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Match 3 Preview: Make or Break?

Posted 1 year, 3 months ago

Match 3 Preview: Make or Break?
Good morning from a dramatically cooler Valencia. The hot, dry North African airmass that hung over much of Spain yesterday is gone this morning. After a breezy full-frontal passage and even some thunderstorm activity early this morning, the temp is fully 17 deg C (nearly 30F) cooler than it was yesterday afternoon -- now 73F after a high of 102F Sunday; our previous post refers. It's like someone turned on an Iberian aircon. Speaking of hung over, this morning more than a few Cupheads will be grateful for the cooler temps and good sleeping weather, because at the Ristorante Lambrusceria* last evening your Ed. bore witness to A youthfully-enthusiastic birthday celebration for two popular Cup figures: Judy Sim (USA, Oracle Corp VP) and Eddie Warden Owen (GBR, coach of Desafio Espanol). The separate parties merged, and any number of other Cup figures and racer chasers from other tables joined the fun. Thank goodness owner Antonio would not let the guitar out of the back room or it might have all gone "seriously wrong" -- as Ken McAlpine (AUS, AC Measurement Chief) has been known to say. For the record, Ken, who is a man with serious responsibilities at the moment that he takes seriously, was not present -- except, perhaps, in spirit. Make or break? Well, besides a few heads that probably feel broken this morning, our headline, of course, is apropos today's crucial Match 3. Except for the weird multi-defender match of 1871 in which the challenger Livonia won Match 3, and the even weirder 1988, to the best of your Ed.'s knowledge and memory, the winner of Match 3 has always gone on to win the AC. To wit, here are the interesting match-ups: 1920 - After Lipton's challenger Shamrock IV won the first two, NYYC's Resolute won Match 3 and went on to win the Cup 3-2. 1934 - After Endeavour won the first two, NYYC Commodore Vanderbilt's J-Boat Rainbow won Match 3 and went on to win the Cup 4-2. 1958 - Even though Sceptre took a race off Columbia, it was Match 4 after the NYYC defender had already won the first three. 1983 - Guess which boat won Match 3, after losing the first two? Yep, Australia II. She, of course, went on to win 4-3, ending NYYC's 132-year reign. 1988 - OK, the aforementioned exception. The winner did not win Match 3. However, as there was no prior mutual consent as to a certain number of races, etc., AC '88 was conducted under the "default" provisions of the Deed of Gift. It was first-to-win-two, and the SDYC defender, Stars & Stripes, won in two straight. 1992 - Challenger Il Moro won Match 2, but defender America Cubed won Matches 1,3,4 and 5 in that first-to-win-four series. 1995 onwards - as most every reader of the BOB will know, the defender has won 5-0. So for AC 32, is today once again "make or break"? Something to bear in mind as we go through the remaining matches. *a.k.a. "The Docks", a restaurant at Conde Altea 31 that is popular with Cup teams and officials. We have checked and there is no truth to the rumour that Jane Eagleson has become a part-owner in return for having introduced so many of us to The Docks after we began coming to VLC back in late 2003. Full Story »

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