BMW Oracle Surfing A Wave (Photo by Per Heegaard / RC44 Class)
The cold and windy conditions prevailed for the last day of the RC 44 Copenhagen Cup. Four beautiful races took place today; they led to the elimination of one team after the other from contention for the fleet race and overall titles.
Igor Lah’s Ceeref was the first and biggest casualty of the day, going from second overall to eight. “Just a day of hell, summarised tactician Rod Davis. The team’s worse moment occurred when they collided with Paul Cayard’s Katusha during a tacking dual. Ceeref got two points penalty whilst Katusha had to stop racing in order to change their crash bow. They got redress from the Jury.
Many teams broached, ripped their spinnakers or suffered in a way or another. Team Sea Dubai, who got some brilliant results today – a 2nd and a 1st – lost it all because of two DNF’s due to a spinnaker problem and a man overboard during the last race; an incident that occurred as the team was controlling its third place overall against Artemis and that cost four places in the overall ranking!
Artemis (Photo by Per Heegaard / RC44 Class)
The wind was blowing quite hard throughout the day, at 18 knots with gusts up to 25 that put great emphasis on crew work and tactical decisions.
BMW ORACLE Racing, who was fifth overall this morning, started the day with a 1st and a 2nd. On the other hand, No Way Back couldn’t do any better than 4th and 6th. With both Team Aqua and Artemis failing to obtain consistent results, the final race would definitely be between those two teams.
Both of them started the last race at the pin end of the line, with BMW ORACLE Racing controlling No Way Back. The American team reached the top mark ahead of its opponent, and chose the worse side of the course during the run, letting the Dutch team grab the lead within this personal race (John Kostecki’s 17 had a huge lead over the rest of the pack).
Larry Ellison and Russell Coutts then opted for the left of the course during the second beat whilst Pieter Heerema and Ray Davies went to the right. The American’s choice was the right one. The american team then controlled No Way Back until the arrival, crossing the line in third, two places ahead of its opponent.
Winner of the fleet regatta and second of the match race event earlier in the week, BMW ORACLE Racing conquers the RC 44 Copenhagen Cup – the combined fleet / match race ranking ahead of Chris Bake’s Team Aqua.
The next regatta will take place in Valencia on July 27 – August 1.
RC44 Fleet At Copenhagen Cup (Photo by Per Heegaard / RC44 Class)
They said:
Pieter Heerema, helmsman, No Way Back: “Everything was open ahead of the last race; unfortunately we were a bit out of phase. I am happy with our result but not pleased with the way we got there. It was all a bit messy. Of course the conditions were difficult but we should be able to master this. Altogether I have loved this event. I just found that the weather was unfair with the venue.
Terry Hutchinson, tactician, Artemis: “This was a tough day for the helmsmen and it also required a great team effort to succeed. There were massive wind shifts but at the end of the day it didn’t really matter if you went right or left; you just had to be in phase with the shifts. This morning Torbjorn told us to make the best of it and have fun. That’s what we did; I feel very privileged to have an owner like him.
Chris Bake, helmsman, Team Aqua: “It has been very challenging few days. Today we struggled during the first two races and then I started to feel settled. I am pleased that Team Aqua won the match; it was difficult for me to arrive and settle in immediately, I took me a little while.
René Mangold, helmsman, AEZ RC44 Sailing Team: “We were sailing with two new people and we struggled because of this: we couldn’t look out of the boat. We definitely need more practice and we will do this in the future.
