Boston Extreme Sailing Series (Photo by George Bekris)
The ever changing conditions on the second day of racing at the Extreme Sailing Series™ Act 4 in Boston, resulted in a game of snakes and ladders for many of the 11 Extreme 40 teams and leaves Act 4 wide open going into the halfway stage tomorrow. After another seven races today there have been a significant number of place changes on the overall leaderboard, although Terry Hutchinson’s crew on Artemis Racing extended their lead at the top ahead of The Wave, Muscat by 7 points. So no change for the top two, however Dean Barker’s Emirates Team New Zealand strong performance today moved the Kiwi team up to 3rd place: “We were really happy with today,” commented Dean back on the dockside at Fan Pier. “We won four races and sailed in good shape for the rest. In the last race we copped a penalty and managed to fall back three places, so we were actually pretty happy with how we continued as it would have been easy to give up but we finished in 8th which is good, and an improvement on yesterday.”
The racing started out in really light and fluky winds. In the first race, won by Emirates Team New Zealand, three boats fell foul of the time limit rule for not finishing within 6 minutes of the winning boat. It wasn’t until the fourth race that the sea breeze really filled in and stabilized. Then the boat speeds picked up and the action moved up a few gears delighting the Boston crowd who turned out in force again today.
The Swiss team of Alinghi, skippered by Tanguy Cariou, after a mixed bag of results yesterday, came back strongly in the second half to climb from 9th to 6th place. Unfortunately, for Austrian skipper Roman Hagara, skipper of the popular Red Bull Extreme Sailing team here in Boston, a collision in the fifth race with Team GAC Pindar put them out of action with damage to their rudder system, and the team has dropped from 3rd yesterday to 8th. Undoubtedly, Hagara’s team will be seeking points redress as the fault for the collision sits with Team GAC Pindar.
For many of the teams new to the circuit, the experience of three events already under their belts is starting to pay as they accelerate up the learning curve. Italy’s Niceforyou is in a great battle mid-leaderboard, only 2 points behind Alinghi, and skipper Alberto Barovier is clearly enjoying the experience: “The racing is pretty tricky,” said Alberto. “We survived two days with a good consistency on results which is very good for us and an improvement on the other venues. We are looking forward to doing better tomorrow and the next day.”
The final race of the day was one of joy for Roland Gaebler’s Team Extreme who posted their first win of the regatta with American 470 Olympic silver medalist Bob Merrick onboard, and one of huge disappointment for the Pierre Pennec’s French team on Groupe Edmond de Rothschild. The team crossed the line first but touched the finish mark and was instantly penalized, forcing them to re-cross the finish line. Pennec was visibly unhappy with his 6th place but the French team are still very much in the running having posted multiple 2nd places today, and maintaining their fourth place overall.
A day of frustration for many and joy for others but there are still many more points up for grabs and no one is placing any bets on which teams will be standing on the podium come Monday. “It’s just all about getting to Monday with a chance to win,” said Terry. “Everyone is so good but I am very hungry to win here.” And with more breeze forecast for the final two days, the action is going to get hotter and hotter.
Boston’s Mayor Thomas Menino visited the Extreme Sailing Series Race Village at Fan Pier to see the action first-hand: “It’s very special to have the Extreme Sailing Series in Fan Pier,” said the Mayor. “Boston has a great harbour but to have these boats here is a very special time for us. We hope that the sailors have a great time and we hope that the event comes back in future. This could be the start of a great tradition in our city and I want to thank everyone involved in this for choosing Boston to be the place to come in America. In short this is awesome. There is no better place and time to be in America than on 4th of July on Boston harbour.”
The Extreme Sailing Series Race Village at Fan Pier was rocking until late last night culminating in a fantastic firework display and there is palpable party atmosphere in the build up to Monday’s Independence Day celebrations.
There is plenty of action still to see at Boston Fan Pier all weekend long and on the Fourth of July.
