NICE INK -- An ACC Ride

This article from Reuters is turning up in newspapers and on websites all over the world today. A few piddling inaccuracies aside, like the 300 second dial-up, to say nothing of the pun in the headline about tension, it is one of the more vivid descriptions by an 18th crew of an ACC ride in memory. While focusing on one challenger, the article manages to also mention three others and the defender. All in all, nice ink for the 32nd America's Cup.


Tension runs high for America's Cup hopefuls
By Alexander Smith

Trapani - "Let's grind them down," whispered Terry Hutchinson menacingly, wrap-around sunglasses shielding his eyes and a thick layer of sunscreen smeared like war-paint across his face.

Things were not going to plan aboard Emirates Team New Zealand. Desafio Espanol, Spanish rivals for the 32nd America's Cup, had rounded the first mark first in a head-to-head match race just off the ancient Sicilian port of Trapani. A bad call at the start had given the Spanish the advantage and New Zealand veteran Grant Dalton's team were paying the price.

This was a race that the New Zealand boat, one of the favourites to end up as challengers to Swiss team Alinghi for the America's Cup in Valencia in 2007, could ill afford to lose. "It's a long, long race guys," said team tactician Hutchinson, who occasionally lapses into language as blue as the waters around him.

The team had lost the day before to Alinghi and were still smarting from a defeat at the hands of French team K-Challenge, another of the 11 syndicates vying to be the ones to take on the Swiss holders in the final in Spain in less than two years' time. Alinghi defeated defending champions Team New Zealand 5-0 in 2003 to become the first European winners in 152 years of the America's Cup.

With their bows slicing through the waves, the speed and agility of the sleek racers looks almost effortless. The reality aboard these multi-million-dollar, state-of-the art racing machines is something else.

After a long tow to the racing area by one of the team's motor launches, during which the crew lounged about and chatted about wedding plans, Tarantino movies, property prices and the complete lack of wind, race organisers decided there was enough breeze to begin. With five minutes to go before the start, Team New Zealand and Desafio Espanol both made a dash to get into the "box" behind the start line, where they vied for the best starting position. So began the "dial-up", 300 seconds of frenetic activity on board as both boats performed a series of pirouettes, huge carbon-fibre mainsails crashing from one side to the other.

Crouched at the back of the New Zealand boat, with nothing to hold on to and orders to "keep down low and out of the way", it was an exhilarating experience for this "18th man". The 18th man is a passenger - often one of the team's sponsors, its main financial backer or even a celebrity - who is allowed on board during a race but must play no part.

Predicting the weather is key for the teams and the hunt for "pressure" - wind to the layman - is everything. After frequent updates from Adam Beashel, strapped precariously at the top of the mast and reporting via a walkie-talkie headset on signs of wind on the sea's surface, Hutchison, the tactician, pitched for the left of the course. Desafio Espanol, with its brightly coloured green, blue and yellow hull, went for the right.

With a carbon-fibre hull weighing next to nothing, a huge missile-shaped bulb weighing more than 20 tons at the bottom of the keel and a mast soaring 35m into the sky, even with a relatively light wind the boat feels as though it is stretched to breaking point. One of the many digital monitors in the cockpit shows that the pressure on the forestay - the length of wire which runs from the top of the mast to the bow - is more than nine tonnes.

A similar tension is exerted on the running backstays, one on each side of the boat. Each time the huge mainsail fills or moves its creaking and cracking are amplified by the drum-like hollow of the boat's rear. When the boat gets settled on a particular course for any time, there is an eerie silence aboard, apart from the fizzing of the water against the black hull.

Team New Zealand are still behind Desafio on the second round of the race, and the team's concentration is intense. Nobody speaks out of turn, everyone knows their place in the boat, sitting on the decking between bouts of intense activity. Half-way up the windward leg there is a brief tacking duel with the Spanish as the two boats meet. New Zealand holds its course and Desafio tacks away to the right. This is the break New Zealand wanted, they have found some wind, while the Spanish have sailed into a hole. The Kiwis winch in the sails and reach the top mark first. As they head downwind for the final leg, they hoist the spinnaker and the gap widens.

There is no easing of the tension until New Zealand crosses the finish line, marked by a pat on the back and a rare smile from Hutchinson for helmsman Dean Barker. It was not the perfect race but it was the result they needed. A win against Italian boat Luna Rossa immediately afterwards and two defeats for Alinghi put New Zealand second in the rankings in the match event behind the Swiss holders and kept them in contention.

After the Trapani event ended at the weekend the team were moving back to New Zealand to spend the southern hemisphere summer practising in new boats. They will be back in Europe next year for more races in their quest to win back the cup.