So the U.S. team has been knocked out of the hunt for the America's Cup. Where did they fail?

Question

To say the team collapsed is an understment. Was it the skipper? Boat design? Poor team effort? Lame leadership? Too arrogant? All of the above?

What do you think?

Answer 1

I guess nobody, if you exclude the members of Oracle's team, can have the proper answer to your questions but as a start I wouldn't say it's 100% true that the team collapsed since I feel they've hardly fighted all the 6 matches.
I'm Italian and a Luna Rossa's supporter: I've watched all the matches in TV and heard all the comments about this unexpected defeat. It seems that after the first round robin Oracle has changed the dimension of the helm since they've have had a few problems (a kind of low control) at the starting's operations.
This had been complained by Chris Dickson and it seems this is one of the reason why Larry Ellison has fired him just in the morning of the final match.
However, still basing my feelings on the bunch of comments heard on the TV, I guess this has also happened because Luna Rossa was a totally different boat if compared to the first round, much improved in both points of sailing. Italian team must have changed a lot in their boat (they've requested twice the burden certificate in the meanwhile) and in general I've had the impression that at the end it was a bit faster then the "new" Oracle.
We must consider that Luna Rossa has crossed as first ALL the marks of all the matches of this semi's if you just exclude the finish line of the 2nd match (and this was due just to a separation called by Torben Grael and not for an Oracle's deserve).
I guess it has had a bit of influence also the last match of the first round Oracle has lost vs New Zealand. In that occasion the self-confidence of the crew has been weaked and rumors say that the position of Dickson as sole leader has been put into discussion already then.
Add to this that aside the mistake of the separation in the second match Luna Rossa's crew has never made a single error and you'll get that the final result has been absolutely deserved and that it was not just "luck".
Therefore to summarize my opinion is that Oracle has lost the semi' vs Luna Rossa because :
1.- Luna Rossa is actually a faster boat. I don't think Oracle's project was wrong but they didn't improved the boat respect the first round while Luna Rossa did it.
2.- Chris Dickson has never tried to involve the whole team and this has also something to do with his own arrogance.
3.- Larry Ellison should have replaced the skipper when the score was 1-2 or 1-3 but not on 1-4 - Too late then !!
4.- Luna Rossa team has sailed practically without making any error. Also Oracle team (if you exclude the wretched startings of Dickson) has made no big errors but it was not enough to compensate the gap of their boat's slightly lower speed.
5.- It's also possible that Oracle would be setted to run the finals and the next America's Cup with a stronger range of wind (let's say from 16 to 20 knots) but in Valencia this condition has never occurred upto now.

Answer 2

well theyve always been known as too arrogant and it gets them no where it seems every year im gonna go with all of the above it all seems to work haha