SailJuice Blog

Yesterday we looked back at the first five years of the Nautical Noughties, the moments that stood out in the competitive sailing world. Here’s a look at the last five…

2005

A new form of sailing is born as Rohan Veal uses a set of hydrofoils to win every race of the 2005 International Moth World Championships, sometimes by more than 10 minutes.

The diminutive Ellen MacArthur makes history by setting a new singlehanded round the world record aboard her purpose-built trimaran B&Q/Castorama.

A new canting-keel monster, the ambitious Volvo Open 70, is unleashed on the Volvo Ocean Race. But Mother Nature makes her displeasure known on the very first night of the race off the coast of Spain, when Pirates of the Caribbean and Movistar crash out of leg one. The new design is fraught with problems, but… Read the rest

This mad, bad America’s Cup does have its advantages, and today it comes in the form of another beautiful photo from Carlo Borlenghi.

Whatever else we might think about the 33rd America’s Cup, it has been a wet dream for the lawyers (boo!), and increasingly so for the lucky few photographers (hooray!) such as Carlo and his BMW Oracle Racing counterpart, Gilles Martin Raget.

We might as well make the most of these moments. They could well turn out to be among the high points of the 33rd edition of the America’s Cup.

“Tell you what Larry. If we promise to make this America’s Cup game a bit fairer, can we not go to court? Please?”

That’s the short version of a peace offering made by Alinghi yesterday. If you want to read the long version from Alinghi, it’s published below.

This is a massive climb down from the Defender’s original position. Clearly the prospect of going to the New York Supreme Court (pictured above) in just less than a month is getting a little too real for comfort.

So thankfully, sense has finally prevailed. Alinghi have backed down in a number of key areas. Though it seems none will ever be brave enough to say it in public, the other ‘legitimate’ challengers have a good deal to thank Larry and the Golden Gate Yacht Club for, in helping… Read the rest

Some reassurances today from Brad Butterworth and Alinghi that they are not going to abuse their self-bestowed powers over the 33rd America’s Cup to the extent that many of us have feared. There are certainly more questions that it would be good to get answers to, but today’s statement is at least a step in the right direction. Enough to appease Larry Ellison though? I doubt it. Here is the Alinghi statement in full.

Earlier today, Alinghi, Defender of the 33rd America’s Cup, gave a progress report on preparations for the 33rd America’s Cup at the Société Nautique de Genève. This gathering marked the start of the 33rd America’s Cup campaign and a return to business after the August break. Brad Butterworth, team skipper was accompanied by Hamish Ross, general counsel and Michel Hodara representing America’s Cup Management.

Now we’re into the intriguing limbo between the 32^nd America’s Cup, which concluded yesterday, and the 33^rd which begins tomorrow with the press conference where hopefully we get to find out things like where and when.

Most people are betting on Valencia 2009, but there’s another rumour in circulation that Alinghi have gone for a change of boats, that the next one might be contested in 100-footers. Speaking to Brad Butterworth today, he was certainly in favour of a change. He reckons that the predominantly light Mediterranean conditions call for something more powerful and dynamic.

Having said that, there has been no better advertisement for the ACC class than what we’ve seen over the past week. Would faster boats have produced such compelling match racing? It’s hard… Read the rest

Bizarrely, there was no joint press conference for winner and loser today. Just the winners – Alinghi. I wonder why. Perhaps there was a clue in Ernesto Bertarelli’s final comment in the winner’s conference this afternoon.

“For us it was coming out alive or dead, and we came out of it alive with our leather shorts and our edelweiss, cuckoo clocks and chocolate factories. I think what Alinghi is a lot of what Switzerland is: a country in the middle of Europe which has had to survive; has had to deal with with its bigger neighbours; has had to be open to different cultures; three different cultures; welcomes foreigners who have contributed to the country and to its culture; a country that looks forward, to its technology, doesn’t have great natural resources, has to be inventive.

“I think the culture… Read the rest

Grant Dalton didn’t manage to get the 50^th birthday present he would have wished for, after dodgy breeze put paid to hopes of contesting Race 7 this afternoon. Of course the alternative (Alinghi) viewpoint is that today’s postponement is merely a stay of execution for the Kiwis, as the Defender needs just one more victory to seal the deal.

Of course, winning three races on the trot is not insurmountable for ETNZ. Alinghi’s design coordinator Grant Simmer was part of the Australia II team which bounced back from 3-1 down to win the 1983 Cup, as Matt Mason reminded his team mates after yesterday’s morale-sapping loss. Ironically Simmer is one of those trying to prevent history repeating itself.

When asked whether he was surprised about how close… Read the rest

So Brad, do you still think the America’s Cup is a design race? No one asked Brad Butterworth the question today, because we know what the answer would have been – an exasperated, how-many-more-times-do-I-have-to-say-“Yes!”

After today’s race, I have to admit that I think Brad is right after all. In today’s 7 to 10 knot breezes, on the downwind legs SUI 100 was just plain faster. There was nothing in it upwind, but on the first run Alinghi kept on sliding up behind NZL 92, and once they had pulled in front on the final beat, on the second run they just kept on sliding further away from the Kiwis to the finish.

In today’s conditions, the only weapon in New Zealand’s downwind armoury was superior gybing technique, with the Kiwi ‘inside gybe’ taking about 10 metres off every Swiss… Read the rest

I hope you like today’s piece of art contributed by an anonymous SailJuice fan. Today the high rollers from Las Vegas were on tenterhooks, hoping that the protest against them amounted to nothing.

Grant Simmer was simmering, not to say seething, when he walked out of the jury room after today’s mammoth hearing over what appeared a pretty trivial matter. Alinghi had won the protest, the Kiwis lost it, but to judge by the looks on the faces of Grant S and his grinning rival Grant D, you could have been forgiven for thinking the decision had gone the other way.

The Kiwis might have lost the protest, but they had tied up three of Alinghi’s sailors for more than five hours of soporific toing and froing between the two sides, while Dean Barker was… Read the rest

If Emirates Team New Zealand fail to win this America’s Cup, it won’t be through lack of team spirit. One of the advantages of coming through the challenger series is that they have had to take a few knocks along the way. Provided you can take those knocks then you’ll be the better for it – you know, the ‘what doesn’t kill you makes you stronger’ theory.

Alinghi have had not had the same ‘luxury’ of the LVC rollercoaster ride. So when the Defender suffers a setback like yesterday’s extraordinary example of snatching defeat from the jaws of victory, they’re in new territory. It asks much tougher questions about team spirit.

According to a friend who watched the race from the Alinghi base yesterday afternoon, the atmosphere turned ‘funereal’ the moment that NZL 92 nudged into the lead.… Read the rest