Fleet race, final results after eight races: Ranking, name of team, helmsman, results, points (no discard)
1) BMW ORACLE Racing, Larry Ellison, 8, 6, 2, 41, 2, 4, 3 – 30 points
2) Team No Way Back, Pieter Heerema, 10, 1, 4, 1, 4, 6, 2, 5 – 33 points
3) Artemis, Torbjor Tornqvist / Martin Hestbaek, 3, 5, 8, 2, 5, 5, 6, 4 – 38 points
4) Team Aqua, Chris Bake, 2, 3, 9, 5, 6, 9, 3, 2 – 39 points
5) 17, Anders Myralf 4, 7, 6, 7, 9, 1, 7, 1 – 42 points
6) Katusha, Guennadi Timtchenko, 6, 8, 1, 8, 3, 4, 7 (RDG), 5,3 (RDG) – 42,3 points
7) Team Sea Dubai, Harm Muller Spreer, 7, 4, 3, 6, 2, 11 (DNF), 1, 11(DNF) – 45 points
CEEREF, Igor Lah, 5, 2, 7, 3, 7, 8, 10, 8 – 50 points
9) Team Islas Canarias Puerto Calero, Daniel Calero, 1, 10, 5, 9, 8, 7, 5, 7 – 52 points
10) AEZ RC44 Sailing Team, René Mangold, 9, 9, 10, 10, 10, 3, 9, 6 – 66 points
RC 44 Copenhagen Cup – Overall Ranking: (ranking, name of team, match race, fleet race, points)
1) BMW ORACLE Racing, 2, 1 – 3 points
2) Team Aqua, 1, 4 – 5 points
3) No Way Back, 4, 2 – 6 points
4) Artemis, 3, 3 – 6 points
5) 17, 5, 5 – 10 points
6) Team Sea Dubai, 7, 7 – 14 points
7) Ceeref, 6, 8 – 14 points
Katusha, 9, 6 – 15 points
9) AEZ RC44 Sailing Team, 8, 10 – 18 points
10) Islas Canarias Puerto Calero, 10, 9 – 19 points
Larry Ellison and BMW Oracle Team Celebrate Copenhagen Win (Photo by Per Heegaard / RC44)
RC 44 Fleet (Photo Copyright Maria Rambuske - GEPA / RC 44)
The second regatta of the RC 44 Championship Tour 2010 will begin on Thursday, April 29, on Lake Traunsee, in Austria. James Spithill, Russell Coutts and Larry Ellison make their come back on the circuit; they will sail against Ray Davies, Paul Cayard, Rod Davis, Markus Wieser, Terry Hutchinson, Cameron Appleton, Christian Binder and many more of the world’s best sailors… Tough job for the bookmakers!
Recent winner of the America’s Cup at the helm of BMW ORACLE Racing, James « Jimmy » Spithill is the skipper of a new team called RC 44 Challenge. His crew is made up of a combination of America’s Cup sailors – such as John Kostecki – and genuine amateurs, as required by the Class rules. RC 44 Challenge will with no doubt immediately become one of the favourites of the event. “I am really looking forward to returning to the RC 44 Class”, says Spithill. “It attracts the world’s best sailors from both match racing and fleet racing, plus the boats are incredibly rewarding to sail and certainly one of the reasons I’m back. We have a fantastic team. John Kostecki will be tactician and Joey Newton trimming, both who raced on the BOR 90 trimaran.”
Other new faces involved in the RC 44 Austria Cup include Harm Müller Spreer, who will be Team Sea Dubai’s fleet race helmsman. Owner of the well known TP 52 Platoon, Harm Müller Spreer is a successful Dragon sailor; he became European champion in 2004, finished second at the 2005 worlds and is a triple Gold Cup winner.
Russell Coutts is also back on the circuit for the first time since last year’s Portoroz Cup. Larry Ellison will steer BMW ORACLE Racing during the fleet races whilst Coutts will be at the helm on Thursday and Friday for the match race.
Finally, Team Austria, the local team headed by René Mangold, will be keen to perform in front of its public. The Austrians managed to win two fleet races in Dubai earlier in the season. “We have improved a lot but we need more continuity”, comments Christian Binder, the team’s match race helmsman and tactician.
