AUCKLAND, NEW ZEALAND
DECEMBER 16, 2002
QUOTE FROM MATTEO PLAZZI
At the end of today's racing matteo plazzi, navigator of Luna Rossa, said: "Today was a hard day for us. OneWorld raced
very well and did not make any mistakes and when you are behind you tend to push things. In these situations it does not
always turn out for the better.
When you sail the short course often the race is decided in the first beat, without any chance to make it up. Our choice
of the gennaker for the first run of this morning's race was motivated by our need to attack our opponent, but when we
attacked we actually lost some ground.
I do not think though that our using the gennaker instead of the spinnaker in the end really made a significant
difference.
In the second race we had a problem at the bottom mark when the spinnaker sheets were caught under the bow and pulled
part of the spinnaker into the water, slowing us down considerably and making us lose a lot of ground.
We must try to leave today behind and come out tomorrow with the morale of a team who has worked hard for two years to
prepare for these races.
We will be more aggressive and will do our best to gain two points and keep the door open."