Sunday,
May 20, 2007
The
ANNOTICO Report
"Luna
Rossa" crushed the Americans,
whose were the Pre Series Overwhelming Favorites, with an Astounding $270
million Budget that was a series record, winning Five of the Six Races
(5-1), scheduled to be a Best of Nine.
"Luna
Rossa" which is backed by fashion house Prada, led around every marker of the series
!!!! An incredible achievement
The
USA BMW Oracle dominated the earlier quarter finals, and
felt so confident, that they used "second"
stringers in their race with cellar dweller China, and LOST, thereby
giving the point leadership to New Zealand, who therefore got
to choose it's semi final opponent, and chose to race the weaker Spain's "Desafio Espanol" which it
currently leads 4-2, and forced BMC Oracle to race the more formidable
"Luna Rossa"
Had
BMC Oracle stayed serious, they would have raced the weaker
Instead
it appears as if it will be the Italians vs the New
Zealanders in the Finals
Luna
Rossa of
From
the Associated Press
Sunday, May 20, 2007
The Italians beat the Americans by 33 seconds to win the best-of-nine semifinal
series 5-1 and advance to the final against either Desafio
Espanol or Emirates Team New
"The racing was much harder than the scoreline
reflects," Luna Rossa skipper Francesco de
Angelis said. "Now we need to recharge the batteries a bit and keep
working to improve the boat and ourselves a bit."
Desperate to turn the series around, BMW Oracle Racing owner Larry Ellison
replaced skipper Chris Dickson with backup helmsman Sten
Mohr, while tactician Gavin Brady assumed Dickson's skipper
role.
It was Mohr's second
The Americans also had Ellison back aboard. The Oracle CEO had made way for an
extra grinder in Saturday's fifth-flight loss.
Despite the changes, the Italians once again won the start over the Americans,
whose budget was estimated to be $270 million.
Mohr defended his USA-98 yacht's starboard entry position, but Luna Rossa helmsman James Spithill
ensured the Italians left the line quicker to take the lead.
Spithill crossed the American bow several times up the
first upwind lap, the ITA-94 yacht rounding the first marker with a 32-second
advantage.
The gap stayed the same around the second marker, before Luna Rossa covered Mohr's moves up the second upwind lap to
extend its lead to 35 seconds around the final marker.
"We're obviously very disappointed. This isn't the exit we were hoping
for," Dickson said. "No one did a bad job this week -- Luna Rossa did a better job. They have quietly been building and
this week they outsailed us."
The Italian team, which is backed by fashion house Prada,
led around every marker of the series.
"We did all we could today to change it around and I had a great
opportunity in the pre-start to do something better and I didn't capitalize on
it," Mohr said. "The boat is definitely quick, but maybe I didn't do
all I could today. And you are not excusable at this level."
Dickson said he would see out the end of his contract with the San
Francisco-based syndicate, but would not say whether he would be part of the
team's campaign for the 33rd
Desafio Espanol helmsman
Karol Jablonski held his starboard advantage as the
teams split to start, with the Spanish boat opening up an early lead.
Jablonski defended his advantage up the first lap as
Kiwi counterpart Dean Barker engaged the Polish helmsman in a tacking duel.
Desafio Espan ol rolled over the Kiwis around the first marker to hold a
12-second advantage.
The Spanish boat managed to increase the lead by one second around the second
marker -- despite its spinnaker getting tangled up as they gybed.
With the lead down to eight seconds around the final marker, the ESP-97 used
the building wind to finish two-boat lengths ahead of the Kiwis as the waiting
spectator fleet cheered on the local favorites.
The Spanish boat parked along the harbor front of Port America's Cup to
celebrate with spectators, with sailors spraying champagne into the crowd while
team cheerleaders waved pompoms after the victory.
The winner of the June 1-11 Louis Vuitton Cup final
will advance to sail against defending champion Alinghi
in the America's Cup from June 23-July 4.
Emirates Team New
21,1,1316314.story?coll=la-headlines-sports&ctrack=1&cset=true
The
ANNOTICO Reports Can be Viewed and are Fully Archived
at:
Italia
The
ANNOTICO Reports Can be Viewed at
Italia
Mia: http://www.ItaliaMia.com
Blogspot: http://annoticoreport.blogspot.com
Annotico
Email: annotico@earthlink.net