One back for Alinghi

After a rainy day four of the UBS Trophy in Newport, Rhode Island

After magnificent conditions over the first three days of the UBS Trophy, the weather took a turn for the worse today with an overcast sky and torrential race.

The action in today's matches between Alinghi and BMW Oracle Racing was enhanced by the two races being held on a 1 mile long course (Cup races are normally 3.5 mile).

For race one Team Alinghi appeared to be vulnerable at one point in the pre-start, sailing well to windward of the starting line, with BMW Oracle Racing in position to perhaps hold them out from the line. But Alinghi helmsman Peter Holmberg was able to get his team out of trouble there, and Alinghi appeared to start strongly, slightly ahead and to leeward on the left of the BMW Oracle boat.

Gavin Brady, the BMW ORACLE helmsman, immediately tacked to the right, to clear his air while Alinghi sailed on for several boatlengths before also tacking.

The racing was completely skewed when the 7-10 knot wind shifted from the southwest to the southeast, meaning the first leg would be nearly all port tack. At this stage Alinghi appeared to be able to lay the mark but as the boats approached the top mark, while BMW Oracle Racing would need two tacks to make it around.

But when Brady tacked, the afterguard on Alinghi realised they wouldn’t be able to cross the starboard tack BMW Oracle boat and perhaps conservatively Holmberg put the helm down to cross behind. Brady was able to sneak inside at the mark rounding and BMW Oracle led by 10-seconds around the first mark.

Alinghi skipper Peter Holmberg explained why he wasn't being as aggressive as normal: "I’ve taken a year and a half off sailing. It is tricky coming on to a boat that you haven’t sailed before. This does handle differently to the last Cup boat I sailed. Yet it is still a boat, so there is no excuses there. I also have a new team so when you go into manoeuvres you hoping they are understanding or guessing what you are doing. So it has been a bit of a struggle and I try not to risk the boat in a situation I might not get out of. But it is a great team and I am asking them to take the lead and I think it has gone better than I expected."

BMW Oracle Racing was able to extend on the first run with its symmetric spinnaker, compared to the Alinghi asymmetrical gennaker, and Brady enjoyed a 36-second lead after the first lap of the course. With the Race Committee unable to completely realign the race course because of the constraints of the shoreline, passing opportunities were all but non-existent, and Alinghi fell for the fifth consecutive race, trailing by 39 seconds at the finish.

In the second match the wind had picked up to a solid 15 knot breeze and the one mile legs on the short, two and a half-lap course provided a big challenge for both crews.

Team Alinghi needed to win this match to keep BMW Oracle Racing in sight on the leaderboard, and helmsman Peter Holmberg responded with a strong start, setting the team up for victory.

The boats engaged in some fierce circling in the pre-start, before breaking back towards the starting line. Holmberg held his nerve, and was able to grab the right hand side, pushing Brady to the left. BMW Oracle had more speed at the start, as Alinghi threw in two quick tacks to take the right side, but it was a price worth paying, as Alinghi was able to sail most of the first beat in more favourable current.

Each time the boats converged on the first leg, Alinghi used its starboard tack advantage to protect its position on the right side of the race course, and that strategy paid off with a 13-second lead around the top mark.

BMW Oracle Racing made a nice move rounding the mark, throwing in a quick gybe that allowed it to sail a shorter distance to the next mark. Nearing the leeward mark, the Alinghi afterguard realised they were vulnerable and luffed up sharply, sacrificing a bit of their lead to ensure they would round the leeward mark first.

BMW Oracle was trailing by just 10-seconds at that bottom mark, but Alinghi again covered well and extended on the upwind leg, and protected its lead diligently around the rest of the race course to put in her first win in six races by a margin of 24 seconds and bring the overall score back to 7-4 in BMW Oracle Racing's favour.

"Some of the new guys on board were starting to say that we must have just been incredibly lucky in Auckland," commented Kiwi trimmer Simon Daubney wryly afterwards. "It was nice to get a win this afternoon for those guys to show that we’re not completely hopeless.

"On such a small course if you are behind you might get one or two if you are lucky, opportunities where you can make a little bit of a gain and close a three boat length lead down to a one boat length lead then you are back in the race again. If you just miss that opportunity by making an error or missing a gust, then you won’t get that chance again and bang the race is over. The short course really intensifies the whole thing and it is exciting and fun out there."

Aside from being new to Alinghi, and not helped by the absence of Russell Coutts and Brad Butterworth in the afterguard, Peter Holmberg believes that BMW Oracle Racing is better suited to Newport race course. He should know having race the American boat during the last Louis Vuitton Cup. "I think the important thing to realise here is that we are racing on a dirt track rather than on a long oval. We did have Oracle set up better for manoeuvring and control, that was one of our strong points, so I am not surprised to see them with a better horse for the track here. Alinghi is a great boat – fast, easy to drive, sweet, really nice but its manoeuvrability is not as strong as Oracle and me being new back to it, I am not going to put the hammer down in a tight situation to learn if it is going to make it or not."

Tomorrow, Wednesday, is a lay day at the UBS Trophy with no races scheduled. On Thursday, racing resumes with the first two Owner-Driver races, as well as race nine of the Pro-Driver series.