USA Takes Race One!

Photo by BMW Oracle Racing © Photo Gilles Martin-Raget

HOLY BATWINGS, HERE THEY COME!
USA overcame a stall at the start and quickly moved into the lead past Alinghi, to win the first race of the 33rd America’s Cup in convincing fashion, by 15 minutes and 28 seconds to lead 1-0, in a best of three series.
The incredible racing action took place this time off the mountainous coastline Valencia, Spain in futuristic looking, space age multiple hulled rocket ships. The competition for the ‘Auld Mug will never look; or be the same.
Amidst all the tension and attention usually reserved for a space shot at Cape Canaveral, the America’s Cup finally got under way after two days of postponements. Race Committee Officials led by Harold Bennett, gave the go ahead and the drama was dramatic from the get go, as USA Skipper James Spithill went directly for the jugular and forced a penalty on Alinghi, leaving the defender with a noose around its neck that hung like an albatross, as the American high tech trimaran went on to a convincing win.
Alinghi shook off the shock of the penalty to stall out USA. The American trimaran, with its massive 235’ ft. hard wing sail was completely stopped ahead of the line as Alinghi circled around to re-enter the start box and crossed the starting line 1 minute and 27 seconds ahead.
It didn’t take long for these giant 100 foot long yachts to fly a hull out of the water as USA took off in hot pursuit like a “bat out of hell” and passed Alinghi fifteen minutes into the race. Spithill had the throttle down and was pushing USA for all that it was worth.
“It was certainly good to see the guys under pressure like that because it did not really phase them one bit,” said Spithill. “They all just got straight back into what they were supposed to do and that is sailing the boat fast.”
"They certainly showed how fast they can get their boat going. They could not have come off the line in a worse position and they ended up in a very strong position”, said Alinghi tactician Brad Butterworth. “When you are sitting in front of them and they sail up and around you, that is speed!”
USA consistently showed the ability to point higher and faster into the wind as Alinghi was forced into an early sail change with a slight build in the breeze. The American boat is from the BMW Oracle Racing Team, represents the Golden Gate Yacht Club (GGYC) from San Francisco, California.
USA was very comfortable in the lighter elements, building on its lead and was able to fly its hulls more often than not, with Alinghi less comfortable trying to take off to “foil up” to speed.
Ernesto Bertarelli, helmsman and team president for Alinghi, which represents the Societe Nautique de Geneva (SNG) in Switzerland commented; "Actually we had too much sail area for the most part of the race. We did not have the set up we would have liked to have had. There was a bit more wind than we expected.”
With bated breath and the specter of yet another day of delay racing commenced in optimal conditions for this time of year with light, chilly breezes from the south at around 6 to 7 knots, under bright blue skies. After a delay of more than four hours waiting for an offshore breeze to stabilize after the previous days high winds the action was intense from the start as an aggressive Spithill lived up to his reputation.
As in 2007, the location of the America’s Cup took place on the beautiful Mediterranean coast of Spain, be it the middle of winter, in February rather than a warm balmy summer afternoon in July. This unique 33rd version of the ‘Cup was the subject of much litigation and interpretation as ultimately the New York Supreme Court ordered the teams to race under the terms of the Deed of Gift (DoG).
The course for the first race was a simple windward/leeward trajectory of 40 miles with one mark rounding.
USA, carrying sail number US 17, dropped its jib halfway up the windward leg and relied upon its hard wing sail to engine up an amazing amount of power leaving Alinghi, with owner Ernesto Bertarelli at the helm, with Frenchman Loick Peyron and Butterworth, by his side in its dust. USA led at the first and only mark rounding ahead by 3 minutes 21 seconds.
“Obviously it was quite exciting at the start,” said Spithill. “We were able to get a piece of them in the entry and that is something we had been thinking about for quite some time, and it started to set up to look like we might be able to get a penalty on them, so I pushed it pretty hard in there.”
Then as announcer P J Montgomery called it that left USA “stuck in the putty” and stalled out for several exciting moments as the hard wing sail powered up again.
“That left us pretty close to them and we then we had a hard time slowing the boat down,” continued Spithill. “We were in a pretty controlling position then, as time went on through we got ourselves stuck in irons, but also I want to say well done to Alinghi, they did a good job getting out from there.”
“We still have a lot to learn, it kind of showed today that we aren’t at race level preparation that we are kind of used to in these campaigns,” related Spithill, who lives in Australia and in his fourth America’s Cup campaign. “But, it was an exciting start, with plenty of action.”
“We tried to keep the boats apart with having the bottom pin offset but it was not actually set up that well, and we thought we had just done enough but obviously not,” said Butterworth. “But, that really did not have any reflection on who won the race. It made some interesting stop and start, in irons and going backwards, something we’d never done on multihulls.”
Many thought the Alinghi catamaran would have a downwind advantage in the lighter breezes, but as they raced back up the Spanish shoreline USA comfortably increased its lead to more than 3,000 meters sailing at more than 25 knots or more than twice as fast as the speed of the wind. The umpire boat and spectator flotilla struggled to keep up as the multi-hulls raced towards the finish line.
