If you think yesterday's race was the best ever, wait for the last one. With nothing to lose on either side, I'm expecting a full-on knife fight. It's going to be really hard to stick to a "game plan."
Mike
I bet it's a clean start. These guys are showing incredible sportsmanship given the fire in their bellies. I'm proud to be a sailor with these guys around.
Compare those guys to this nightmare of public relations the last time a multihull was in the cup: http://youtu.be/-h7pKHnZs1g?t=31s
A knife fight is the highest compliment one can give to a match race, from true match racing fans (there are no bigger fans of the pure sport than IUs). They don't want to see boats going fast away from one another, they want to see constant attacking.
Nothing dirty is implied, the goal is to use boat positioning and the rules to crush the competition. If the give-way boat escapes cleanly, you want the boats to sail on and re-engage quickly.
That's also the intent of the delayed penalties in normal match racing. The idea is to allow the penalized boat a chance to force an offsetting penalty, and keep the racing close.
I hadn't thought about it before, but the instant penalties in this event are as much of a game changer as the boats themselves.
Of course, as I tell anyone who will listen, Larry is more of a purist than anyone. The original AC wasn't about equalizing the field or close match racing, it was full-on, buy it, build it, and bring it.
