SailJuice Blog

I went to a match racing presentation at the Alinghi base today (where Richard Branson was getting the royal tour from Ernesto Bertarelli, by the by). Ed Baird offered some excellent insights into the daunting task of match racing these giant multihulls in the 33rd America’s Cup.

WATCH ED BAIRD VIDEOS ON MATCH RACING MOVES HERE….

Alinghi’s helmsman (although he won’t be on the boat for the 33rd) pointed out that the race course is a massive 450 square miles, compared with just 9 square miles for the previous Cup in monohulls.

But there won’t be the same aggressive manoeuvres in the big multis, certainly no repeat of the famous ‘dial down’ which saw the Kiwis cop a penalty from Alinghi in the final race of the 32nd Cup match.

Baird also pointed out that if a… Read the rest

Journalists and spectators are already getting frustrated by the lack of action in Valencia, after a seemingly perfect day’s sailing was called off.

However, principal race officer Harold Bennett put us right on the suitability of the conditions. It might have been flat water inshore, but as he motored more than 20 miles offshore, the seas got lumpy and everyone is heaving off the side of the race committee catamaran. Although the breeze was only up to 17 knots, Bennett canned racing due to the sea state, with waves kicking up higher than 1.5m. Bennett reminded us that he’d said we’d need to be patient. “This is not the best time of year to be trying to do this,” he said, adding that he reckoned he’d seen just five or six suitable sailing days in the past three weeks… Read the rest

A very interesting visit to the BMW Oracle Racing base this afternoon, to hear the skipper, tactician and navigator explain various aspects of the American campaign for the 33rd America’s Cup.

John Kostecki, tactician for BMW Oracle in the 33rd America’s Cup, talked about the potential advantages of the wing rig – acceleration, manoeuvrability – in the match against Alinghi’s catamaran. And James Spithill looked at the advantages of trimarans v catamarans.

I posted some videos here:

CLICK HERE FOR AMERICA’S CUP VIDEOS….

Maybe it was too much to expect. Maybe it was a symbol of the last two-and-a-half years of stop-start frustration that has marked the 33rd America’s Cup.

No racing.

Not even a sniff of it. After the whoop-whoop send-off for the two protagonists this morning, the building excitement seeped away as Day One of the 33rd America’s Cup turned to a damp squib. Alinghi 5 did their best to demonstrate the potential for racing, hoisting their sails and driving the boat as hard as possible in whatever gusts came their way, the Swiss catamaran generating 15 knots’ boat speed and raising a hull in just 5 knots’ breeze. BMW Oracle weren’t playing that game, preferring to bob around and wait for the wind to settle, which it never did.

“I heard it was 20 degrees and 14 knots’ breeze in… Read the rest

The first podcast from Valencia, with regular podcasters Andy & Justin talking to Matt Sheahan of Yachting World.

Topics discussed include: The Weather, Rocky The Movie, and Armageddon The Movie. And a bit about sailing, or lack of it…

http://www.sailjuice.com/articles/sailing-talk-podcast-day-1-americas-cup

So now we know. Wing rigs rule. After months of speculation, it wasn’t even close.

I was sitting at the BMW Oracle team base all day next to Peter Lester and Martin Tasker, the TV boys working for the American team.

What about that pre-start! Before the start Alinghi was flying around, looking the nimbler of the two boats in the light airs.

But come start box entry time, BMW Oracle flew into the start box at double speed, James Spithill gunning for Ernesto Bertarelli from the moment the gun fired.

A penalty! Less than a minute into the 33rd America’s Cup. Who could have foreseen that? Who said that multihulls make for dull match racing?

Then the next twist as Spithill, controlling the slow-speed dial up, finds himself stalled above the line as Bertarelli – the wealthy owner –… Read the rest