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14 October 2004 Hi Andrew, Just want to point out one or two personal observations regarding Shosholoza's performance in the Valencia Match Racing Regatta. Apart from the obvious lack of experience in both high level match racing and boat handling in AC boats, and the fact that they are sailing an older generation boat...You will notice that in the majority of their matches they made gains on both the downwind legs (gained on 13 out of 18 legs!). Quite often this was due to superior boat speed! And other times due to getting shifts right, or finding the gusts first. I think it is very encouraging to find that an older generation boat can be made to go faster downwind that both it's peer generation and the newer generation boats. My point is this: We need to be very careful not to create an environment amongst the AC sailors nor the SA public that we are sailing an absolute dog and that as soon as we get a new boat we are suddenly going to be fast. The AC crew needs to take the attitude that they are on a fast boat and race their guts out to gain as much tactical experience as possible. Also, the SA public must be careful not to expect a sudden "up in performance" once the new boat arrives. This would build false expectations and just place ridiculous pressure on the AC team in the future. The truth of the matter is that they are complete novices in the AC world, but that they have an incredible amount of sailing talent on their boat, and in time, through a combination of experience, patience, pracitice, dedication and a new boat there is no reason for them not to become truly competitive.
Kind regards,
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