Play of the Day: How Los Gallos’ mode change gamble clinched their Geneva victory

By the end of our ten qualifying races, Spain's Los Gallos remained the team with the edge, enabling them to make the winning move on the last beat of the Final and scoop the Australians to victory.

The key move wasn't the overtake just before the top gate. It wasn't the tack on the inside of Bonds Flying Roos on the layline. It was the moding choice that allowed both of those things happen.

The Australians and Spanish crossed paths around two thirds up on the last upwind leg. Los Gallos was 80m behind, and both were powered by the same 15.3 km/h column of wind. The Australian F50 was sailing on port to the right, while Spain was on starboard to the left - crucially in a little more wind. While Botin's crew enjoyed a peak wind speed of 17.3 km/h, the Aussies saw their wind drop to 14 km/h - 9% less than the Spanish.

This stronger wind wasn't enough to seal the deal on it's own, but just enough to make a radical mode change possible - the chance to foil.

During the next 40 seconds Los Gallos zeroed in on foiling speed, a decision, which saw wind trimmer Florian Trittel make 38 inputs to the wind controls (just fewer than one per second). Meanwhile, the Aussies made just four. That doesn't mean the Bonds Flying Roos weren't working hard, it shows they picked a gear and stuck with it.