously. All of this talk about China being the next superpower, and this America's Cup is threatening to single handedly set back their reputation 50 years. I guess building boats is not like building walls. How can a nation with so many pirates sail so poorly?????

Again

No Wind... Again... Flashbacks from New Zealand

What a Tease

Ok they are racing again... or not.

Ok, so we got at least one race this weekend. Surely not what the TV producers were hoping for. Another thumbs up for Valencia (they did have a good Superbike race last weekend though).

One of the races was actually decent though, with the South Africans giving a scare to BMW Oracle. They had the lead, and may have had the race, but they made a silly mistake. Larry Elison is rumoured to have said... nothing. He is trying to keep his mouth shut. Props are going out to Paolo Cian for getting the lead in the first place.

In other action, the Spanish are humiliated by losing to French. It doesn't get much worse than that, and Paul Cayard is clearly upset on the Italain telecast. Rumours of them changing the boat from that terrible green color are unfounded.

No Wind... Again

No Wind... ZZZZ

Oh My God

What is going on? What are those big things in the water over there? Are those boats, are they racing? In Valencia? No way.

Yes way. We finally have some action.

Without a doubt the race of the day is BWM Oracle vs China Team. No, of course not. BMW beat them so bad it was scary.

No, the real race of the day had Mascalzone beating Team New Zealand. It was a pretty big upset and the Italians are obviously really excited about it. Mascalzone is the people's team in Italy, so everyone is understandbly proud... and now, of course, super overconfident. Nice.

No Wind...Hmmm

Yet again... No wind. I'm noticing something here, but I'm not sure what. The citizens of Naples and Genoa are up in arms, as they would have CLEARLY been better locations for the Cup.

No Wind

No Wind... will this give +39 the time it needs to fix the broken mast?

No Wind

Again, no wind

No Wind

No Wind... all races postponed