It seems amazing that a syndicate can spend so much time and money on designing a boat that after 10 minutes of sailing can't keep its hull above the waterline in 20 knots of wind. Given that these boats are pushed so close to their design limits, the extra weight of the water will have put so much stress on the gear on board the boat that breakages were bound to happen. That it happened after only 10 minutes of sailing - most of that with the leeward side of the boat having wave after wave coming over the side - can only be either an unseen gear failure we don't know about - or an alarming design flaw. More disturbing was that this little design flaw wasn't picked up in testing, after all I'm sure that 20 knot winds have been around in Auckland for the several years they've been testing. Possibly they'd pre-prepared by having the bucket there. "Ha take that surging seas and tonnes of water, you'll have no chance against my plastic bucket!!" Another theory has it that Barker, in a furious attempt to win the start from his former mentor turned the boat way too quickly, heeled it over too far and began to pick up water over the side - which then lowered the boat too far for more waves to come in. So we either have a crap boat in 20 knots, or a crap skipper. Hooray...

The on-board audio from Alinghi didn't bode well either, with a couple of their sailors apparently musing about us "sinking" in different wave conditions that they believe could be worse - along with pointed comments at the end about "congratulations to (Alinghi's) shore crew". So all in all a great start in front of the international yachting community and a worldwide audience...
 
So in an ode to race one, we have penned the following song....
 
"We all sail in a national submarine, a national submarine, a national submarine" "We all sail in a national submarine, a national submarine, a national submarine" "We all sail in a national submarine, a national submarine, a national submarine" To fade...
 
Alas things not much seems to have improved, one supposes the raging optimists would point out that at least we are now finishing the races, albeit several seconds behind...It seems that lads can't quite get it right at the start of the race as in race 2 "Hurrah we've got the right hand side of the course....Doh!!" And in race 3 "Hurrah we've got the left hand side of the course....Bah!! Dah!!" One can only hope that we come up with a few new ideas, and not lose any more races on the final leg by 7 seconds...
 
Really it will be quite a pity if the Cup does leave Auckland, no more ridiculous over-priced rums down at the viaduct basin, a shortage of incredibly rich people in super yachts flaunting their vast sums of cash at us peasant locals. Heaven forbid the shock local business would take when the cup leaves, yes all those poor restaurant owners on the waterfront and the rich multi-national hotel owners. Good grief!! They may have to go with-out lobster for lunch on Tuesdays!! The owners of the Loaded Hog might have to slash the prices of their drinks down to single figures in an effort to increase sales!! Yes that economic spin-off will be sorely missed, especially by Helen Clark and John Banks - no more prattling on about how much money it's bringing into Auckland.
 
And to finish, let's have a sing along with Rod Stewart and Team New Zealand now:
 
 "We are bailing, we are baaaaaaailing!"
 "Water out, frantically"
 "We are sailing, stormy waters"
 "Knots over 20, help 23!!"
 
 "Alinghi's flying, really flying"
 "Like a bird 'cross the sky"
 "We're not dying, oh please not drowning!"
 "And we're losing, woe is me"
 
 "Can you hear us, can you hear us?"
 "Screaming Mayday, Desperately!"
 "Dean is crying, Coutts is smiling"
 "Who thought there'd be waves, out on the sea?"
 
 "We are bailing, we are baaaaaaailing!"
 "Water out, frantically"
 "We are sailing, 20 knot waters"
 "And we're sinking, woe is me"