Grant Dalton, Emirates Team New Zealand, on the spectator fleet today on the Rade Sud: Normally when you have that many spectator boats you sail off into the sunset and don't see anyone again for 25 days, so it's kind of cool to have that many spectator boats and be able to come in for dinner.
Dean Barker, Emirates Team New Zealand helmsman on getting back in 'America's Cup' mode: We had three days practicing before this race but the last time I sailed this boat for any time was during the last Cup…We're pleased to get back into racing, this is the first time we've ever raced BMW ORACLE, because as Defender (until 2003), we spent years in isolation.
Peter Holmberg, helmsman, Team Alinghi, evaluating the competition: We were surprised to see that BMW ORACLE wasn't near us. Their pace didn't seem to be quite as good as it was in Newport…It was too windy to look around but it was good having Emirates Team New Zealand close to us as that gave us a good gauge.
Bertrand Pacé, afterguard (not sailing today) BMW ORACLE Racing, describing his teams problems on the first run: "We went for an early spinnaker drop at the first leeward mark but the string line broke after the halyard was dumped. The kite then went into the water so we had to cut it free. After that we had to tack around, gybing was too risky."
Geoff Meek, skipper, Team Shosholoza: We were going a lot quicker than we thought we'd be going at this stage…This was a fantastic time to start our America's Cup campaign. This is the first time we've ever sailed against any other boats.
Paul Stanbridge, sailing manager, crew member, Team Shosholoza, on racing as opposed to practice: The lack of competition in South Africa has not been a problem for us at this stage. Until we can turn the boat around, inside and out we've got plenty to learn that doesn't require another boat to tune against.
Philippe Presti, helmsman, LE DEFI, on equipment problems today: The problem was the rigging is from 2002, and has deteriorated in the ultraviolet light, so after the start, we broke our running backstay and couldn't tack. We had a good start, but…
Sebastien Col, tactician, K-Challenge, describes their day: This was our first race in this much wind, and we've only sailed with this crew together for six days. It was difficult. I don't think there is one boat who can say they didn't break anything. But we sailed a straight race.
