Moët Cup players give their views

Racing to start today for Louis Vuitton Cup rematch in San Francisco

Last night, on the eve of the Moët Cup, America’s Cup winner Ernesto Bertarelli and his Alinghi squad and Larry Ellison with his Oracle BMW Racing team sat down with media, to preview the racing, and the future of the America’s Cup.

The first race of the Moët Cup is on Monday afternoon, when Race One of the Pro-Driver series kicks off the event. Professional skippers Jochen Schuemann, Alinghi, and Chris Dickson, Oracle BMW Racing, will lead their teams into battle on San Francisco Bay.

The race courses will be short, keeping the action close, and the venue means the boats will be sailing in full view of spectators along the shore line. The Pro-Driver series is a seven race match-up.

Later in the afternoon, the Owner-Drivers take over, sailing the first race of their five match series. Larry Ellison will be at the helm of Oracle BMW Racing, against his rival, Ernesto Bertarelli of Alinghi.

"I think we’ve improved our crew a lot in terms of being more competitive," commented Larry Ellison. "There’s no question that Alinghi is the best sailing team in the world. It’s very generous of Ernesto to bring his America’s Cup team to SF to race us on our home water. This has never happened before. I did promise to bring the America’s Cup back to San Francisco and Ernesto is very kind to help me keep my promise!"

Ernesto Bertarelli gave his view on Oracle BMW’s preparations for the Moët Cup: "It looks like a bit of a set-up frankly! Larry’s a good friend of mine and we’ve been working together at shaping up the next Cup. I was visiting here on business and I decided to stopover and talk to him about the little regatta that we were thinking of organising. I was really thinking that we were going to have a little bit of fun, and sail by ourselves, and see how it goes. But suddenly I find myself in front of 150 journalists and he’s been practicing for three months with new sails!

Chris Dickson, Oracle BMW Racing's skipper, was also on hand to give his views: "Last time we raced Alinghi we didn’t particularly enjoy the result, so we’re grateful to Ernesto and Jochen and the team for coming to San Francisco. For us this is the beginning of a new team and we’re looking ahead to another America’s Cup with a lot of events like this planned every year. It’s a chance for us to go out with some new faces and sail in San Francisco. We’ve had some very, very good practice racing and we’re ready to take them on."

Jochen Schuemann, Alinghi skipper, speaking about Moët Cup:

We think it’s a good thing to start here the pre-regattas for the next America’s Cup. I think it’s quite important that we see that it works, that the media see America’s Cup sailing throughout the years before the Cup, and I think that it will be exciting racing and hopefully raise more interest in the Cup from spectators, media and everyone.