The teams involved in the RC 44 Austria Cup (fleet race / match race helmsman):
Team No Way Back (Pieter Heerema / Ray Davies)
Artemis (Torbjorn Tornqvist / Terry Hutchinson)
CEEREF (Igor Lah / Rod Davis)
BMW ORACLE Racing (Larry Ellison / Russell Coutts)
Team Aqua (Chris Bake / Cameron Appleton)
Team Islas Canarias Puerto Calero (Daniel Calero / José Maria Ponce)
Katusha (Paul Cayard)
Team Sea Dubai (Harm Muller Spreer / Markus Wieser)
Team Austria (René Mangold / Christian Binder)
RC 44 Challenge (Ian Vickers / James Spithill)
BMW Oracle America's Cup Winner February 14, 2010 (Photo by Jose Jordan/America's Cup)
BMW Ocacle has fufilled a dream James Spithill, Larry Ellison, Russell Coutts , The BMW Oracle Racing Team and America as they win back the America’s Cup. For the first time in a Deed Of Gift race the challenger wins.. The one hundred and fifty nine year old cup has found her way back to America.
BMW Oracle wins by 5 minutes and 26 seconds.
Alinghi cross the finish line 5 minutes and 26 seconds after USA. The Swiss team were 24 seconds behind off the start line, 28 seconds behind at WW 1 mark, 2mins 44 secs behind at the gybe mark, Mark 2.
US challenger Oracle giant trimaran (R) and Swiss defender Alinghi huge catamaran sail at the start of the second race of the 33rd America's Cup on February 14, 2010 off Valencia's coast. Alinghi are in a must win situation after their catamaran suffered a heavy loss in the opener -- a 40-nautical-mile windward-leeward course -- of the best-of-three series against Oracle's wing-sailed trimaran. (Photo by Jaime Reina)
BMW ORACLE Racing, the American challenger, representing the Golden Gate Yacht Club, won the 33rd America’s Cup Match on Sunday in Valencia, sweeping past the Swiss defender, Alinghi, to a 2-0 victory.
This was an historic race for the oldest trophy in international sport, featuring two of the most innovative boats on the planet. BMW ORACLE Racing’s trimaran, USA, powered by the largest wing sail ever built, proved to be the faster of the two multihulls, overpowering Alinghi’s catamaran in both races.
Today marks the culmination of the San Francisco team’s 10-year quest for the America’s Cup, sailing’s pinnacle event. Founded by Larry Ellison (USA), the team is led by CEO Russell Coutts (NZL), now a four time Cup winner, and James Spithill (AUS), the skipper and helmsman of USA.
“It’s an amazing feeling,” said Spithill. “The amount of work the whole team has put into this boat and now to go two races without any issues – you just have to hand it to the shore guys, the boatbuilders and all of the support team and designers.
They gave us an awesome tool.”“It’s absolutely an awesome feeling,” added Larry Ellison. “I’m really proud to be part of this team. I couldn’t be more proud.”
Alinghi and BMW Oracle In Race 2 (Photo by Gilles Martin-Raget/BMW Oracle Racing)
After a long postponement on Sunday afternoon, racing started at 16:25 in 7-8 knots of wind.
There was an unusual start to the race, with Alinghi entering the start box very late. In fact, they were on the wrong side of the start box at the 5-minute gun, forcing the Umpires to assess a penalty. BMW ORACLE Racing started with more speed, but Alinghi held held the right hand side of the race course and prospered early when the wind shifted to the right. At one point, the advantage line was as big as 600-meters to the Swiss. But before the top mark, the BMW ORACLE Racing crew made a perfect layline call. After tacking on the line to the mark, BMW ORACLE Racing saw Alinghi cross ahead, but cede the inside position at the mark to USA, and that was all the advantage the challenger would need to lead around the mark by 28 seconds. From then onwards, the powerful USA boat extended its lead, to cross the finishing line ahead by 5.26.
“It was an awesome race. It was touch and go,” Spithill said. “We didn’t see that shift going as far right as it did and that made it pretty exciting early on.”
At one point, Alinghi was flying a red protest flag, but the team quickly confirmed after finishing there would be no protest.