Extreme Sailing Series Act 4 at Fan Pier Boston, USA
Current overall standings after 14 races, Day 2 (1.7.11)
Position / Team / Skipper & crew / Points
1st Artemis Racing (SWE), Terry Hutchinson / Sean Clarkson / Morgan Trubovich / Julien Cressant 114 points
2nd The Wave, Muscat (OMA), Leigh McMillan / Kyle Langford / Nick Hutton / Khamis Al Anbouri 107 points
3rd Emirates Team New Zealand (NZL), Dean Barker / Adam Beashel / James Dagg / Jeremy Lomas 106 points
4th Groupe Edmond de Rothschild (FRA), Pierre Pennec / Christophe Espagnon / Thierry Fouchier / Hervé Cunningham 101 points
5th Luna Rossa (ITA), Max Sirena / Paul Campbell-James / Alister Richardson / Manuel Modena 88 points
6th Alinghi (SUI), Tanguy Cariou / Yann Guichard / Nils Frei / Yves Detrey 78 points
7th Niceforyou (ITA), Alberto Barovier / Mark Bulkeley / Daniele de Luca Simone de Mari 76 points
8th Red Bull Extreme Sailing (AUT), Roman Hagara / Hans Peter Steinacher / Will Howden / Craig Monk 70 points
9th Oman Air (OMA), Sidney Gavignet / Kinley Fowler / David Carr / Nasser Al Mashari 69 points
10th Team Extreme (EUR), Roland Gaebler / Bruno Dubois / Sebbe Godefroid / Bob Merrick 57 points
11th Team GAC Pindar (GBR), Ian Williams / Mark Ivey / Andrew Walsh / Jono Macbeth 44 points
Extreme Sailing Series Boston Fleet (Photo by George Bekris)
The opening day of the Extreme Sailing Series™ Act 4 at the Fan Pier in Boston proved to be a challenging one as the 11 Extreme 40 teams made their USA debut. Finding the best lanes of pressure and speed was the big ask of the day as the breeze fluctuated in strength and direction with the Fan Pier backdrop throwing in some wind holes for good measure, especially at the finish area only metres from the shore and the crowds. For some it presented opportunities, for others lost opportunities, rapid places changes were the order of the day but on top by 1 point was US sailor Terry Hutchinson, driving Artemis Racing: “It’s nice to come off today in this position but you know the racing is only going to get harder not easier and we’re mindful that we’ve got probably another 25-28 races to go. It is intense and full on the entire time,” said Terry. “Boston is such an awesome city to sail in and provided a great race track today.”
Extreme Sailing Series Skippers (Photo by George Bekris)
It was a great comeback for British sailor Leigh McMillan who took over as skipper and helm of The Wave, Muscat. In 2010 McMillan helmed Ecover into third place overall but at this morning’s press conference he was reticent about his hopes at his first 2011 event. These were quickly dispelled with a win in the first race and two more out of the seven races staged on the opening day: “I really just wanted to take it easy and in a way we did but when the race starts you just have to take every opportunity as it comes and that’s what we did,” said Leigh. “We didn’t have good starts but it was very shifty conditions and there were a lot of opportunities to overtake which is where we came into our own and made big gains in all of the races. I did not expect at all to be in second place so I am really thrilled with the day and thrilled to be sailing with these guys.”
Roman Hagara’s Red Bull Extreme Sailing pulled off two race wins in the final two races and consistency in the earlier races secured third place overall going into the second day. No doubt his team was inspired by the Red Bull Air Force skydivers who provided a stunning opening stunt to kickstart racing. The two parachutists performing loops on their descent, releasing smoke flares before landing on the floating pontoon right in front of the crowds with impressive precision.
Special guest and two-time Velux 5 Oceans victor, Brad Van Liew, dropped by to experience his first Extreme 40 ride as guest 5th man: “First time being at an event, let alone getting a ride and with Dean Barker so really a fun thing to do. For those that came down to the venue to watch its fantastic because we’ve had all these huge lead changes. Great fun to watch and even more exciting to see up and close.” For Brad who is more used to racing ocean-going monohulls, the lightweight Extreme 40s came as a breath of fresh air: “These things can go from 0-20 knots in a couple of boat lengths and they can also go from 20-0 knots in a couple of boat lengths so when they sail into a windless hole, they pile in on top of each other which reconsolidates the race. I can imagine sailing one in 25 knots would change your ‘fun-meter’ level!”
With Act 4 being part of the Boston Harborfest 4th July celebrations there is plenty for the public to enjoy over the coming days with 49er sailing, music on the main stage every night, street performers and more skydiving from the Red Bull Air Force.
