11:56 AM Fri 19 Mar 2010 GMT
The tension was massive from the moment the two boats entered the starting area - it was all on for Dean Barker and the Emirates Team New Zealand crew.
They were one down in the best-of-three semi-final, clinging on to their hopes of repeating their success a little over a year ago when they beat Alinghi in the final of the Louis Vuitton Pacific Cup. The pressure was on the local team and to use a local commentator's expression: 'Azzurra had the blow-torch on their Y-fronts.'
Yes, ETNZ had to be aggressive, but it also had to keep out of trouble. Trouble could come in the form of a penalty for a rules infringement, possibly in the pre-start. The Italian afterguard, of Francesco Bruni, the helmsman, and tactician Tommaso Chiefi, are match racers of the highest level and Barker and Ray Davies would know this and realise their vulnerability.
But when push comes to shove, the margins between the boats and the thinking of the personnel aboard them is reduced. All went swimmingly until a minute and a half to go. It was then that ETNZ failed to keep clear of Azzurra and the umpires raised a blue flag indicating that ETNZ had been penalised. Everyone on board the Kiwi boat knew what that meant - either they had to get sufficiently far ahead to make a 270 degree turn before the finish, or offload the penalty by catching Azzurra and making them accept a penalty.
With that in mind ETNZ turned on the afterburners and led up the first beat, but the lead was nowhere near big enough to make a turn, neither was it at the end of the run. When Barker added to the lead up the second beat, it seemed like the door was opening, but Bruni closed in the latter stages of the leg.
As they started the final run, the gap of 100 metres was not enough. It grew, but not to the 200 metres that would have been comfortable. It stretched to 136 metres as ETNZ approached the finishing line. It hardly seemed enough, but Barker and his crew are polished at tight manoeuvres.
Up went the genoa jib and down came the gennaker as ETNZ began to turn up in to the wind around the finishing line buoy. Arms whirled on the grinders and the boat swung smoothly around the buoy as all the time Azzurra headed for the line. The two boats' bows seemed to cross the line together, but race officer Peter 'Luigi' Reggio gave the decision to ETNZ by a single second - a reverse of the final race in Valencia in 2007.
ETNZ lives to fight another day, but how many of the crew will sleep soundly after that?
by Bob Fisher
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