The first two rounds of the Louis Vuitton Cup went pretty much as expected. Alinghi and Oracle finished at the top, and Mascalzone Latino went home first. Possibly Stars and Stripes performed a bit worse than expected at 7th and the Swedes a bit better than expected at 5th. Now the “do-or-die” rounds start and every two weeks, two teams will be sent home. I think it will be a bit shocking to some how quickly the end will come. By New Year, there will be only two teams left.

Also, it seems that there are no radically different design ideas that have come to fruition on the challenger side but rather evolutionary improvements on the state of the art. The British challenge has tried a tandem-keel on their newest boat, something like NZL 20 in 1992, but that doesn