With the win, BMW ORACLE Racing becomes the first U.S. challenger to win the Match since Dennis Conner hoisted the Cup with his Stars & Stripes team in Fremantle, Australia in 1987. Today also marks the first win for an American team since 1992 when Bill Koch’s America3 successfully defended the Cup in San Diego.
BMW ORACLE Racing crew list for Race Two of the 33rd America’s Cup:
Brad Webb (NZL) – Bowman – 1st America’s Cup win
Simone de Mari (ITA) – Pitman – 1st America’s Cup win
Ross Halcrow (NZL) – Jib Trimmer – 2nd America’s Cup win (1995, 2010)
Dirk de Ridder (NED) – Wing Sail Trimmer – 1st America’s Cup win
Joey Newton (AUS) – Wing Sail Caddy – 1st America’s Cup win
John Kostecki (USA) – Tactician – 1st America’s Cup win
James Spithill (AUS) – Skipper/Helmsman – 1st America’s Cup win
Matteo Plazzi (ITA) – Navigator – 1st America’s Cup win
Thierry Fouchier (FRA) – Aft Pit – 1st America’s Cup win
Matthew Mason (NZL) – Mast – 3rd America’s Cup win (1995, 2000, 2010)
Larry Ellison (USA) – Afterguard – 1st America’s Cup win
Alinghi 5 Racing crew list for Race Two of the 33rd America’s Cup:
Crew List
Bow 1: Piet van Nieuwenhuijzen (NED)
Bow 2: Curtis Blewett (CAN)
Bow 3: Jan Dekker (RSA/FRA)
Pitman: Rodney Ardern (NZL)
Trimmer upwind: Simon Daubney (NZL)
Trimmer downwind: Nils Frei (SUI)
Mainsail trimmer: Warwick Fleury (NZL)
Traveller: Pierre-Yves Jorand (SUI)
Helmsman: Ernesto Bertarelli (SUI)
Tactician: Brad Butterworth (NZL)
Strategist: Murray Jones (NZL)
Navigator: Juan Vila (ESP)
Floater: Loïck Peyron (FRA)
Pre-start: Peter Evans (NZL
BMW Oracle and Alinghi 5 (Photo by Gilles Martin-Raget/BMW Oracle)
Brief History of the America’s Cup
The America’s Cup is the world’s oldest continually contested trophy in any sport. In 1851 the New York Yacht Club sailboat America beat 15 British boats from the Royal Yacht Squadron, thus beginning the America’s Cup race history. The British challenged in 1870, but the Cup remained at the victorious New York Yacht Club. For roughly the next hundred years, every challenger was beaten in Cup races held every three to five years, first in New York, then in Newport.
In 1983 the Americans lost to the Australian team, and the Cup left the United States for the first time. In 1987 the American team under Dennis Connor brought the Cup back home, where it remained until New Zealand took it in 1995. In 2003 the Swiss team took it from New Zealand, kept it through the challenge in 2007, and is now being challenged by the American team BMW ORACLE.
BMW Oracle and Alinghi 5 Battle for the America's Cup (Photo by Gilles Martin-Raget/BMW Oracle)
Through almost 160 years of racing, the America’s Cup boats have undergone various design changes, and legal challenges have been waged over design elements as controlled by the original and amended Deed of Gift, the document that governs the race. Almost all races, however, have involved monohull sailboats of equivalent size and general design—with two highly notable exceptions. In 1988 the San Diego team of Dennis Connor defended with a catamaran, which easily beat New Zealand’s monohull, leading to a number of court battles and appeals concerning the legality of a catamaran, finally ending with the Americans keeping the Cup. The next five races involved more traditional matched monohulls, in the design often now called the “America’s Cup Class boats.” The 2010 race will again involve multihulls, a trimaran challenging a catamaran—the first race of its kind in the long history of the Cup. Despite the poor publicity the race received throughout 2009 because of repeated court battles, the race in February 2010 promises to be fast and dramatic and, Cup supporters hope, to restore the international prestige of this historic competition.
