NZL really had no chance to win, coming in on PORT, had to gybe to get around for the reaching leg to finish. SWE just needed to go wide and give NZL room.
No, coming into the final rounding mark NZ was on starboard tack, and SWE was on port. They were nearly even but NZ needed to gybe to round the mark.
It wasn't a matter of enough room - simply a starboard/port situation. Had NZ not crash-gybed (or rounded up), they would have hit SWE.
SWE needed to go a bit further before their last gybe, so they'd have room to take NZ's transom at the mark and roll NZ with speed. They didn't, and lost the protest.
Wow, I really typed that wrong. Thanks for correcting that, Eric.
But, I still say SWE had it won, even on port. All they had to do was go wide and win. I don't think NZL could have gybed fast enough around that mark to get ahead for the final reach leg.
Besides, looking at those photos, could NZL really have continued to go past the layline to the mark to attack SWE at that point? I know they use different rules than the standard RRS. Under standard RRS, going beyond that layline would have been sailing above proper course, as they were outside the zone.
Mike
