The word uninspired comes to mind.

I don't think any commentary I read or anything I saw would be able tocharacterize this last race otherwise. Coutts and company were loose and ready to win.....almost too loose at one point resulting in one of the few sail handling errors this boat had. Coutts once again won the start and then did exactly no more than what had to be done to win. Beautiful, but pretty conservative, the right move.

Barker was tentative as always and Pace showed nothing. If he added anything to the boat, I couldn't see it. On both a beat and a run, the Kiwis made up ground but in both cases they stopped their tactics before they paid off. After tacking on beat 2 had made up 2 boat lengths, they stopped tacking. It didn't make sense to me nor did it to Gary Jobson doing the ESPN commentary.

I watched the race after I had followed it on sail track figuring that I must have missed something, but no, the Kiwis were tentative and the Swiss boat was saiking a control type of race. Both teams should have called this one in as I think the race was over before they left the dock.

Anxious to see where they decide to hold the next Cup. The Oracle Syndicate is the "challenger of record" for the next one.......After such a brilliant win, will the Alinghi campaign make a spirited defense? Will the Kiwis mount another challenge? I think Bertarelli wants some rule changes......lots of upcoming stuff that will be far more interesting than the last race.

Spaw