Moët Cup Match Racing in San Francisco Day 2

Oracle BMW take two wins from Team Alinghi racing off Alcatraz Island in the Moët Cup © Bob Grieser

Oracle BMW take two wins from Team Alinghi racing off Alcatraz Island in the Moët Cup © Bob Grieser

Report from Magnus Wheatley

The mist and cloud cleared for day two of the Moet Cup between Alinghi and Oracle BMW to produce flat conditions on San Francisco Bay, beneath blue skies- just perfect to showcase the spectacle of America’s Cup match-racing. The two Cuppers SUI-64 and USA-76 elected to run two pro-driver races today and as the stakes get higher, the crews are hitting their peak form.

Last night Oracle’s John Kostecki was ebullient at racing in his back-yard saying “I think we’ve proved that the Bay is just perfect for grand-prix yacht racing” and he’s got a point. The ballsy call would be for Ernesto Bertarelli to can the European idea and hold the Cup in San Francisco. It’s an idea that, although completely unlikely, has real merit and it wouldn’t take much to convince either Larry Ellison or the local authorities to stump up the money for the competition…San Fran is really that good!

With the breeze fluctuating all day between 11 and 22 knots, nearly 2000 spectators lined the downtown area of Fisherman’s Wharf in anticipation of a great day of sailing. They weren’t disappointed. The day was completely turned over to the professionals and in the first race of the morning Oracle were fired up, entering the starting box on starboard, bang on the button and aggressively hunting down Alinghi who were slightly late. After a big dial-up that both teams held for well over two minutes, Alinghi managed to slip far enough aft to cause Oracle some big problems but the sail-trimmers got USA-76 out of trouble in the nick of time as a monster windshift funnelled down the course eliciting an unusual port tack start. As the seconds clicked down Oracle were to leeward with a very slight lead and both boats sailed up in the lee of Alcatraz Island in the Alcatraz ‘tidal cone’. The lead swapped and changed as the boats gauged up and down with each other with Oracle defending the right side tenaciously.

It was a tactic that paid handsome dividends and no doubt local boy John Kostecki on USA-76 could take a large portion of the credit as Oracle leapt out into a four boatlengths lead that they never looked like losing. Covering Alinghi’s every move, today Oracle looked to have ironed out their tacking problems of yesterday and the crew work from both crews was almost at Louis Vuitton Cup final standards. Not bad with four years to go until the next Cup and the level that both these teams are sailing at now must be a real worry to any newcomers to the game.

After an interesting second windward mark rounding where both boats performed the tricky tack/gybe/set manoeuvre the race became a procession with Alinghi unable to close down the deltas. Oracle deservedly won the race with a 27 second lead and squared the pro-driver series at one apiece and all eyes were on the second race of the day for the evening’s bragging rights.

As the afternoon breeze rose, so did the adrenalin in the crews. Oracle were clearly psyched by their opening win and hit top gear despite entering from the unfavoured port entry. They absolutely steamed in at around 11 knots and dialled deep in to the box capitalising on Alinghi’s late-entry and forcing an early cross of the Swiss boys bow. It was a clear tactical error by navigator Ernesto Bertarelli and put Alinghi on the back foot from the start. Oracle were in control and they initiated a series of downspeed circles before breaking for the line in the windward position. A few luffs later and both boats went bow down, slightly earlier than they had intended and as the gun fired, the race control adjudged both boats to be over the line.

Oracle were the first to respond and bore away sharply before crash-gybing after re-crossing and they set out on port tack in the lee of Alcatraz Island. Alinghi were at sixes and sevens without Coutts aboard and they eventually re-crossed on starboard tack and split tacks heading towards the San Francisco shoreline. The two maintained this position until there was a separation of 1.5 kilometres before Oracle tacked back across the tide to cover. As the two met just off Fisherman’s Wharf it was Oracle in the driving seat, holding the dirty-air advantage and hammering it home at every opportunity.

By the windward mark their lead was 22 seconds and despite Alinghi closing them down on successive runs owing to a larger spinnaker sail plan, USA-76 maintained their lead and went on to record a 24 second victory. Both crews showed exemplary sail handling performing tack/gybe/sets with ease and proved that they are simply a class apart from anyone else in the America’s Cup arena. If anyone from the GBR Challenge management is reading this then it’s time to dust those boats down and get out sailing before it’s all way too late. 2007 is, in reality, only the blink of an eye away! Racing continues tomorrow with the owner/driver series and a rumoured $5-$7 million gold bullion bet between Larry Ellison and Ernesto Bertarelli.

Report from the Moët Cup Media Centre

It was a reversal of fortunes on day two of the Pro-Driver series at the MOËT CUP on Tuesday. Larry Ellison's ORACLE BMW Racing team won both of the races on San Francisco Bay and jumped to a 2 –1 lead in the seven-race series.

Skipper Chris Dickson’s squad took full advantage of its local knowledge to win the first race of the day and give new recruit Gavin Brady his first win at the wheel for the American team.

The MOËT CUP continued to provide spectacular viewing opportunities Tuesday, with the best action coming up the final short beat to the finish, in the first race of the day, when ALINGHI sailed in close to shore, tacking just yards off the breakwater at the Aquatic Park.

Crowds lined the sea wall, and filled the bleachers set up outside the host Golden Gate Yacht Club to enjoy the sight of these two giant America’s Cup Class boats dueling on San Francisco Bay.

