Bundy on an AC45

Darren Bundock will soon get his hands on a 45, skippering Oracle 5 in San Diego. Can't wait to see this.

http://www.americascup.com/en/Teams...1/9/Bundock-to-steer-at-next-ACWS-event/

The way this is going, we might have to call it the Australia's Cup WS.

That's why Coutts is a good team player. Instead of letting his ego drive the boat.... he's getting a faster driver in there. Good on both of them.

(I recognize that this decision might have been made above his pay grade too)

I'd say leave Coutts on the speed runs. He seems to have a good handle on that. Course racing ,not so much in the scale of the sailors he's racing against.I think he still hasn't completely shifted his mental game from monos to multis, or maybe he can't.Old dog new tricks and all. Article says he's staying on the boat, I wonder who he replaces. He was pretty rough on Murray in Cascais.

Generally, Coutts' speed around the course seems to be pretty good and on par with NZ and Oracle4. As you mention, his speed trial runs are some of the best. His starts, however, quite simply suck. He's been over early at least twice since Cascais and he gets buried in the fleets the other times. The starts really are making the difference here between the top 4 teams. I think they're realizing that you can't wait for the tactician to communicate with the helm during a start and that the helm has to make the snap decision when to run for it and how to protect. Bundy will offer that experience assuming he has become accustom to the particular speed and acceleration of these boats.

Reaching starts are a unique animal, that's for sure.

This may be overstating the obvious, but I think Spithill and TNZ are showing that good starts, and good boathandling throughout the rest of the race, are the way to win, certainly in the big breeze.

Mike

why no Smyth on an AC45???