"For sure at the start after the penalty it felt good they were stopped we could gybe and start,” said Bertarelli.
“The wind changed quite rapidly. We had six or seven knots during the pre start and right off the start we were surprised with the wind coming in so strong, so quickly, 12 knots, but we thought we were doing good,” commented Bertarelli after the race. “But, they caught up and we had to make a sail change which slowed us, but they were fast today and the wing seems to be quite a weapon."
In what was a race primarily geared towards straight line speed, the boats still remained quick and agile enough to match tacks in classic match racing fashion. The wind remained fairly consistent over the course, with puffs of breeze here and there which would send the flying hull airborne to the point of an anxiety attack, but Spithill armed like an astronaut with a dizzying array of sensors in his computer backpack would calmly drive his boat back from the brink to finish around ten minutes ahead.
The actual margin at the end was increased by Alinghi’s penalty turn which was done after the finish line, so the cat was forced to bear up and re-enter the course to do its penalty turn again.
After the race there was cautious optimism on the part of USA’s after-guard, knowing full well that Alinghi is armed and dangerous. The second race is a completely different with two marks on a 40 mile triangular course, with two reaching legs.
“To be honest I think we carried a bit of pressure down, I think we carried it down the lane. It was one of those things, I think, where the boat in the lead was always gaining,” said Spithill after the race. “I think that JK (tactician John Kostecki) did a really nice job, he absolutely nailed it on the downwind leg, full credit to him and the weather team.”
“It was very very shifty, very very puffy,” said Spithill, who is in his fourth America’s Cup regatta, but first final. He began is ‘Cup career aboard Syd Fischer’s radical Young Australia in 2000 as a teenager. Fischer has a way of recognizing talent having pegged a young Ian Murray to skipper Advance in 1983.
Russell Coutts , USA’s CEO and three time America’s Cup winning skipper said; “I think it is early days and I said before the series that you wont be able to draw conclusions from the first few minutes of these races….but how about that wing?
"It looked pretty good from where I was sitting today. I think the team did a good job. The guys on board sailed a really nice race, pretty much faultless, said Coutts. “They had a few problems at the start and that can happen in these boats, but we are very, very happy with where we are, but we are only a tiny way into this series now.”
The race turned out to be quite a spectacular affair, with all the underpinnings of what is yachting’s premier event. Unlike 1988’s, one-sided DoG America’s Cup race in San Diego, California this is an actual battle with evenly matched yachts, where match racing skill and tactics will determine the winner.
“ I tell you, when you are in my position with the ten years that are behind and the team I have and the opportunity to race one more, or maybe two more races in the America’s Cup, you can’t call any day a hard day in the America’s Cup,” said Bertarelli. “They are all good days, today it just happened they were faster, they sailed a good race, we lost and I learned over the years that losing is part of enjoying sailing and going racing.”
Bertarelli’s counterpart and nemesis USA Owner Larry Ellison was thrilled in the win, but very much focused on the task at hand, which is taking one day, one race at a time.
“I think my emotions started when it looked like we were going to race in three and a half knots of breeze,” said Ellison. “Russell and I were on the boat and we had to get as many people off the boat and as much stuff as possible to sail as light as possible.”
“I had to get off the boat and so did Russell,” relayed Ellison, which shows the faith and trust they have in Spithill, who has the brass tacks to kick off his bosses off the boat, twenty minutes before the start of the race.
“I think it is more stressful to watch than to sail,” said Ellison. Better up one than down.
Clearly, the wing is the thing. The hard wing sail, which was tested for the first time late last fall after USA dismasted a brand new rig, is the most advanced piece of sailing technology to appear in the America’s Cup and work; since Australia 2’s winged keel.
“The piece of kit we are most proud is the wing,” said Ellison, taking a break from his day job running the global software giant Oracle. “Today, I would say that sailing is a lot harder than running a software company!”
Bertarelli concurred on the hard wing, “It does, I think, show that the wing is quite versatile in many different conditions, but I am not sure sail area would have made much of a difference.”
“I think it is just way too early to draw too many conclusions,” said Coutts, displaying the game face of a true champion. “We are only one race into the series and we will see at the end of the series in terms of the relative values of the wing.”
"I have absolutely no regrets and no frustration,” stated Bertarelli. “Actually I quite enjoyed myself on the water today. It’s racing, you win, you lose that is part of the game. We gave everything we have got over the last two and a half years.
“So there there is nothing to be frustrated about or ashamed about,” said Bertarelli. “Again, the Cup is not over.”
It’s not over, but USA showed dramatic speed and seemly led at will, once in front. Alinghi with both hulls in the water more often than not, will have to do a rethink before Race Two, but they have been the best sailing team in the world the last seven years and nothing, not even today’s result has changed that.
actors
Special thanks to the corporate sponsors; Hublot,El Corte Ingles, Estrella, and Iber Drola who hopped on board at the 11th hour to help support the efforts of the organizing committee. Kudos also to the City of Valencia and Mayor Rita Barberá, who knows how to get things done, in a hurry.
For the rest of us, its too early for breakfast in Valencia, but certainly the coffee is brewing!