Simon Scullion

Today is the first reserve day, so we roll the clock back to Monday, and the schedule for flights 1 & 2.  Things aren’t looking too positive though, fingers crossed a sea breeze can build for the afternoon.

Just for the record then, here are my original predictions for flights 1 & 2:

Flight 1

• Mascalzone Latino - Capitalia Team - Emirates Team New Zealand
• +39 Challenge - Areva Challenge
• United Internet Team Germany - BMW ORACLE Racing
• Team Shosholoza - Victory Challenge
• China Team - Luna Rossa Challenge

Flight 2

• Desafío Español 2007 - +39 Challenge
• Mascalzone Latino - Capitalia Team - Areva Challenge
• United Internet Team Germany - Team Shosholoza
• China Team - BMW ORACLE Racing
• Victory Challenge - Luna Rossa Challenge

So, depending on which way you want to look at things, I’m either at a perfect 100%, or a disastrous 0% with these damned predictions!

Will we finally get some racing today!? I sure hope so, though I’m not predicting it!

So if we do manage to see some, here are my picks (as always in bold):

Flight 7

• BMW ORACLE Racing    -    Areva Challenge
• Luna Rossa Challenge    -    +39 Challenge
• United Internet Team Germany    -    Emirates Team New Zealand
• Mascalzone Latino – Capitalia Team    -    China Team
• Desafío Español 2007    -    Team Shosholoza

Flight 8

• Victory Challenge    -    Areva Challenge
• BMW ORACLE Racing    -    +39 Challenge
• Desafío Español 2007    -    United Internet Team Germany
• Mascalzone Latino – Capitalia Team    -    Team Shosholoza
• China Team    -    Emirates Team New Zealand

No big head-to-heads today, but there could be some close run matches. Team Shosholoza will be looking to get a solid start and make an impact, particularly in their first match of the day against the locals.

Lets see if today we actually get some racing! After all the build-up, the first two days of the event being windless with all the matches cancelled has left me with a sense of anti-climax!

So, on to my predictions (in bold) for the day:

Flight 5

• China Team - Team Shosholoza
• Emirates Team New Zealand - Desafío Español 2007
• Victory Challenge - United Internet Team Germany
• Luna Rossa Challenge - BMW ORACLE Racing
• +39 Challenge - Mascalzone Latino - Capitalia Team

Flight 6

• China Team - Desafío Español 2007
• Team Shosholoza - Emirates Team New Zealand
• Areva Challenge - Luna Rossa Challenge
• United Internet Team Germany - Mascalzone Latino - Capitalia Team
• +39 Challenge - Victory Challenge

Today there are some interesting pairings, with my pick being Emirates vs Desafío, and Luna Rossa vs BMW Oracle. This is quite a start for the four teams I expect to make the semi-finals. I won’t be too unhappy to see the local boys get a win against the Kiwis, whilst for the Italians and Ellison’s team alike, a good start and a win against direct rivals gets their campaign off on the right foot and will settle a lot of nerves.

Having got over the envy caused by Vowe, I have felt inspired to try and predict some of the results for the round-robin phases of the Louis Vuitton Cup, prior to the real thing.

First of all, here is my prediction for the teams to qualify for the semi-finals:

1: Emirates Team New Zealand
2: BMW Oracle Racing
3: Luna Rossa Challenge
4: Desafío Español 2007

Now for the flight predictions, winners in bold:

Flight 1

• Mascalzone Latino - Capitalia Team - Emirates Team New Zealand
• +39 Challenge - Areva Challenge
• United Internet Team Germany - BMW ORACLE Racing
• Team Shosholoza - Victory Challenge
• China Team - Luna Rossa Challenge

Flight 2

• Desafío Español 2007 - +39 Challenge
• Mascalzone Latino - Capitalia Team - Areva Challenge
• United Internet Team Germany - Team Shosholoza
• China Team - BMW ORACLE Racing
• Victory Challenge - Luna Rossa Challenge

Flight 3

• Luna Rossa Challenge - United Internet Team Germany
• Victory Challenge - China Team
• BMW ORACLE Racing - Team Shosholoza
• Areva Challenge - Desafío Español 2007
• Emirates Team New Zealand - +39 Challenge

Flight 4

• United Internet Team Germany - China Team
• Team Shosholoza - Luna Rossa Challenge
• Victory Challenge - BMW ORACLE Racing
• Areva Challenge - Emirates Team New Zealand
• Desafío Español 2007 - Mascalzone Latino - Capitalia Team

I have included yesterday’s cancelled flights also, which are scheduled now for Friday. So far the big teams have not met, it might get more difficult to call. Lets see whether I can keep this up!

Disclaimer: These predictions are off the cuff, no research has been done. More fool anyone who loses money betting on them!