I think you will find the difference was more preperation and time on water. Cogito was built before 1996 and underwent one LAC campaign. The same boat was used so there was existing knowledge of getting the best out of her and futhermore leading up to the event Cogito was 2 boat tuning with the other US C. The Brits hit the event with a boat that had never seen water whilst the Skips had very limited time on water tuning against an old and not a very fast Tornado and reliability issues with a rig that was relativly un tested. The Brits boat does seem to be a bit out dated, but the Aussie boat should realy give Cogito a some headaches with more on water time.