Fireworks Light Up Port America's Cup As The Festivities Heat Up (Photo by Gareth Evans)
“At the coin toss, SNG/Alinghi were asked to call heads or tails. They thought they had won and asked for the starboard entry into the start box. GGYC/BMW Oracle subsequently won the toss, and spoilt Alinghi’s plans by asking for starboard!” Gareth Reported.
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- Fireworks Light Up Port America’s Cup As The Festivities Heat Up (Photo by Gareth Evans)
Tens of thousands of visitors swarmed the signature Veles e Ventes building and the surrounding area of the America’s Cup Park to enjoy the festivities on an otherwise tranquil Sunday afternoon of mild temperatures.
Race director Harold Bennett (NZL) set the coin spinning in the air, watched by Pierre-Yves Firmench (SUI), commodore of the Société Nautique de Genève, the yacht club of the Defender of the 33rd America’s Cup and Marcus Young (USA), commodore of the Golden Gate Yacht Club of San Francisco.
The American team will therefore take what is commonly held to be the initial advantage, entering with right of way, on starboard tack.
Alinghi At Port America's Cup (Photo by Gareth Evans)
On the water there was scarcely enough wind to create ripples, but in the distance the lack of breeze was scarcely a worry for one of the giant multihulls, which with its towering rig still paced the horizon, making best use of the final hours of practice and tuning before racing is scheduled to begin tomorrow morning around 1000hrs
The opening festival was brought to a noisy crescendo with a barrage of mascleta, firecrackers which increased in size and noise.
Valencia's Mayor Rita Barbera Enjoys The Run Up To The America's Cup At Port America's Cup In Valencia (Photo by Gareth Evans)
Sunday 7th February sees the official opening ceremony of the 33rd America’s Cup, starting at 1300hrs in the heart of Port America’s Cup, by the Veles et Vents building.
The opening ceremony will include the draw for which side the competing yachts have to enter the start area for Race 1, with the time gun scheduled for 1000hrs Monday.
A huge crescendo is promised with a mascletá, a local celebration of firecrackers with the largest reckoned to be 750kilos of gunpowder.
The Cup Arrives In Valencia (Photo by Gareth Evans)
And from 1400hrs the America’s Cup will have the UN GRAIN for Hairt – the cooking of a giant paella with the proceeds all going to relieve suffering in Haiti.
Alinghi and BMW Oracle are set to sail their best-of-three match series from Monday, and the state-of-the-art boats are expected to run three times faster than the wind speed.
The Teams:
BMW ORACLE racing was brought together by the CEO and founder of ORACLE Corporation Larry Ellison in the Spring of 2000. Ellison has a long and distinguished sailing career inshore and offshore and has been a regular member of the sailing crew over the years of America’s Cup racing.
BMW Oracle In Training In Valencia (Photo Courtesy of BMW Oracle Racing)
At the 2003 America’s Cup challenger series in Auckland the team, which were then known as ORACLE BMW racing, reached the finals of the Louis Vuitton Cup but were beaten by Alinghi, who went on to win the America’s Cup.
After being one of the dominant teams through the preceding America’s Cup seasons from 2004-2006, in 2007 in Valencia BMW ORACLE lost out in the semi-finals of the Louis Vuitton Cup.
On the 13th of July 2007, the team presented a formal challenge for the 33rd America’s Cup to the Société Nautique Genève. Just under two weeks later, three times America’s Cup winner Russell Coutts (NZL) was announced as the team’s CEO and skipper.
The team has a strong international flavour and mix of backgrounds from America’s Cup, match racing ocean racing and multihull racing including round the world race winning skipper John Kostecki as tactician, match racer James Spithill as helmsman.
BMW ORACLE sail under the flag of the Golden Gate Yacht Club, San Francisco
Alinghi 5 Docked At Port America's Cup (Photos by Gareth Evans)
Alinghi is the Defender of the 33rd America’s Cup. The team is the culmination of Ernesto Bertarelli’s passion for sailing. The Swiss entrepreneur, former owner of biotech giant Serono and an integral part of the sailing crew, created the team in 2000 to participate in the America’s Cup.
