I didn’t want to seem aggressive. And you are right, i called you self assured, but I was acting more self assured. Fly the crew to Cagliari would be possible, a lot of football players are going home in private jets. I still think they could have a base for the shore-team in Cagliari, since they were planning to stay there some time. But, who knows. I’m not playing “Italy hope” as you called it. I hope ETNZ or LR to win, they are my favourite teams. Not a fan of Sir B or Dean actually. And I respect your opinion, but I still think that the simulator is good for designing your boat, because you have reliable inputs, but not so good in comparing performances. Also, I think AM and Ineos have a lot more work to do, since they have to change not only boat design but sailing philosophy too. And I’m worried for ETNZ. Bacause I see a lot of enthusiasm for Te Kahu, but that was a boat that had to cover a small time frame while B1 was in Europe, and now it’s the only thing they can work on and it’s not enough. Maybe it was also meant to be sailed against B1. I don’t know. What I think is that a scaled down model is not half as good as they real thing. I’d like to hear from others too about this.And sooo easy too. With no flights and the borders all closed or closing. Not to mention quarantine requirements. And the question of when or whether they'd be able to return to their NZ base or play any meaningful wider role in the cup defence for at least a number of months. And all the shore team and gear they'd need to maintain - let alone develop - and operate an AC75. Probably a number of other challenges I haven't even thought of either. All to sail in water and conditions with little to no bearing to the waters they'll be sailing the event in. And that they can continue sailing in now seeing they ddn't follow your no doubt invaluable advice..
Mind you, don't let little details like those stand in the way of your argument...
Part of me wonders whether you're just playing that game known as 'Italy hopes'... and rolling out all the propositions that might give LR an improved chance of success come the match. Because they certainly wouldn't have helped ETNZ any.