Just when you thought it couldn’t get any better! It did as USA won the second race and captured the America’s Cup Trophy by beating Alinghi by 5 minutes and 26 seconds!
In a match that brought the “match” back into racing, USA powered up its massive wing-sail; which is bigger than the appendage on a 747 and can leap tall buildings, and after a fantastic first leg, ripped away on the reach, to cover the unwieldy new catamaran from the former America’s Cup Defender on its way home to the finish line.
After a delay of more than 6 hours and a potential postponement to another day just moments away, Principle Race Officer (PRO) Harold Bennett displayed some Kiwi swagger to hold off a mutiny aboard the committee boat to start the race, as officials from Societe Nautique de Geneva (SNG) attempted to stop it.
With all the confusion on board the committee boat apparently spreading into the mindset of the Alinghi after guard, it apparently lost track of its position on the race course in regards to its proper entry point into the starting box prior to the five minute warning gun.
Inextricably, Alinghi, representing SNG, was given its second successive penalty in as many races even before crossing the starting line. America’s Cup umpires and officials had gone 156 years without issuing a penalty, now have done so in the last three races held for the ‘Cup over the last two series championships.
Mistakes and penalties aside Alinghi was still able to gain the favored right hand side of the course at the start as the boats split off into different directions, with USA heading to the left.
The American maxi-multihull won the start by 24 seconds in a race that was guided by breezes that varied from 6 to 9 knots, with waves that measured slightly more than a meter, but the sea state was still relatively docile, nary some rolling swells that surged across the course on occasion.
“We wanted to get the right hand side of the start line,” said Alinghi tactician Brad Butterworth, who has sailed in every America’s Cup since 1987. “We were a little bit bunched by the start being called so late in the day.”
“We really weren’t close enough for the time that we had and we struggled to ping the ends and then gybe round and get to our end so we got a nice penalty for free and that was two for two, so we like be even numbers, that is good,” commented a stoic, yet sarcastic Butterworth. Clearly he is the human voice of that team. “We thought we’ve got the penalty we will gybe round and we could not get to the starboard layline to the committee boat which is what wanted, because of the spectator boats.”
“We’ve got a real boat race here,” exclaimed an exuberant USA Skipper James Spithill.
For all the politics over wind and wave conditions the races were run in excellent weather for this time of year. Bennett should be commended for his impartiality, and even with all the angst over the delays, set up a damn good race course.
The action on the committee boat was directly related to Alinghi’s insistence on not racing in specific conditions on the water, which was specifically ruled on by the America’s Cup Jury prior to the start of the regatta and is referred to in the Deed of Gift (DoG) only that race’s must be completed in seven hours.
Apparently, after six hours of delay, waiting for the light and shifty winds to stabilize over the triangular course and with only minutes before the 4:30 PM deadline SNG officials on the boat staged a strike. They refuse Bennett’s order to lower the postponement flag, which would begin the 10 minute sequence to start the race.
After the three SNG club members refused to comply with Bennett’s directive; as the International Sailing Federation (ISAF) PRO he has complete authority, he “deputized” GGYC observer Tom Ehman and the committee boat’s Spanish driver, who also happens to be an international umpire, to help run flags for the race.
Also, on board was SNG’s Chief Council Lucien Masmejan, and the Commodore himself; Fred Meyer. Clearly, when all this is over the ISAF will undertake an investigation and will likely take punitive action. The ISAF is the governing body for the sport of sailing. Though, in an interview Bennett did say; that Meyer took no part and just watched the whole affair.
Alinghi and SNG’s intransigent position and subsequent actions on this issue constitute an unsportsmanlike behavior that has not been seen since Lord Dunraven over a century ago. Had the GGYC continued its litigation on Societe Nautique’s de Geneva breach of its fiduciary duty as Trustee, this incident would certainly rank as proof positive, that the actions of SNG’s officials have no place in a world of fair sportsmanship.
Given the mutual distrust that existed between the two yacht club’s over the past few years, it is fortunate that Ehman, (whose no fly on the wall), was onboard to help bring order to chaos.
Even as Alinghi appeared slow to the line, USA was flying two hulls and ripped off on port tack. Meanwhile, Alinghi’s hesitancy was rewarded with a 20 degree wind shift to the right and after a separation of over 3,000 meters between the two boats, had worked the catamaran up to a 600 meter lead.
