13 October 2004

The Valencia Louis Vuitton Act 2 Regatta ended in Valencia, Spain on Tuesday after 8 days of often very interesting match-racing. Unlike last months regatta in Marseilles this regatta featured only match-racing, with a fleet racing event set to start on Thursday, running through to Sunday.

In addition to the 6 teams that we saw in action in Marseilles, a further two took part in Valencia. Luna Rossa, the former Prada team now with a number of sailors from the old One World team. Also being seen in competition for the first time was the Italian +39 team. This is an interesting set-up headed by internationally renowned Finn builder and Sydney 2000 medallist Luca Devotti. In fact it seems that one of the major criteria for being on this crew is being an Olympic Finn sailor and the boat is just littered with them. Like Shosholoza and K-Challenge they too were sailing a 2000-generation boat, albeit a heavily modified one, and along with Le Defi these four formed an effective B section in the regatta. Of these 4 only Le Defi are sailing a 2003 generation boat however theirs appears to be a real dog and has never been on the pace with the top boats.

The results amongst the top four were interesting to say the least. Many were surprised to see defender Alinghi finishing 4th in this regatta. They certainly don’t look like the class act that they did a year or so ago with Russell Coutts still on board and there are some rumblings on the dockside that things aren’t as sweet as they should be in this team. While they have an exceptionally strong sailing teams word is that there was no cash for new equipment for this round of regattas and that they have done little to no practice beforehand. Another strong theory though is that they are happy to remain off the pace for the interim as it means that they don’t show their full hand to the challengers too early. The thought there being that the faster the pace they set now the faster they are going to have to go to stay ahead in the future. Whether there is any truth to this or not remains to be seen though.

Emirates Team New Zealand surprised many by winning this regatta. Of all the teams theirs was the biggest effort to be on the start line in Valencia. The boat that they sailed in Marseilles was written off in the storm the night after the regatta leaving them with the mammoth task of flying out their unprepared second boat which was in New Zealand at the time and getting her prepped for racing with little time to spare. There is certainly a new determination in this team with Grant Dalton in charge and I for one would not be surprised if they continue to go from strength to strength in the next few years. They have a lot of talent on board and with Ben Ainslie, arguably the worlds best dinghy sailor on board but not at the helm the pressure is really on Dean Barker to perform. Some say it is only a matter of time before Ainslie takes over the helming role. Again this is pure speculation that may or may not prove to be true in time but one thing is for sure, Ainslie’s presence is certainly going to help ETNZ raise their game.

Luna Rossa surprised many by finishing 2nd in Valencia but those in the know weren’t that surprised at all. The team have been training hard in Valencia since April and with two pretty quick 2003-generation boats they were always going to be on the pace. Their young Australian helmsman, James Spithill certainly seems to be on form as far as match-racing goes at the moment and by all accounts Luna Rossa managed to get the best of most teams in the all important pre-start sequences. Theirs is looking like another strong challenge in the long run.

As for Shosholoza, well after their almost fairy tale performances in Marseilles the bubble might have been burst a little here in Valencia. The highlight of their Valencia match-racing performance was a near win against BMW Oracle however to be fair to the US team conditions at the time were light and fluckey to say the least. Still, it takes a great deal of determination to keep trying when you know your opposition is just faster than you so its good to know that the guys were pushing all the way even though they lost out in the end.

In their final match against +39 Shosholoza were behind at the first weather mark but came back strongly on the run to roll over the top of the Italian team. Again conditions were light a fluckey but sadly this time too fluckey and the race officer was forced to abandon the race. The shared points from this match were the only ones that Shosholoza scored in this regatta. No one expected them to be winning too many races yet but we did expect them to be fighting hard and that they have been doing. Its also fair to say that there is a huge difference between fleet and match-racing and it could be that the more intense nature of the match-racing in Valencia made it harder to stay in front of some of the boats, K-Challenge in particular, that they were beating in Marseilles. Overall its hard to judge just how good or bad this performance was. They didn’t cover themselves in glory but they didn’t shower themselves in shame either. The overall impression that I have got is that Shosholoza is seen in AC circles as being something completely new. They are underdogs of the highest order with their mere presence in Europe something of a victory in itself. They have shown that they have potential and the desire to succeed and I am sure that come next season with a new boat and more experience under their belts they will improve immeasurably and start to compete with the more established teams. I also expect that in the fleet racing regatta that starts on Thursday, the Valencia Louis Vuitton Act 3, we will see a few more positive results from Shosholoza, and possibly even a few surprises.

Locally I have been very pleased to see that their efforts have received plenty of mileage in the press with articles appearing regularly in newspapers and on web sites. This can only be good for the sport on the whole.