Oracle consolidates

After day two of the Moet Cup in San Francisco

A strong breeze and flood conditions set the scene for today’s Moet Cup pro-driver races.

A small craft weather advisory announced earlier in the day for San Francisco Bay suggested racing may not happen but a first start got underway just before 2pm in 18 knots of breeze which built to 25 knots during Race 2. Combined with a strong flood tide, conditions were very challenging.

It was a reversal of fortunes in the Pro-Driver series with Larry Ellison's Oracle BMW Racing team winning both of the races on San Francisco Bay and jumping to a 2-1 lead in the seven-race series. Skipper Chris Dickson’s squad took full advantage of it's local knowledge to win the first race of the day and give new recruit Gavin Brady his first win at the wheel for the American team.

The Moët Cup continued to provide spectacular viewing opportunities, with the best action coming up the final short beat to the finish, in the first race of the day, when Alinghi sailed in close to shore, tacking just yards off the breakwater at the Aquatic Park.

Crowds lined the sea wall, and filled the bleachers set up outside the host Golden Gate Yacht Club to enjoy the sight of these two giant America’s Cup Class boats duelling on San Francisco Bay.


Race one

It was windy at the start of the race, with a strong 20-knot westerly challenging the race crews, and ensuring that the pre-start ritual was relatively mild compared to the standard set on Monday.

Both boats hit the line with speed on port tack, with Alinghi slightly to weather. But the Swiss team couldn’t gain enough separation to hold its position there, and was eventually forced to tack away to clear its wind.

"One of the things that has helped a lot is that the technology in the sail battens has come a long way," commented Gavin Brady later. "In these sort of conditions, we would almost certainly have broken every batten in the mainsail in the gybe that we pulled off (to re-start). We’ve got a slightly smaller mainsail, which helps as well, so there’s less load on the battens. So a lot of that is coming from the technology, which is letting us push the boats a lot harder. But that was about as aggressive as you could get away with."

When the boats converged again the first cross went to USA-76 by one boat length.

Brady, with local sailors John Kostecki and Larry Ellison among the afterguard on USA-76, kept pushing Alinghi skipper Jochen Schuemann further to the left side of the race course, forcing SUI-64 to sail in damaging current, while Oracle BMW Racing picked up a nice boost just off Alcatraz Island.

From there, Brady and skipper Chris Dickson were able to protect their lead, rounding the top mark in lighter breeze, and with a 22-second lead.

Both boats gybed around the weather mark, and in contrast to Monday, this time it was USA-76 that was the faster boat on the run, stretching to a 25-second advantage.

It was a long port tack up each of the beats in this race, with a lot of south in the generally westerly wind, and that limited the options for Schuemann, and tactician Brad Butterworth on Alinghi, as they tried in vain to find a passing lane.

Oracle BMW Racing (USA-76) eventually beat Alinghi (SUI-64) by 27 seconds.


Race two

Alinghi skipper Jochen Schuemann squandered his starboard tack advantage during the pre-start of race three, when his late entry into the start box allowed Gavin Brady to cross ahead and avoid the dial up. Both boats sailed very deep to leeward of the line but didn’t engage too aggressively until just moments before the start, after Alinghi was forced to tack by a broken jib sheet, and Brady sensed an opportunity to pressure his opponent.

With Schuemann and Brady pressing on the speed in the strong wind, both boats were a fraction of a second early for the start gun and had to return and re-start. The American boat, immediately dove back to the line, and gybed, barely maintaining control to restart. Alinghi was slower to return and found itself re-starting nearly four-lengths back of Oracle BMW Racing. They later admitted that with the American boat between them and the committee it had taken them long to see that both yellow and blue had been raised, recalling both boats.

"If you can’t get control from the start, it is almost impossible to pass on this Bay," commented Brad Butterworth afterwards. "We only have one option - wait until our opponent makes a mistake. But Oracle is making very few."

The re-start saw Alinghi sail far to the left side of the course, while Brady took USA-76 to the right, and out of the current behind Alcatraz Island. The split was big, well over a mile, and when the boats finally converged again, Oracle BMW Racing was well ahead.

The boats tacked up the shoreline, right in front of the host Golden Gate Yacht Club, and the crowds lining the seawall. USA-76 rounded with a 24-second lead, and despite Alinghiclosing the gap on both runs, the American team was able to extend on the beats and win by a safe margin.

Oracle BMW repeated her early win, this time with a delta of 24 seconds.

After the racing Oracle BMW Racing's Ross Halcrow provided some insight in how ACC boats have developed: "In 22 knots of wind, with Young America, we couldn’t sail in that, we’d break and sink. So it’s pretty exciting to be sailing here with Oracle BMW on these great, solid boats and being able to sheet on and sit down there to leeward, getting covered in water without worrying about what’s going to break next.

Following Alinghi's 3-1 defeat to date Alinghi's Curtis Blewett gave his views on how they would move forward: "We’ve been sailing together for a long time. It’s not like we’re going to go and have a big, intense, meeting tonight. We’re here to do our best in the event and we’ve all been together for a couple of years now and we’re pretty comfortable with each other. So we’ll continue to try and figure out what side of the course we want off the line, and what the tides are doing, and we’ll just carry on as normal."

Getting a bird's eye view of the action today on board SUI-64 was Ellen McArthur. "It was very different but just great," commented Ellen. "I’m really impressed with the atmosphere on board Alinghi - it’s very nice. I got to steer for two tacks before the pre-start which was really exciting. It looks easier from the outside but once you’re on the boat you can see how complicated it is on an America’s Cup boat."

Racing for the Moët Cup continues on Wednesday afternoon, with two races scheduled, one in each of the Pro-Driver and Owner Driver series.


Overall Ranking
Alinghi: 1 – Oracle: 3

Owner/driver regatta – no race today
Overall Ranking
Alinghi: 0 – Oracle: 1