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America’s Cup 2003A personal commentary by Richard MatthewsFirst time out a landlocked nation, bestknown for Toblerone, the cuckoo clock andthe numbered account, just won the holygrail of yacht racing – the America’s CupTo all intents andpurposes twoteams, Kiwi A andKiwi B, raced each otherfor the oldest trophy insport. Both teams areworld class, but theproblem for New Zealandwas that Kiwi A wasracing for Switzerland.The Kiwis showed big time support for theirteam and Loyal flags and Loyal Team NZblack shirts were everywhere. The ‘Loyal’word was a direct swipe at Russell Couttsand Brad Butterworth who, with several otherkey ex-NZ crewmen, sold their services toErnesto Bertarelli's Swiss Alinghi Team.Auckland calls itself the city of sails and, insupport of their team, the day before racingstarted Auckland City Council had a guychanging liquid soap in over 100 public WC’sfrom pink to black. Hundreds of Royal NewZealand Yacht Squadron boats were out for ahuge sail-past to show support for Team NZ.Vodaphone changed their signal message to"Good Luck Team NZ".A guy calling a local radio station summed upthe mood of the nation when he said, "My kidwas told Russell Coutts was a national hero,now he’s sailing for Switzerland he doesn’tknow who to cheer for anymore".Nine challengers had lined up at the start ofthe Louis Vuitton Cup, the elimination series todecide who would have the chance to wrestlethe ‘auld mug’ from it’s pride of place pedestalin the Royal New Zealand Yacht Squadron.Four of these with fat US$70-$100m budgetswere the B’s, an abbreviation for theirbillionaire owner/backers, Oracle, One World,Prada and the winning Alinghi. Mr America’sCup, Dennis Conner, sailing for the New YorkYacht Club had a "modest" $40m budget,while the other "lower budget" challengersincluded Team GBR, a popular addition to thecup scene after a 15-year absence.RACE 1From Oystercatcher XXIVSpectator fleet estimated at 3,000 including"The World" and two other cruise ships. Brisk20-22 knot wind and lumpy sea state- startsignal by Omega ambassador supermodelCindy Crawford, - start about even – TNZ towindward and just ahead, looks very sharpfor first 6-7 minutes but all commentatorsnotice she is shipping a lot of water –crewman to leeward with bucket. Unusualmainsail outhaul system – end of boombreaks, main goes full. TNZ losesweather gauge and has to tack off,Alinghi shows more speed to leewardand is nothing like as pressed asTNZ. Alinghi far enough ahead forport tack cross after 10minutes. TNZ still shippingwater and falling back whentack of genoa breaks andsail comes unzippedfrom foil. TNZ turnsdownwind torecover headsailand eventuallysets another,which rips8 www.oystermarine.comThe start of Race 1, as viewed fromthe deck of Oystercatcher XXIVPhoto: Richard Matthews