Loick Peyron took over the helm from Ernesto Bertarelli and had Alinghi in control of the race at this point as they pointed into a nice header. Alinghi 5 looked much stronger today and despite their mistake at the start had motored off with a nice lead, as USA tried to take advantage of every little puff on their side of the course.
With a nice looking mainsail holding its shape as close to a wing as a wing could be, Alinghi appeared ready to rally and for the first time it looked like there was an actual match race on for the America’s Cup, where tactics, not just speed, would play a defining role.
“We managed to get what we wanted,” said Butterworth. “I think we had better pressure on that side on that long starboard tack and we pushed the boat harder than we have ever pushed it on both tacks.”
As the boats converged towards the layline on the approach to the first mark Alinghi sent up a red flag, and it wasn’t a valentine or love letter. The protest flag became fortune’s fool, as the race changed character immediately. Whether it served as an impetus for USA or further distracted the Alinghi afterguard, who had run a great race at that point, the momentum was about to change for the Americans.
USA tactician John Kostecki plotted a course to lay a “fat layline” (as described by commentator Andy Green) over Alinghi as the lead narrowed to just under 100 meters. USA overstood the lay line by a few boat lengths as Alinghi failed to dial them up and US 17 sailed over the top of them to round the first mark 28 seconds ahead on a leg that had been thoroughly dominated by the Swiss.
In relaying what was the pivotal moment in this race Spithill just exclaimed; “I just nailed it!”
As the early evening sky began to drape shades of fluorescent pink on the horizon Alinghi was now on death’s door on a reaching leg, with few or zero passing lanes. The 13.3 mile reach was all USA needed to extend its lead quickly to more than a 1000 meters, as it was sailing at over 30 knots in only 8 knots of breeze!
At this point it was obvious that most of Alinghi’s efforts would be an exercise in futility, as the catamaran water ballasted to the maximum, was doing all it could do to try to keep up and routinely was left with both hulls in the water.
In the meantime, Jimmy Spithill steering USA into the sunset was having the time of his life. At forty meters or more over the water and above the fray, on the helm, as the luminesce turquoise seas of the ‘Med went ripping by below the under carriage of the carbon fiber hulls.
The netting in between the three pontoons of the monster trimaran had been cut down to a minimum as a result of a multitude of modifications that had taken place as the BMW Oracle Team adapted to the many court rulings and potential location changes. The boat had taken on huge “batwings” behind the beam for aerodynamic assistance.
The technology in both boats was inspiring with an incorporation of A-Cat’s wave piercing reverse bows or the massive asymmetrical curved foils, not to mention the radical, yet “conservative” hard wing sail, which had to be baby sat 24 hours a day. It must have been like keeping an elephant leashed in your living room, with mice running around.
As USA rounded the second mark with a 2 minute and 44 second lead for a downwind heading for the finish line the race was all but over. USA rolled up its jib and gingerly swung the wing sail around as it jibed home with the margin now at 2,200 meters.
In a furious attempt to catch up Alinghi started dumping water from its ballast tanks in an effort to gain speed. The only drama left was USA’s last jibe to lay the finish line and as darkness approached whether any breakdowns would occur.
The winds lightened up as the sun was setting and barring a bizarre shift in the breeze like Race 7 when the finish did a complete round about Alinghi’s swan song was singing.
USA slowed up for the finish and the lead dropped to less than 1,000 meters, but it was to little, too late as Alinghi still had a take a penalty turn. USA representing the BMW Oracle Racing Team crossed the finish line 5 minutes and 26 seconds ahead as it was America’s Cup again!
Oracle chieftain Larry Ellison took the wheel of his $150 million dollar creation and steered towards Port America’s Cup with the mountains behind Valencia now painted in magenta and purple.
In crossing the line Ellison declared that: “this is an absolutely awesome feeling and I am really proud to be part of this team!”
Horns blared, sirens blasted, as a flotilla of all shapes & sizes of marine craft who had anxiously awaited the behemoth multihulled giants all day and into the night swarmed around it like bee’s to honey.
Congratulations abound as America is home to the America’s Cup once again and for the first time in 15 years it will reside up the California coast from San Diego to its new home in San Francisco at the Golden Gate Yacht Club. I’m sure that Tom Blackaller and Gary Mull are smiling and sailing somewhere in this glorious moment!
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