Oracle made a great comeback, but...

It may have been one of the greatest comebacks in sports history, but local sailors say it was less about the skill of the crews and more about technology.

Team Oracle came back from what was an unthinkable 8-1 hole with Emirates in the America’s Cup.

Four-time Olympian Peter Bromby said: “It was amazing that they would come back from that position. When it was 8-1, I was thinking it was over. While they weren’t sailing bad, the Kiwi’s had a bit of boat speed edge but it got flip-flopped at the end. Oracle found some speed somewhere — where they found it is still a mystery.”

Bromby said early on the Kiwis were faster to get on their foils, which makes the boat go much faster but the Oracle team reversed that.

Bromby added: “And that was a big difference. In sailing, this is one of the greatest comebacks.”

But Bromby added you have to factor in technology as part of the winning equation for the Americans.

“I’ve seen some great comeback in one design sailing as well. Mark Reynolds winning the gold in Sydney was one example. But considering everyone was very similar there wasn’t an edge to be found in the boats. Once you make a breakthrough in the boats, then it is hard to do anything wrong.

“When Oracle was doing 28 knots and the Kiwis were doing 22 knots, that’s a huge advantage. You could see the confidence in their tactics to make sure they would not get too separated knowing the speed could help run the Kiwis down. You saw that in the two latter races when team Oracle got behind.”

Bacardi

Bromby said he did not have a comeback along those lines, but “An amazing result was when we won the Bacardi Cup. Martin Siese was in the boat for the first time ever and he was practicing on the way to the start line because I had done another event right before it so we didn’t have any time in the boat together. The outhaul busted at the start of the first race, which didn’t allow us to compete in it.

He said from there on out they had all top five finishes in the next five races. “From that perspective, that was quite a big comeback.

Penny Simmons, who won the IOD World Championships in San Francisco in 1985, told the Bermuda Sun: “It was quite a comeback, there’s no doubt about that, but the changes in the boat played a major role.”

He said with the architects and engineers making changes is what was the key to victory for Oracle. 

“Money made the difference. I don’t think New Zealanders had that sort of money to spend to put into their boat. I don’t think they sailed that badly, but they were beaten by a faster boat. It had to deal with the hull, boat and the rigs.

“Although the American group sailed well, if you would have swapped boats, you would have seen a different outcome.”

Simmons said it “was quite an achievement” for Oracle to come back from being down 8 to 1, but “you have to sail one race at a time. You don’t go out there to sweep all. You have to treat each day and each race as it comes and keep clawing away. 

The boat speed was a fantastic difference. When they made those changes, the boat just accelerated. The American boat was able to get up on the foils so much easier, quicker and stay up there longer. It looked like to me that they had lightened the boat up somehow. I think the hull was lightened up quite considerably. 

Simmons said there is a tremendous amount of current flowing in and out under the Golden Gate Bridge a couple of times a day.

“That would have been important to know when it’s going out and which way it’s going.”