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Friday Race


shanson

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16:26

So USA is making 26 knots downwind and seem to consistently be able to fly their windward hulls for longer, peaking now at 28.5 knots of boat speed. Wind speed at the finish is eight knots at 160 degrees. And great work from Harold Bennett and his crew getting this race away, a great spectacle.

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16:37

USA extending all the time, sailing deeper and faster all the time than Alinghi who are now 3440 metres behind. Certainly the consensus at the moment is that the power and efficiency of the BMW ORACLE Racing Team wing is actually more telling downwind.

 

 

16:43

Over half way down the downwind leg now.

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16:46

Hard to judge what the delta will be, but the biggest recent Cup Match margins were in the 27th America's Cup in 1988, the Deed of Gift 'mis-match', when USA's Stars and Stripes consecutively defeated New Zealand's KZ1 by 18 minutes and 15 seconds and then 21 minutes and 10 seconds.

 

 

 

16:53

Alinghi shedding some water ballast again trying to keep the power on in the lighter conditions. Something like 10 minutes to the finish line.

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wohoo - the tri wins the first race!!!

 

 

17:08

And USA cross the finish line to provisionally win Race 1 of the 33rd America's Cup. Delight for the American team and certain vindication in these conditions for the concept of the solid wing sail and the trimaran platform.

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I went sailing ( Atom Ant won again), then to the YC to celebrate, woke up this morning and thought to myself - I wonder if there was a race?

 

Now I also need to find a tape of it somewhere, maybe it will pop up on you tube.

 

 

Still , I would rather go sailing than watch other people go sailing.

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press conference was interesting (although body language of the two teams was predictable)..... Brad Butterworth said it would suit Alinghi better if the next race was lighter.... given it was so light the race was nearly postponed surely he is clutching at straws?

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For some reson I woke up at 1.30am. Out of curiosity i turned the box on and saw boats with sails/wings tootling around so sat and watched till 5.00am.

(I suspect I will hit the wall midafternoon!)

Some observations;

 

Bertarelli didn't expect Spitllhiil to do the match racing thing (and said so on the feed from the press conference) gifting spithill a penalty, Spithill got in irons and gave away 600 metres to Alinghi. That was recovered inside 10 minutes. The rest is history.

 

BMW Oracle sailed 2/3 of the first leg without a gyb or genoa. generally higher and faster without than with. Astonishing

 

Uphill 2 tacks for each boat and down wind one gybe for BMW. Yawn.

 

Both boats are fast, but this morning BMW Oracle was 10% faster. Up wind and down.The trimaran is a beast.

 

Both crews made sailing the things look easy.

 

Back to reality today. Some minor race management then we might go and look at the classics.

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Oracle's Press Release

 

BMW ORACLE Racing wins Race One of 33rd America’s Cup.

Valencia (February 12, 2010) – BMW ORACLE Racing has started the 33rd America’s Cup Match with a convincing victory over the defender, Alinghi.

Racing was postponed for four and a half hours before Principal Race Officer Harold Bennett gave the start signal in a gentle 4 to 5 knot southerly wind.

After both boats entered the start box, skipper James Spithill (AUS) was able to speed deep into the box on starboard tack, preventing Alinghi 5 – the give way boat –from crossing ahead. As the boats dialled-up into the wind, the Umpires judged Alinghi hadn’t done enough to keep clear and penalised the Swiss team.

Alinghi, however, made a good recovery. With both teams to windward of the start line, the Swiss made a quick return to start ahead. In fact, by the time USA crossed the starting line, it was over 600-meters behind A5.

But then USA started to simply outpace A5 by sailing higher (closer to the wind) and slightly faster. The 600-meter deficit was soon erased, and USA went on to lead by 3:21 around the top mark.

Downwind, the advantage to the American boat was even more pronounced. USA continued to add to its lead all the way to the finish line.

The final delta at the finish, after Alinghi completed its penalty turn, and finished correctly, was 15:28.

Reaction from the sailors on USA will follow once the boat returns to port.

In addition to the main team website, www.bmworacleracing.com, friends of the team can follow our blog at http://bmworacleracingblog.blogspot.com, our YouTube page at http://www.youtube.com/bmworacleracingteam, or on Twitter at: http://twitter.com/bmworacle2010. You can see great images of the team at www.bmor-photo.com.

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And this

 

Quotes from on board USA – Skipper and Helmsman James Spithill

On the pre- start: “We did a pretty nice job we were able to get the penalty and really had them on the ropes. But we got

locked in to windward and tried to tack out but had a bit of a fumble and got stuck in the breeze. It didn't turn out the way I

wanted it to! But leading up to that, the guys did a great job of putting us in a very powerful position.”

On the boat speed: “I always thought if we were able to fly a hull we'd be faster upwind, but I was genuinely surprised

downwind.”

On the second half of the race: “For the downwind sail combination, the trimmers and weather guys made a good call. We

decided to run with the Code 0 downwind and it was definitely the sail. JK (tactician John Kostecki) and Matteo (Navigator

Matteo Plazzi) did a great job of getting us on the layline.”

On his feelings on the day: “This was one of the hardest days I've had on the boat with the pressure and direction changes.

But all in all it was a good day. I'm sure there are some improvements we can make, but obviously it was great.”

On needing one more win: “We're taking each race as it comes… There is stuff we can do to improve. Obviously downspeed

we need some practice! We're excited to get this one in. It's full credit to the guys. For the shore guys and the guys who got it

ready for us, today was a day where everything was great on the boat and that was really key for us as well.”

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