Extreme Sailing Series Act 4 at Fan Pier Boston, USA
Current overall standings after 7 races, Day 1 (30.6.11)
Position / Team / Skipper & crew / Points
1st Artemis Racing (SWE), Terry Hutchinson / Sean Clarkson / Morgan Trubovich / Julien Cressant 60 points
2nd The Wave, Muscat (OMA), Leigh McMillan / Kyle Langford / Nick Hutton / Khamis Al Anbouri 59 points
3rd Red Bull Extreme Sailing (AUT), Roman Hagara / Hans Peter Steinacher / Will Howden / Craig Monk 54 points
4th Groupe Edmond de Rothschild (FRA), Pierre Pennec / Christophe Espagnon / Thierry Fouchier / Hervé Cunningham 46 points
5th Luna Rossa (ITA), Max Sirena / Paul Campbell-James / Alister Richardson / Manuel Modena 44 points
6th Emirates Team New Zealand (NZL), Dean Barker / Adam Beashel / James Dagg / Jeremy Lomas 43 points
7th Niceforyou (ITA), Alberto Barovier / Mark Bulkeley / Daniele de Luca Simone de Mari 41 points
8th Oman Air (OMA), Sidney Gavignet / Kinley Fowler / David Carr / Nasser Al Mashari 35 points
9th Alinghi (SUI), Tanguy Cariou / Yann Guichard / Nils Frei / Yves Detrey 28 points
10th Team GAC Pindar (GBR), Ian Williams / Mark Ivey / Andrew Walsh / Jono Macbeth 26 points
11th Team Extreme (EUR), Roland Gaebler / Bruno Dubois / Sebbe Godefroid / Bob Merrick 25 points
Nice For You Day 1 in Istanbul, Turkey (Photo by Lloyd Images)
The first day of the Extreme Sailing Series™ Act 3 in Istanbul, Turkey saw an action packed seven races for the 11 international teams, with Artemis Racing taking the top spot with 52 points, only a single point ahead of Act 2 winners Luna Rossa and Alinghi on 47. The racing conditions tested the teams today as the 44 sailors manhandled their Extreme 40 racing machines around short, sharp courses. There were plenty of gusts to potentially trip the up boats, shifts in wind direction and the race legs were so short it was a full-on physical work. “It’s beautiful to sail here, the conditions are good with a tricky wind which is good for us,” said Maxi Sirena, skipper of Luna Rossa.
For six out of seven races today a different team crossed the finish line first, only Luna Rossa scored two bullets. Alinghi, Emirates Team New Zealand, The Wave Muscat, Groupe Edmond de Rothschild and Team GAC Pindar all secured a win apiece which kept everyone guessing right up to the last race as to which team would finish the day on top. Terry Hutchinson’s Artemis Racing proved that securing steady results in the top half of the leaderboard throughout the day gave them the edge over the less inconsistent teams: “I think one of the best things that we did was not get too flustered by some of the bad cards that were dealt to us, the last race was a perfect example of hanging in during the race and waiting until there was an opportunity presented to us to make our move,” explained Terry Hutchinson. “When a nice little shift came down the course we went for it with an early gybe, I think we passed three boats in the one move which was really, really good.”
Team GAC Pindar (Photo by Lloyd Images)
Team GAC Pindar had their first race win of the 2011 Extreme Sailing Series. Skipper Ian Williams was jubilant to get their first race win under their belts in such challenging conditions: “It was challenging today, really shifty puffy conditions, quite strong winds at times and quite light winds at times which made it really tricky. Our first win was great today, it was a really close race with Team Extreme but in the end we just snuck it on the line with Team Extreme finishing in second.” Click here to watch Ian Williams discuss his form and that of the fleet in a chat with Seb Destremau.
The race management maximized the length of the upwind/downwind leg using the widest part of the Halic estuary but the downwind leg was still short – with the Extreme 40s covering the 400m stretch in 90 seconds. Two laps round and each race was over in just 10-12 minutes.
With only 11 points separating the top eight teams there will be some tough competition tomorrow as the front runners try to establish a firm lead, and the race course will become narrower as it moves in front of the VIP set-up for the media day ahead of the Extreme Sailing Series Race Village opening to the public on Friday, 28th.
