BMW Oracle Racing consolidate

As Alinghi beaten on the penultimate day of the America's Cup Act 1, reports Anne Hinton

Part two, day two of the first Act of the Louis Vuitton Cup 2007 in Marseille, the second two flights of match racing, again saw pretty much ideal conditions, with winds in the 8 to 13 knot range from the southeast.

Match of the day: Emirates Team New Zealand versus Alinghi, was first up on the schedule, to be followed, in the next match, by the local derby (K-Challenge versus Le Defi): an all-French affair. Both matches created their own excitement; more so than any others during the day.

In the first time that the two teams had sailed against each other since the 2003 America’s Cup, there was a distinct lack of engagement between Peter Holmberg in Alinghi and Dean Barker in Emirates Team New Zealand during the pre-start. Both boats went head to wind in the dial-up and then manoeuvred to stay in the same relative positions, eventually making stern way due to their length of time head to wind.

At the start Emirates Team New Zealand was to leeward as both boats set out to the port-hand side of the course, with the Swiss boat crossing the starting line four seconds before the Kiwis. Up the first beat, Alinghi had established a lead.

Then Alinghi had a problem with their genoa. The sail had snagged as the boat was held head to wind for several minutes during the pre-start and started to tear. As a result of this, Alinghi had to change her headsail on the beat. Although not losing a great deal of time due to this, it was enough to allow Emirates Team New Zealand to get past.

“The defining moment was at the bottom mark”, said Grant Dalton. “They were very close to an overlap, but we sailed a really nice, clean [leg], got a nice drop and opened up.” This time it was a lead that the Kiwis were not going to relinquish as they defended their lead well. “We didn’t go fleet racing today!” said Dalton. They even extended up the second beat, by benefitting from patches of better pressure. The final winning delta was 13 seconds to Emirates Team New Zealand.

"It was one of our best regattas of the match race series here. At the end of the day we lost because of the genoa. This is something that never happened to us during the America's Cup", said Jochen Schuemann, Alinghi's strategist and Sports Director.

“We could have beaten Oracle [yesterday]”, said a delighted Emirates Team New Zealand skipper, Dean Barker, “and after the race today we could then have won the regatta, that’s how close it is amongst these boats”.

“I’m not expecting any great differences in results in Valencia”, said Dalton. “There’s no time to make great changes to the boats.”

Alinghi's principal designer, Rolf Vrolijk, enjoyed watching the race: "It is the first time that the two finalists of the America' s Cup have met again in a competition. It is exceptional. The New Zealanders and the Swiss know each other well. They had some aggressive training days together before the start of this Act. Typically, they never sail against each other. It's really interesting to watch them sail together in this situation although it's obviously not the same as the real Cup, during which all the teams are at their best. The boats and the sails are optimized to the maximum. Here, it is not the case, except for BMW Oracle Racing, who has been training and testing for the past year."

“I’m going to go home and relax for a couple of weeks after this event”, said Barker. “Then we’re going to come back [to Valencia].” Emirates Team New Zealand will have a different afterguard in Valencia as Ben Ainslie and Terry Hutchinson join Dean Barker at the back of the boat. After Valencia, Barker will go back on the match racing circuit and Emirates Team New Zealand will train at home in Auckland over the southern summer.

There was also a surprise in store in the local derby today. Le Defi has come into her element a little more in the match racing, which helmsman Philippe Presti clearly enjoys. Indeed, Presti has done a fair amount of match racing in smaller boats this year and finished third in the world championships in Russia. However, the opposite can be said for K-Challenge. Thierry Peponnet, K-Challenge’s helmsman, has not done anything like so much match racing and it shows, especially in the start box.

A consequence of this was that Le Defi easily got the upper hand at the start, which Peponnet described as “pretty intense”, crossing the starting line five seconds before her rival. She then sailed a classic match race, staying between the beaten boat and the next mark and taking the opportunity to off-load some dirty air on K-Challenge when possible. The winning delta in this case was 30 seconds to Le Defi.

However, an incident in the start box, in which Le Defi clouted K-Challenge badly while attempting to keep clear in a luffing situation, led to a red flag protest, after the incident was green flagged by the on-the-water umpires (in their own boat) who had not seen what had occurred. The outcome of the evening’s protest meeting between the two French boats was that K-Challenge had to bear the cost of the damage herself - and also ensure that the repair was completed over night, as the damage had taken the boat outside the class rules. Failure to repair the damage before racing tomorrow will mean that K-Challenge will be disqualified from her race.

The day’s remaining races, BMW Oracle Racing against Shosholoza, Le Defi against Emirates Team New Zealand, Shosholoza against Alinghi, and K-Challenge against BMW Oracle Racing all went in favour of the top three boats in the results table, with deltas ranging from 1:32 to 4:05.

The results from today mean that BMW Oracle Racing is unassailable in the lead and has won Act One. There is, however, plenty to play for over second place, with only two points separating Alinghi and Emirates Team New Zealand.

The final flight, to be held tomorrow, sees a match against the two teams who took part in the final of the last Louis Vuitton Cup in Auckland, BMW Oracle Racing and Alinghi. The outcome of this match is likely to determine second place in Act One of the current Louis Vuitton Cup.

Flt Three
Emirates Team New Zealand beat Alinghi, 0:13
Le Defi beat K-Challenge, 0:30
BMW Oracle Racing beat Shosholoza, 4:05

Flt Four
Emirates Team New Zealand beat Le Defi, 2:30
Alinghi beat Shosholoza, 3:33
BMW Oracle Racing beat K-Challenge, 1:32

Results
1. BMW Oracle Racing, 46pts
2. Alinghi, 38pts
3. Emirates Team New Zealand, 36pts
4. K-Challenge, 17pts
5. Le Defi, 11pts
6. Shosholoza, 8pts