OneWorld diary

Mark Chisnell looks at the racing to date and the format of the series

Round Robin Two has started out pretty much like Round Robin One went – slowly. So slowly that we only finished RR1 on the second day of RR2, when the much-awaited Prada v Mascalzone match finally got underway. We sailed Mascalzone the afternoon of the same day - in those offshore conditions anyone can win a race, and much like our engagement with the French, it was plenty tense all the way around.

The race against Alinghi the following day was different – it was the first properly onshore breeze we’ve had, and in more predictable conditions it proved exactly how much wind and water an ACC boat can occupy when you’re trying to get past them. It’s a little like trying to overtake someone on a single-track dirt road with a cliff stretching upwards on one side and sheer on the other.

It’s during races like this that I can’t help thinking how much more interesting it would be if the format was changed to a three-set match – each set is a one lap race, the course length adjusted for the windspeed to make them no more than forty minutes long, the first boat to win two sets taking the match. The details need a little work (what happens if conditions only allow two-races and it’s one-all?), but in principle this could be a lot more interesting than watching two boats sail for a couple of hours with the advantage unaltered from that gained at the first cross …

Anyway, we’re even with Alinghi at the moment, although our one point penalty hands them the edge. But, as we keep telling ourselves - and anyone who asks - there’s a long way to go. This isn’t even the end of the beginning.

Kelvin Harrap just announced that we are now waiting (for four days) in some very British weather (thirty knots and horizontal rain) to sail the British. After a year of Auckland, this smacks of a Kiwi living in a glasshouse and throwing stones, but they just can’t let go of the idea that this place is a balmy paradise.

But Ian and his lads are looking in fine fettle, with an important win over Stars and Stripes they were sharing third with Oracle and Prada. It worries me a little that they are talking about wheeling out the twin-fin boat for the quarters, but perhaps this is just a smokescreen, I can’t believe they’ve got the time left to get their race crew fully comfortable with it.

I suspect that’s been the other big reality check for all the teams between round robins – there ain’t much time for making changes and testing them. With the weather ensuring that the round robins take up all of their allotted time, there’s a bare week between the end of one and the start of the next. Take out a couple of days off for the sailing team, another couple that go to lousy weather (if you’re good or lucky, these might be the same two that you take off), another couple for getting the boat and crew race ready for the restart and you aren’t left with much time to test changes.

The scheduled gap is the same between RR2 and the quarter final, and then the repechage is on you before you’ve blinked. So it’s important to get into the top four and win the quarters to get a little more quality time for testing and in-house development.

This is the great advantage that the Kiwis have over the Challengers; they are completely in charge of their own schedule right up to the first race of the Cup. Every day we all tow out on to the Gulf and don’t get a race in, the Kiwis get a free day for their programme. And this event is all about productivity - the effective use of time and money. The Kiwis must be laughing down their sleeves at the interminable Round Robin One.

Meanwhile, the Cup’s siren song remains the same, with personnel changes at Prada and then Oracle giving my former colleagues in the fourth estate something to scribble about. Whatever went down at Prada, they’ve come into this second round robin looking a lot more settled and potent than three weeks ago. I wonder if the changes at Oracle will have the same effect?