Extreme Sailing Series – Act 3, Istanbul
Current overall standings after Day 1
Position / Team / Skipper & crew / Points
1st Artemis Racing (SWE), Terry Hutchinson / Rodney Ardern / Morgan Trubovich / Julien Cressant 52 points
2nd Luna Rossa (ITA), Max Sirena / Paul Campbell-James / Alister Richardson / Manuel Modena 51 points
3rd Alinghi (SUI), Tanguy Cariou / Yann Guichard / Nils Frei / Yves Detrey 47 points
4th Oman Air (OMA), Sidney Gavignet / Kinley Fowler / David Carr / Nasser Al Mashari 46 points
5th Emirates Team New Zealand (NZL), Dean Barker / Glenn Ashby / James Dagg / Jeremy Lomas 45 points
6th The Wave, Muscat (OMA), Torvar Mirsky / Kyle Langford / Nick Hutton / Khamis Al Anbouri 44 points
7th Groupe Edmond de Rothschild (FRA), Pierre Pennec / Christophe Espagnon / Thierry Fouchier / Hervé Cunningham 44 points
8th Team Extreme (EUR), Roland Gaebler / Bruno Dubois / Sebbe Godefroid / Nicholas Heintz 41 points
9th Red Bull Extreme Sailing (AUT), Roman Hagara / Hans Peter Steinacher / Will Howden / Craig Monk 34 points
10th Team GAC Pindar (GBR), Ian Williams / Mark Ivey / Mischa Heemskerk / Jono Macbeth 29 points
11th Niceforyou (ITA), Alberto Barovier / Mark Bulkeley / Daniele de Luca Simone de Mari 29 points
Extreme 40 Fleet In Istanbul, Turkey (Photo by Lloyd Images)
Red Bull Extreme Sailing 2nd Capsize of the Day (Photo by Giordana Pipornetti / Niceforyou)
Never in four years of the Extreme Sailing Series has there been so much drama in one day. In almost unprecedented conditions here in Qingdao, the public witnessed some extraordinary adrenalin fueled ‘stadium’ racing, first witnessing a major collision between The Wave, Muscat (OMAN) and Oman Air (OMAN) at the first downwind mark of the first race, and four dramatic capsizes – The Wave, Muscat (OMAN) in Race 2 and Red Bull Extreme Sailing (AUT), Team GAC Pindar (GBR) and Oman Air (OMAN) all in the final race of the day. In the first two races it was the very gusty conditions that tested some of the world’s best sailors to their limits, and beyond, with 3 to 23 knots, and up to 30 knots by the final race. “Massive day! The only way to describe it is extreme! The wind was funneling through the big buildings of the city, really puffy and shifty, it caught a lot of people out,” Will Howden, Red Bull Extreme Sailing.
Skipper of The Wave, Muscat, Torvar Mirsky, in his first Extreme 40 season, was to have his toughest day yet, firstly in race 1 accelerating in to the back of Oman Air right at the first downwind mark with the impact throwing crewman Dave “Freddie’ Carr in to the shroud (a cable holding the mast up), and then soon after in Race 2 suffering a catastrophic capsize. Freddie has been given the ‘ok’ but will remain in hospital for observation for 48 hours.
“I can honestly say that this is the worst day of sailing I’ve ever had,” commented a visibly shaken Mirsky, the youngest skipper on the circuit. “First of all taking out Freddie and then in the second race, we got hit by a gust that I couldn’t handle and the boat went down and we all knew straight away that it was going to go over and to hold on. We were trapped and doomed for a disaster. Kyle and I got flicked off from the top and fell onto the mast and snapped it.” [full sequence has been captured on video] The Wave, Muscat were accelerating away after a ‘hot’ bear away and gybe at the final top mark, and lost control as a gust hit and span them in to a very fast cartwheel.
