Simon Scullion

Some big matches today, particularly for the Spanish and Americans. Desafío will be looking to capitalise on the two wins earned yesterday and prove themselves real contenders against their direct rivals for the semi-finals. Emirates cannot afford many more slipups, and will be looking to claw back some points by halting Oracle’s unbeaten run in their second match, if the Spaniards haven’t already managed to register a big win in flight 10.

So, on to my picks:

Flight 10

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

Flight 11

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

Following a perfect 10 yesterday, here are my picks for today’s flights 8 & 9:

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

Flight 9

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

The big match today sees Emirates Team New Zealand looking to secure an important win over Luna Rossa Challenge, which would give them a three point margin over the Italians, with one match in hand. BMW ORACLE Racing meanwhile, will be looking not to slip up and lose their unbeaten record against Mascalzone Latino.

Today flights 6 & 7 are planned, which gives us the possibility of some more interesting matches, following yesterday’s big win for the South Africans, and a bad day for Luna Rossa who lost both their matches.

Here are my predictions again, winners in bold as always:

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

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

Team Shosholoza will be looking to build on their progress so far, on another challenging day for them with matches against the Kiwis and Spanish. Both should win, but we have seen enough from Shosholoza to know that they are capable of putting in the performances to beat the big teams, and won’t be taken lightly by either of their opponents today. Luna Rossa will be looking to recover from yesterday’s disappointment, whilst Emirates Team New Zealand will be hoping to see themselves back at the top of the table this evening.

All this providing we get some wind in Valencia!

Yet another day without wind!

So, flights 4 & 5 planned for today. We’ll see.

My predictions are here

Today sees flights 4 and 5 rescheduled as yesterday only saw flight 3 completed due to lack of wind yet again.

If we get some racing today, there are a few interesting matches. In flight 4, the big match is between the Spanish and Italians, both who’ll be hoping to make the semis. In flight 5 we see the big teams clashing with Luna Rossa Challenge taking on BMW ORACLE Racing. Desafío Español 2007 have a big day, and will be going all out to register an important victory against the Kiwis this afternoon.

So here is a repost of my picks (winners in bold):

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

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

The first week of the Louis Vuitton Cup has seen a lot of waiting, some interesting results, and already a big upset with Mascalzone Latino beating Emirates Team New Zealand in the first flight back on Friday.

The table is looking more or less as I would have expected, though with the leaders in a diferent order. With only three flights raced for all but three teams, only Ellison’s BMW Oracle Racing and the Italians Mascalzone Latino and Luna Rossa are unbeaten.

I think United Internet Team Germany will be diappointed with how their campaign has started and maybe have under-achieved during the first week. On the other hand, Mascalzone Latino and Victory Challenge will both be very happy to have got wins in all their races so far.

 Predictions Roundup

My predictions for Flights 1 & 2 weren’t too good, I only managed to pick 6 out of 10, with flight one particularly bad, I only got 2 correct!

Flight 3, like flight 2 was better, getting 4 of the 5 correct.

So, so far I’m at 66% (10/15). I’m happy with that for now!

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!