Team NZ's Med Cup form falls flat

CHRIS CAMERON

BACK IN THE PACK: Emirates Team New Zealand rounds the bottom mark in side Bribon in race four, day two of the Sardinia Trophy, a round in the Audi MedCup.

Grant Dalton warned us yesterday that Emirates Team New Zealand was far from infallible.

But his words, after clean sweeping the field in the first three races of the Audi Med Cup in Sardinia sounded just a teeny-weeny bit hollow.

That was yesterday.

Today, unfortunately, everything changed.

ETNZ finished fifth and then fourth in races four and five, returning to planet earth with a thud.

Dalton's words now sound prophetic and his team has a real scrap on its hand to hang on to its slender one point regatta lead in the remaining three days of sailing.

Not that he would have it any other way and of course it is too early to panic yet. As Dalton pointed out, the result could have, and appeared destined to be, far worse.

ETNZ rounded mark one in both races towards the back of the 10 yacht fleet - a complete reversal of yesterday's racing when they dominated the first beat.

Late rallies prevented a trouncing. Dalton said ETNZ  shifted into "damage limitation" mode.

And yes, he couldn't resist a poke and mock gloat saying: "We warned you."

"We could not have realistically expected a repeat of yesterday.

"It would have been nice. But this sport doesn't work that way. There are just too many variables."

If that sounded like an excuse, it wasn't.

Dalton doesn't do excuses.

"The trick after having a bad start is to make sure the race doesn't turn into a shocker," he said.

"We had a shocker on those first two beats. You won't win it from that position but you can seriously lose it by trying to king hit it. So it was good we made a recovery and tomorrow we hope to improve with the conditions."

They (conditions) were fickle today, and that, rather than any technical error or crew problem, compromised ETNZ's performance.

The first beat was pox marked with holes in the wind.

"And we got caught in the mob and it is a tough mob out there," said tactician, Ray Davies.

"We didn't get too wound up after our first beats and we sailed better on the second. "We had some good runs.  So we are happy with boat and how it is going and our composure. We just got on the wrong side of a couple of shifts and got spat out the back."

The regatta under goes a format change tomorrow: a four hour fleet race up the Sardinia coast. On Friday and Saturday racing will resume as per usual. With five more races, and one point separating it and the field, ETNZ can ill afford another day like today. Their 19 point lead in the overall series (after 23 races) is still intact.

"But the series is wide open," said Davies.

* Greg Ford flew to Sardinia courtesy of Emirates