The conditions on the second day of Act 2 guaranteed that these fast and powerful Extreme 40s were going to be a handful even for these experienced professional crews. By the third race the 11-boat fleet had been told to put a reef in and keep their massive downwind gennakers furled. A sensible measure, but not enough to stop three further capsizes in the final race when the gusts were reaching 30 knots. Roman Hagara’s Red Bull Extreme Sailing was chasing for the lead in the final race and was just meters from the pedestrian breakwater when they capsized: “We saw a gust coming which we knew was really hard. The wind was 5 knots when we went into the gybe and 25 after. We dived immediately and then capsized. We went so quickly. All four of us were hanging on because we know what happens from the last time, so we were all safe and luckily we had lifejackets and helmets on and nobody got hurt.” [*Red Bull Extreme Sailing capsized at the Muscat event in January 2010 during the Extreme Sailing Series Asia]
Whilst Red Bull Extreme Sailing was being righted by their support RIB, British skipper Ian Williams, who is new to this multihull game, was the next capsize victim as he closed in on the downwind mark a little too ‘hot’ along with Oman Air (back out racing with a replacement crew). Oman Air’s skipper Frenchman Sidney Gavignet bailed out, but when trying to bear away to come back down to the mark a second time, a powerful gust during a tight turn, sent them also hurtling in to a capsize.
Emirates Team New Zealand stayed out of trouble and retained the top position on the leaderboard ahead of Alinghi in 2nd and Red Bull Extreme Sailing finish in 3rd place today.
The pit lane is busy tonight as man and machine are put back together. Red Bull Extreme Sailing was righted with mast intact despite rubbing on the bottom of Fushan Bay, Team GAC Pindar was righted with mast intact and towed back in albeit missing one of their daggerboards. Both teams expect to be racing tomorrow. The Wave, Muscat suffered a broken mast and full inversion, with the extent of the damage still to be assessed. Oman Air spent some hours fully inverted and is now back in the harbour, with its condition yet to be established.
A day one can only described as Extreme!
Leaderboard after Day 3
1st Emirates Team New Zealand
2nd Alinghi
3rd Red Bull Extreme Sailing
4th Luna Rossa
5th Groupe Edmond De Rothschild
6th Artemis Racing
7th Niceforyou
8th The Wave, Muscat
9th Team Extreme
10th Oman Air
11th Team GAC Pindar
Emirates Team New Zealand (Photo by Lloyd Images)
In the words of singer, Paolo Nutini, ‘What a day…!’ Four and a half hours of high-drama on the second day of the Act 2 at the Extreme Sailing Series™ Qingdao. The Austrian Red Bull Extreme Sailing team thought they had snatched the overall lead from Emirates Team New Zealand in the final race only to find their victory in tatters after Dean Barker’s team were given redress (a rare occasion on this circuit); the 11-boat close combat racing resulted in two collisions; and, to top it all, Roland Gaebler’s Team Extreme won their first race of the season with the Mayor of Qingdao on board in the 5th man spot, to the delight of the public!
Six ‘open water’ races were raced today outside the breakwater of Fushan Bay. The breeze was a up and down but predominantly strong enough to see the Extreme 40 fleet flying their hulls – when it dropped, the teams had to deploy a different set of tactics to find an advantage which split the fleet on numerous occasions as Hagara explains: “It was a pretty hard day today, especially on the start line as the wind was shifting a lot and there was a big difference in pressure. Quiet difficult to know where to go, which side of the start line is better, where the pressure is the most powerful.”
Team Extreme WIth The Mayor of Qingdao (Photo by Lloyd Images)
Dean Barker’s team was consistently good and finished inside the top four in the first five races, winning the penultimate race. It looked like the Kiwi team would retain their overall lead… But in classic Extreme style, the script appeared to be rewritten in the final race of the day… Barker’s team was called over the start line and Roman Hagara’s team were off leading the race all the way to the finish line. Emirates Team New Zealand needed to finish in 6th place or higher to keep their lead and fought all the way from the back, climbing into 7th place at the finish. It looked like they had lost their overall lead to Red Bull Extreme Sailing. But post-racing video footage proved that Emirates Team New Zealand were not in fact over the line and redress upgraded the team to 4th place – the overall lead at the halfway stage remains with the Kiwi team for now.