In 2003, Alinghi defeated Oracle BMW Racing to win the Louis Vuitton Cup, and then won the 31st America’s Cup at its first attempt, sweeping Team New Zealand 5-0. With this victory, Alinghi became the first European winning team and brought the America’s Cup to Europe for the first time in 152 years.
The selection of Valencia as the venue for the 32nd America’s Cup and a new competition format, with preliminary Acts across Europe, opened a new era for sailing’s premier competition. The Swiss Defender –through AC Management– implemented its renewed vision for the America’s Cup positioning it at the level of the world’s most popular sports. The outstanding four-year event saw 12 teams from five continents competing for the trophy before 6.4 million spectators, contributed to the transformation of the host city and claimed the attention of over 4 billion television viewers worldwide.
Alinghi succeeded in defending the America’s Cup in Spain in 2007, in what was the closest America’s Cup Match of all time beating Emirates Team New Zealand in the 7th race by just one second. The Swiss team won the Match 5-2.
On the build up to the 33rd America’s Cup Match, the giant catamaran Alinghi 5 was launched on Lake Geneva, in Switzerland, on July 8th 2009. Six months later, the innovative Swiss multihull arrived to Valencia and on January 15th 2010, Alinghi 5 sailed in Valencia for the first time, with Bertarelli at the helm.
Alinghi flies the colors of the Société Nautique de Genève, Switzerland. With over 100 team members from 20 nationalities, it stands for an innovative, professional, multi-cultural and passionate team.
Ernesto Bertarelli Speaking To The Media (Photo by Gareth Evans)
Article and Photos by Challenge and Adventure’s Gareth Evans
The Owners’ Press Conference held this afternoon was very well attended by the press – approximately 150 out of the 600+ accredited media personnel were there. Unfortunately, the same could not be said about the team owners.
Whilst Ernesto Bertarelli arrived for the press conference, Larry Ellison failed to show. The compere explained (in response to a question from the audience), that there had been a misunderstanding within BMW Oracle. The event had been organised for the two Owners to have a head to head interview in front of the World’s press. They were informed that sending a substitute would not be acceptable – they took this to mean that other team members would not be welcome, and refused to attend. Due to the no show by Ellison, Bertarelli had offered the second seat to Brad Butterworth to field some of the questions – he offered to ask Brad to leave the stage if that was what the audience wanted. The response he received was that Brad could stay.
Ernesto Bertarelli and Brad Butterworth (Photo by Gareth Evans)
Some sound bites from Bertarelli:
· The Oracle rig is possibly an advantage.
· His contribution this time was very different. He has been more involved than before. He felt it very important that the owner should be on board steering (possibly a dig at Larry Ellison).
· Loick Peyron is like a very handy Swiss knife – he can do anything.
· There were a number of choices for helm. The boat is a copy of EB’s 1999 boat. He said that he is not the fastest helm in all conditions, but certainly is not the slowest. Loick Peyron is handy in manoeuvres.
· What does EB fear most – the boat or LE’s desperate will to win? “The Boat” (said with a grin).
· “There are two boats that will be on the start line on Monday. Let’s see who wins.”
· Why did the EB/LE friendship fall apart? EB: Today sums it up. I came here to shake his hand. I was determined to have this meeting today, but Larry did not turn up.
· The boats are sailing downwind at 2.5-3 times the wind speed. The reaches are exciting!
· It will be a war of the shore crews to keep the boats sailing at 100%
There is no doubt that Larry Ellison scored an own goal today (to use a soccer term!). EB had the world’s press at this press conference, with nobody there from BMW Oracle to offer their side of the story. And EB is a clever man who knows how to turn the situation to his advantage.
Article and Photos by Gareth Evans
Port America's Cup (Photo by Gareth Evans)
Alinghi At The Dock In Valencia (Photo by Gareth Evans)