Racing for the MOËT CUP continues on Wednesday afternoon, with two races scheduled, one in each of the Pro-Driver and Owner Driver series.

MOËT CUP – Pro Driver Series – Race Two of Seven

ORACLE BMW Racing (USA-76) beats ALINGHI (SUI-64) – Delta 0:27

It was windy at the start of the race, with a strong 20-knot westerly challenging the race crews, and ensuring that the pre-start ritual was relatively mild compared to the standard set on Monday.

Both boats hit the line with speed on port tack, with ALINGHI slightly to weather. But the Swiss team couldn’t gain enough separation to hold its position there, and was eventually forced to tack away to clear its wind. When the boats converged again moments later, the first cross went to USA-76 by one boat length.

Brady, with local sailors John Kostecki and Larry Ellison among the afterguard on USA-76, kept pushing ALINGHI skipper Jochen Schuemann further to the left side of the race course, forcing SUI-64 to sail in damaging current, while ORACLE BMW Racing picked up a nice boost just off Alcatraz Island.

From there, Brady and skipper Chris Dickson were able to protect their lead, rounding the top mark in lighter breeze, and with a 22-second lead.

Both boats gybed around the weather mark, and in contrast to Monday, this time it was USA-76 that was the faster boat on the run, stretching to a 25-second advantage.

It was a long port tack up each of the beats in this race, with a lot of south in the generally westerly wind, and that limited the options for Schuemann, and tactician Brad Butterworth on Alinghi, as they tried in vain to find a passing lane.

MOËT CUP – Pro Driver Series – Race Three of Seven

ORACLE BMW Racing beats ALINGHI – Delta 0:24

ALINGHI skipper Jochen Schuemann squandered his starboard tack advantage during the pre-start of race three, when his late entry into the start box allowed Gavin Brady to cross ahead and avoid the dial up. Both boats sailed very deep to leeward of the line but didn’t engage too aggressively until just moments before the start, after ALINGHI was forced to tack by a broken jib sheet, and Brady sensed an opportunity to pressure his opponent.

With Schuemann and Brady pressing on the speed in the strong wind, both boats were a fraction of a second early for the start gun and had to return and re-start. The American boat immediately dove back to the line, and gybed, barely maintaining control to restart. ALINGHI was slower to return and found itself re-starting nearly four-lengths back of ORACLE BMW Racing.

The re-start saw ALINGHI sail far to the left side of the course, while Brady took USA-76 to the right, and out of the current behind Alcatraz Island. The split was big, well over a mile, and when the boats finally converged again, ORACLE BMW Racing was well ahead.

The boats tacked up the shoreline, right in front of the host Golden Gate Yacht Club, and the crowds lining the seawall. USA-76 rounded with a 24-second lead, and despite ALINGHI closing the gap on both runs, the American team was able to extend on the beats and win by a safe margin.

Quotes of the Day:

Ross Halcrow (ORACLE BMW Racing) on sailing in the strong wind on San Francisco Bay:

In 22 knots of wind, with Young America, we couldn’t sail in that, we’d break and sink. So it’s pretty exciting to be sailing here with ORACLE BMW on these great, solid boats and being able to sheet on and sit down there to leeward, getting covered in water without worrying about what’s going to break next.

Curtis Blewett (ALINGHI) on losing three out of four races this week:

We’ve been sailing together for a long time. It’s not like we’re going to go and have a big, intense, meeting tonight. We’re here to do our best in the event and we’ve all been together for a couple of years now and we’re pretty comfortable with each other. So we’ll continue to try and figure out what side of the course we want off the line, and what the tides are doing, and we’ll just carry on as normal.

Gavin Brady (ORACLE BMW Racing) on helming in the pre-start in 25 knots of wind:

One of the things that has helped a lot is that the technology in the sail battens has come a long way. In these sort of conditions, we would almost certainly have broken every batten in the mainsail in the gybe that we pulled off (to re-start). We’ve got a slightly smaller mainsail, which helps as well, so there’s less load on the battens. So a lot of that is coming from the technology, which is letting us push the boats a lot harder. But that was about as aggressive as you could get away with.

Josh Belsky (ALINGHI) on why Russell Coutts isn’t sailing this week:

What you have to do is to look towards the future a bit. We are not, as a team, going to have the benefit of racing against eight, nine or ten teams in a Louis Vuitton Challenger series. We have to develop, in-house, two incredibly strong ‘A’ teams, so that you could pick any one guy, and rotate him onto either boat, with either helmsman, and still be successful. We’ve got to try and generate the best possible in-house match racing that we can. So we’re trying to bring our whole group to that level. There are going to be quite a few of these regattas in the future and there’s no guarantee that you’re going to see Russell Coutts driving.

Moët & Chandon is the official sponsor of the MOËT CUP. Event partners include Oracle Corporation, BMW, Hewlett-Packard, and TAG Heuer. The Media Center is managed by the Louis Vuitton Cup team. Hewlett-Packard is the technology partner of the Moët Cup Media Center. The Golden Gate Yacht Club in partnership with the Treasure Island Sailing Center will run the MOËT CUP on-the-water Race Committee.

Information about the MOËT CUP and race results and updates during the event can be found by visiting the Golden Gate Yacht Club web site at www.ggyc.com.

More Information:

• YachtsandYachting.com America's Cup Section