The Fleet On Day 2 Racing Close to city (Photo by Lloyd Images)
Extreme 40's In Fushan Bay, Qingdao, China (Photo courtesy of Extreme Sailing Series)
The Olympic spirit is very much alive in Qingdao which hosted the sailing events of the Beijing Olympic Games in 2008, and some of the Extreme Sailing Series™ competitors have strong memories from three years ago when they represented their country in the Tornado catamaran class … Red Bull Extreme Sailing Austrian duo Roman Hagara and Hans Peter Steinacher finished 10th, whilst their British crew man Will Howden came 6th with helmsman Leigh McMillan, who is in Qingdao coaching Oman Air. Argentinian Santiago Lange, who is skippering Artemis Racing in place of Terry Hutchinson for Act 2, reached the Olympic podium to secure Bronze and New Zealander Glenn Ashby, racing with Emirates Team New Zealand, went one better and returned home with Silver. Luna Rossa helm, Paul Campbell-James, also recalled his time in Qingdao: “I was one of the tuning partners for Team GBR and was here for almost a month doing a lot of training where the Olympic racing was held just right out here. We’ve been sailing for two days and we’re just dying for the event to get started now. We were expecting there not to be much breeze but the last two days there has been about 12 knots – enough to get us flying and get some practice races in so its been pretty good.”
The teams are in the final stages of preparation, fine tuning their boats, discussing tactics and studying their weather files. Racing starts tomorrow (Wednesday, 13th April) for two days of non-public racing, allowing the race management team to set optimum race courses further offshore if required, before Act 2 opens to the public from Friday, 15th through to the final day on Sunday, 17th April when one of the 11 teams will lift the Double Star Cup. But its not just the teams who are putting the final touches to their campaigns, the organising committee of the Qingdao Yachting Association are putting the weight of their Olympic experience into hosting another high-profile sailing event as Leo Zhanglizhong, Project Officer, Qingdao Sports Bureau commented: “The host city is looking forward to this great event for a long time and we have all been busy preparing for the event here in Qingdao. All the citizens are very eager to see the exciting racing.”
An objective of Roland Gaebler’s Team Extreme has been to sail with a local sailor of the host venue and Chinese sailor, William Wu, has been training the team and is looking forward to the racing: “I am looking forward to getting more experience on large multihull racing boats racing against some of the best sailors in the world,” said Wu. “I have been racing in Qingdao so I have local knowledge of the area which will help with race strategy. However I will be the one learning the most from my team, particularly from my skipper Olympic medalist Roland Gaebler.” Wu is a relative newcomer to the sailing world who had his first taste of sailing in Shanghai in 2007. He progressed rapidly in the sport and now has his own Chinese sailing team, Whitewave, who are aiming to compete on an international level representing his country.
Phil Lawrence, Race Manager, outlines the weather scenario for Act 2 of the Extreme Sailing Series Qingdao: “The forecast looks quite promising for the next two or three days with a reasonable breeze in the afternoons, although its looking lighter for the weekend but we’re still quite a long way out. The boats are very light so even if the winds are light we can still race. The tides are very strong here and if we do have some stronger breeze the sea can get very rough, so we’re going to have some challenging conditions either way.”
For the Extreme 40 sailors they will adapt to whatever the weather situation and are used to racing at the Extreme Sailing Series venues that do not follow the conventions of other sailing events, racing directly in front of the public in city centres, on canals, off beaches or on rivers. The teams adapt quickly to their local environment and as we saw at Act 1 at The Wave, Muscat, the teams slower off the starting blocks were soon back in the mix, which was the case for Luna Rossa as Paul Campbell-James explained: “We were pretty happy after Act 1, results-wise we were hoping to get on the podium, but the way it went we were just off fourth place and we started pretty average and finished pretty well. We hope to carry that momentum into this event. It’s such a varied set of conditions that you get here and I still wouldn’t say one team is stronger than any other in the light so I’m backing ourselves!”
Leo Zhanglizhong, Project Officer Qingdao Sports Bureau Being Interviewed (Photo courtesy of Extreme Sailing Series)
The people of the ‘City of Sails’ are going to witness five days of intense competition… Let the battle commence!
