The aggressive tactics that will win the Auld Mug
Expect high-octane action as Team NZ veteran lays out the game plan to win America’s Cup. By Duncan Johnstone.
The prospect of aggressive tactical racing at the America’s Cup has been raised, with huge gains to be made if opponents can be forced into costly mistakes.
Just how these new AC75 foiling monohulls line out against each other remains a mystery, with the Covid-19 crisis wiping out the two warmup regattas in Europe this year.
All eyes are now turned towards the imminent launch of the second boats from the four syndicates and their first racing encounter at the world series event in Auckland on December 17-20.
As fast as the boats go – British ace Ben Ainslie is tipping 55 knots (102 kmh) – the one-one-one encounters throughout the Prada Cup challenger series in January and February, and the America’s Cup match in March aren’t going to be simple drag races.
The holy grail will again be getting around the course entirely on foils. The big tactic will be to compromise an opponent and have them drop off their foils. Even a momentary loss of flight could be an instant race-changer.
When asked about the prospect of match-racing in these revolutionary boats, Team New Zealand coach and sailor Ray Davies gave a picture of what fans could expect.
‘‘This is a great question that always comes up in every generation of the America’s Cup when there has been a trade-off between a slower and faster boat,’’ Davies, who has seen many changes since his first involvement in the Cup in 2000, told the Sunday StarTimes.
‘‘ Slower boats are always going to have slower racing and traditional match racing that we know.
‘‘But I’m adamant that people will be blown away how exciting and close this racing is going to be. We will be interacting with the other boat, trying to slow them down and get them in compromised positions.
‘‘The gain that you can make if you can get someone off their foils and back into a take- off again is just huge. So there is a bit of incentive to get the boats close.’’
Davies anticipates plenty of action in the pre-starts and early phases of the quick races.
‘‘To park up the other boat in a pre-start, if you’re able to do that, you launch [yourself] at the start.
‘‘It’s very, very much like we have always had – you just have to try to get control of the other boat and then dictate from there.
‘‘Once you are ahead it’s very hard for the other boat to get past you. It’s that initial control and then shutting down the options.
‘‘Again, if you have a speed edge it’s pretty straight forward from there. Tactics and strategy come into play in the pre- starts and the first five minutes of the race, and after that first arm-wrestle, someone sort of has the upper hand and it’s up to them to hold on.’’
Davies warned against mistakes and the price that would be paid for them, meaning tactical calls and crew work needed to be precise.
‘‘What we see with these boats is it’s a very tight course with a lot of manoeuvres that the teams will have to do. If you make one bad manoeuvre you can quite easily lose 300m in the time you have to restart again,’’ Davies, into his sixth Cup campaign, said.
‘‘ So it’s never over and it’s very much a high-octane version of what we saw from when the Cup was last in Auckland.’’
While Davies would have loved to have seen the AC75s in action in Italy and Portsmouth to sound out their opposition, he likes the intrigue that has enveloped the regatta again with so little known.
‘‘ . . . people will be blown away how exciting and close this racing is going to be.’’ Team NZ coach Ray Davies