33rd America's Cup - AY Race 1 Update

Event coverage as it unfolds
As part of the ongoing coverage for the 33rd America's Cup presently underway in Valencia, AsianYachting is providing Live links to the official race broadcasters and keeping a written Log (See Race 1 below) during the racing on the website http://AsianYachting.com As it turns out, the promised live feed courtesy of BMW Oracle Racing is tied up with copyright issues and cannot show sailing during the racing. I thought it was a little to good to be true. Press Play and then click heavily on the live news ticker scrolling across the bottom of the screen to open the Official BMW Oracle race coverage page and watch it live with before and after racing Press Conferences. The Live broadcasts on the official website 33rd AC has a program download and suffers interrupted streaming/buffering on wired broadband in Asia. Those of us lucky enough to have Eurosports 1 included on the satellite or cable service can watch live when the racing is on. This is an amazing turn of events for viewing top class sailing events both on the TV and Internet. Being swamped with information way beyond the normal realms, how can we not but share it with our faithful subscribers. Can AC33 seize the opportunity and possibly turn this sailing duel into one of the "Greatest shows on earth"? The stage is set and the antagonists are getting ready for duel No 2. Follow the action and link through to the live coverage from http://AsianYachting.com

AY Race 1 Photo Gallery now online
Fantastic images from Race 1 of the 33rd America’s Cup in Valencia and a recent collection of images during the build-up to the Cup have been posted online in the AY 33rd AC Race 1 Gallery. Many thanks must go to the legendary photographers Gilles Martin-Raget and Thierry Martinez/Sea&Co for sending all these © Free images to compliment the extraordinary achievement we witnessed on the water yesterday. Credit: http://www.thmartinez.com and http://www.martin-raget.com/ They advise that there are many more images on their websites. Go to the AY Photo Library to access other International Regatta Photo Galleries

Race 2 Schedule and Course

SCHEDULE: Race 2 is scheduled for Sunday, February 14, 2010. Race warning signal is 10:00 am local time (CET), with the race to start at 10:06 am. If a third race is needed, the race schedule will continue to attempt a race every other day, with the next race scheduled for Tuesday, February 16th (and then Thursday, Saturday, etc.).

COURSE: Race 2 is a 39nm equilateral triangle course - the first side of which shall be a beat to windward. Golden Gate Yacht Club won a pre-event coin toss, and chose starboard end start entry for the first and third races. So for Race 2 Alinghi has the starboard entry advantage and weather permitting the long reaching legs may further suit their soft sail rig and style of sailing. Get ready for some more startline fireworks as Aussie Jimmy Spithill found out that these monsters are very hard to stop in short distances, especially after unleashing the power and making one the most spectacular starboard entries sailing has ever seen and daringly inflicting a penalty on the opponent within seconds of entering. How good is that? Go for the juggler straight away and Touché it worked. Now that's confidence and a match racers "Dream come true".

33rd AC - Race 1 Log

17:22 Alinghi appear not to have completed their penalty properly so the final delta is 15 minutes and 28 seconds.

17:08 After 2 hours 35 mins of racing and superb boat handling skills BMW Oracle Racing gives Alinghi a thumping by 10:05 mins and notch up Race 1 victory in superb style.

16:31 Two hours into the race and halfway down the downwind leg BMW Oracle has a 3klm lead over Alinghi.

16:15 USA sails away into the sunset - lower and faster than Alinghi downwind - awesome power generated by the wingsail, all a while flying the central hull is a sight to behold

16:00 BMW Oracle leads Alinghi by 3min 21secs at the top mark, also known as the proverbial mile after 1 1/2 hours of racing.

15:47 Magnificent upwind display by BMW Oracle wingsail allows them to romp away into the lead coming into the top mark.

15:23 USA extends to 500m advantage as both boats tack almost half way up the 20nm windward leg

14:47 USA claws back the lead by pointing 3-4 degrees higher and footing 2 or 3 knots faster than Alinghi 5

14:33 And they are finally racing - USA stalled over the startline and let Alinghi race away with a 600m lead.

14:30 Alinghi's port entry is not fast enough and cannot cross in front of the fast entering BMW Oracle - Alinghi goes into dial up mode so USA immediately takes advantage and forces a penalty on Alinghi for failing to keep clear only seconds into the pre-start maneuvers.

The Warning Signal for Race 1 Friday 12th February 2010 was 11:54 Valencia Time or 1854 (Mas, Sing, HK time) but still under postponement due to weather conditions. Things are looking good for a start at 1435 VT or 2135 East Asian time

Quotes of the Day after Race 1

James Spithill (AUS) skipper/helm BMW ORACLE Racing Team (USA):
“Obviously it was quite exciting at the start. 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. Obviously that left us pretty close to them and we then we had a hard time slowing the boat down. 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. But it was an exciting start with plenty of action.”

Larry Ellison (USA) team founder and afterguard BMW ORACLE Racing Team (USA):
“ I think my emotions started when it looked like we were going to race in three and a half knots of breeze. Russell and I were on the boat and we were told that we might be sailing in 20 minutes then we had the call to get as many people off the boat and as much stuff as possible off the boat to sail as light as possible, because there was a very, very light breeze. I had to get off the boat and so did Russell. And so we sailed with a minimum crew. So I think it is more stressful to watch than to sail.”

Russell Coutts (NZL) CEO and afterguard BMW ORACLE Racing Team (USA):
“ I think it is early days. 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. They had a few problems at the start, 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. There is so much more work to do. We know we are up against the best team out there and we are certainly not going to take our foot off the throttle. We are going to try and improve our performance further.”

Brad Butterworth (NZL) skipper/tactician Alinghi (SUI):
“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. 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 multihull's.”

Ernesto Bertarelli (SUI), helmsman and team president Alinghi (SUI):
"For sure at the start after the penalty it felt good they were stopped we could gybe and start. 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. But they caught up. We had to make a sail change which slowed us, but they were fast today and the wing seems to be quite a weapon. "

Brad Butterworth (NZL) skipper/tactician Alinghi (SUI):
"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. When you are sitting in front of them and they sail up and around you, that is speed."

Goto: 33rd AC - AY Race 2 & Roundup Photo Gallery
33rd AC - AY Race 2 & Roundup
33rd AC - AY Pre-Race 2 Update
AY AC33 Race 1 Photo Gallery
33rd AC - AY Pre-Regatta Update

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