Oracle over the weekend....

Whatever Oracle Team USA has learned about tacking, it has made a dramatic difference in the America’s Cup finals.

But it might have come too late.

After Oracle won Race 9 Sunday by 47 seconds in a wire-to-wire win, Emirates Team New Zealand came back to win a spine-tingling Race 10 by 17 seconds and now is just two wins from capturing the Cup. It was one of the most thrilling races in the Cup’s 162-year history.

There were four lead changes in Race 10, the last early in the downwind fourth leg when both boths were traveling better than 40 knots on a cross. ETNZ holds a 7-1 lead in the series. Oracle started two races in the hole because of a jury penalty.

In the earlier race, the American team whipped Team New Zealand on the upwind third leg — which used to be the weakest part of Oracle’s game. Oracle scored its second straight win and seemed to have all the momentum, with a big lift from having Ben Ainslie in the tactician seat.

Skipper Jimmy Spithill outfoxed Kiwis skipper Dean Barker at the start and pinned him off the line, easily winning the start and getting to Mark 1 first by four seconds. “We had a a great game plan for the start,” Spithill said.

It was on the third leg, though, that Oracle really shined. It built its lead from 18 seconds at the start of the leg to 33 at the finish. The crew is tacking much better, and Oracle’s design and build teams must have changed the boat drastically on Friday; the specific changes, of course, are a closely guarded secret.

“It was a fantastic efffort by the boys,” Spithill said. “It was a very physical race.”
Going into the second gate, Oracle set its course so it could start the upwind leg going toward Alcatraz and taking advantage of better wind and a strong, 2.2-knot ebb tide. The Kiwis, forced to split off toward the shore, had a much tougher go before it could get to the favorable right side of the course.

In Race 10, which was delayed 10 minutes because the wind was flirting with the 21.4-knot limit, the onlookers were treated to jet-powered match racing.

There were lead changes on four straight crosses — three tacks at the end of leg 3 and the first tack of downwind leg 4. The last one was crucial. With ETNZ holding the starboard advantage, Spithill had no choice but to dip behind the Kiwis. Just like that, they were home free.

Barker won the start, barely, and had just enough clean air to get to the first mark ahead of Oracle. At gate 2 the Kiwis led by 11 seconds.

Oracle made up a deficit of more than 150 meters late in the third leg and took the lead on a cross. The Kiwis took it right back next time around, and Oracle executed the third lead change just before Gate 3.

Oracle headed toward shore, the Kiwis away from shore. When they crossed on a jibe, New Zealand took the lead for good.