Extreme Sailing Series Act 2 Team Line-Up:
Team / Skipper & crew
Groupe Edmond de Rothschild (FRA), Pierre Pennec / Christophe Espagnon / Thierry Fouchier / Hervé Cunningham
Artemis Racing (SWE), Santiago Lange / Rodney Ardern / Morgan Trubovich / Andy Fethers
Red Bull Extreme Sailing (AUT), Roman Hagara / Hans Peter Steinacher / Will Howden / Craig Monk
Emirates Team New Zealand (NZL), Dean Barker / Glenn Ashby / James Dagg / Richard Meacham
Luna Rossa (ITA), Max Sirena / Paul Campbell-James / Alister Richardson / Manuel Modena
Alinghi (SUI), Tanguy Cariou / Yann Guichard / Nils Frei / Yves Detrey
The Wave, Muscat (OMA), Torvar Mirsky / Kyle Langford / Nick Hutton / Khamis Al Anbouri
Oman Air (OMA), Sidney Gavignet / Kinley Fowler / David Carr / Nasser Al Mashari
Team Extreme (EUR), Roland Gaebler / Bruno Dubois / Sebbe Godefroid / William Wu (tbc)
Niceforyou (ITA), Alberto Barovier / Mark Bulkeley / Daniele de Luca Simone de Mari
Team GAC Pindar (GBR), Ian Williams / Brad Webb / Gilberto Nobili / Jono Macbeth
The Luna Rossa Team preparing for racing (Photo courtesy of Extreme Sailing Series)
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.
US challenger Oracle giant trimaran (R) and Swiss defender Alinghi huge catamaran (L) sail at the start of the opening race of the 33rd America's Cup off Valencia (Photo by Jose Jordan/AFP Photo)
American challenger BMW Oracle Racing recovered from a mistake in the dramatic first few minutes and literally flew to a lead of 3 minutes, 21 seconds over defending champion Alinghi of Switzerland after the first leg of Race 1 of the America’s Cup.
The 90-foot boats, the trimaran USA with its radical wing sail and the catamaran Alinghi 5, provided a thrilling start Friday to a regatta that had been stalled by a bitter, 2 1/2-year court fight between two of the world’s richest men.
A USA BMW Oracle Fan (Photo by Eduardo Ripoll/33rd America's Cup)
After Race 1 was delayed on Monday and Wednesday, USA and Alinghi sped south across the Mediterranean Sea on a course paralleling the Spanish coast on a clear, cold day. The fastest, most technologically advanced boats in the 159-year history of the America’s Cup, they hit approximately 22 knots in just 6 or 7 knots of wind.
When skipper Jimmy Spithill of Australia got the triple-hulled monster USA cranked up, the windward hull flew some 20 feet out of the water.
BMW Oracle Takes Off (Photo by Jose Jordán/AFP/33rd America's Cup)
Owned by Silicon Valley maverick Larry Ellison, USA rebounded from a deficit of 660 meters at the start and overhauled the Swiss sailing upwind, building a lead of about 1,200 meters approaching the end of the 20-mile first leg.
There was a light swell, with waves of about half a metre that rolled upwind which sailing experts said would be easier on both boats on the upwind leg.
The two boats — the biggest and fastest entries in the 159-year history of the Cup, sailing’s most prestigious trophy — are capable of sailing at three times the speed of the wind, meaning the race could last between two and four hours.
Wind speeds can be dramatically different at the top of the gaint boats from that at sea level.
Stronger winds higher up would give Oracle, which is three storeys higher than Alinghi, an edge.
The US side has an innovative solid vertical wingspan of 68 metres is more than twice the length of the wing of a Boeing 747.
The race starting signal had originally been set for 10 am but organisers delayed it in the hope that weather conditions for the race would improve.
Alinghi's President Swiss Ernesto Bertarelli waits for the start of the opening race of the 33rd America's Cup (Photo by Jamie Reina/ AFP Photo/America's Cup)
The 33rd America’s Cup opener was originally set for Monday but was called off due to weak winds which frequently shifted direction.
The America’s Cup has traditionally been run in monohulls but this year for the first time both sides will sail multihulls in a rare head-to-head duel after the two sides failed to agree on the rules for a conventional regatta involving several teams.
It is also the first time that the competition is being held in a Northern Hemisphere winter, another one of the outcomes of the convoluted legal battle between Oracle and Alinghi.
Alinghi became the first European winner of the America’s Cup in 2003 in what was its first attempt and then succeeded in defending it in Valencia in July 2007, when summertime breezes are stronger and more consistent.
