Tonight, fate is once again in our own hands, thanks to Alinghi's drubbing of ETNZ this afternoon.

So we are back in control of our own destiny. Beat both Luna Rossa and Alinghi tomorrow, we win Act 8. While we would finish tied with Alinghi on 10 wins, two-boat ties are broken in favor of the team that wins the match between them.

There can be no doubt both matches tomorrow will be tough. But tonight everyone in the base is fired up, even our local (Trapani) security guards.

Alinghi also won their first match today. It was no contest -- Shosholoza didn't start due to a breakdown.

It brings up a subtle but interesting rules question being considered by the teams and race committee. Under the current rules if your opponent starts and then retires, you must complete the race to get the point. However, if your opponent does not show up to start, after ten minutes the umpires "black flag" the match and award it to you, meaning you get the point without sailing around the entire racetrack.

After the Alinghi-Shosholoza match was black-flagged, Alinghi sensibly took their sails down and towed back into Trapani Harbour -- and relaxed while ETNZ slogged it around the race course in their match against China Team.

On a two-race day, would it have been fairer if Alinghi had been required to stay out and complete the four-leg course alone, and therefore be a little less fresh when they met ETNZ in the second flight of matches today?

Finally found some pictures of the 3-second finish in our match Saturday with ETNZ, courtesy of CupInfo.com. Click on the pictures to enlarge.

Just before the finish line, 76 does a nice jibe, gets a puff and surfs
alongside ETNZ.

ETNZ has just crossed the finish line, which I have painted in with a
green line between the buoy (just to starboard of ETNZ) and the RC boat
(lower left corner of the picture). As fate would have it, the loss to ETNZ
has not diminished our chances of winning this regatta.

The weather is not so magical this morning. Heavy overcast, cool and light rain. Frontal passage with wind and squalls predicted for midday. CB says the wind will start southerly and clock to the northwest. And plenty of it.

Monday and it feels like its back to work, even though everyone here has been working steadily for more than ten days now.

Could be another rough day, and with more than a dash of tricky stirred in.

Sorry no pairing list this morning; please check the ACM website.

Easy win over China Team, and closer win over Victory Challenge today. Against the Swedish team it got light and shifty at the end of the second beat, and Magnus Holmberg & Co. closed in. But our afterguard made all the right moves and protected the three-boat length lead down the run, parrying every attack the Swedes made. SWE-63 has been very quick in the lighter going, and when the breeze dropped below 11 or 12 today, it was remarkable how quickly they came on.

Regardless, two more points. Our guys made it look easy, but the second match was closer than it probably looked. If Victory Challenge comes up with a good new boat, they could well be among the top challengers this time around.

So nothing has changed today. For us to win Act 8, we need to win all our remaining matches, and ETNZ needs to lose once more -- and they still face Alinghi (tomorrow) and Luna Rossa (Tuesday).

Tomorrow we have +39 and then the Spanish. Again, we must not look past either of them to our big day on Tuesday. In an earlier post I said we raced Luna Rossa Monday, but with only one flight completed Friday, we will now race both Flight 10 (Luna Rossa) and Flight 11 (Alinghi) on Tuesday, weather permitting. Wednesday and Thursday are reserve days.

* * * * *

Julie Ash had a nice article about Trapani in this morning's New Zealand Herald. She even included a quote by Chris D, saying that "the clear blue sea and picturesque setting moved BMW Oracle Racing chief Chris Dickson to describe the location as 'a magical place to sail.'"

With each passing day, more and more people here would agree with Dicko's sentiments.

Today gave us another magical view of Trapani. The first three days the north course was out under the Egadi Islands, to the west of the harbour entrance. Today it was off the city front, north of the harbour entrance. The backdrop was even more spectacular.

(Click on any of the following images to enlarge.)

No better caption...

...than "A magical place to sail."

View from our VIP spectator boat Zurga before docking out this morning,
looking to the west end of the packed AC Park where the Amerigo Vespucci
is docked and also open to the public.

The popular radio-controlled yacht basin just behind Zurga in the
AC Park.

Looking east past the Foredeck Club up to beautiful and historically-
significant Monte Erice.

76 on a "flyby" past the ACM photo boat yesterday, just before
the sensational match with ETNZ. Photo courtesy of www.CupInfo.com.

First two photos by Gilles Martin-Raget. More at www.bmor-photo.com.

Clear, warm, dry. A real beaut of a morn. Just back from an early-morn mtg of the Challenger Commission over in town and there is already a crowd lining the foreshore and milling about in the AC Park. There was much more and better local promotion of the event here than in previous Acts, or so one senses. Moving the fireworks to the opening of the regatta was smart, too, helping to draw the public's attention early on.

And, as the late Pope is reported to have said, "if it does not happen on TV, it does not happen." While we don't see the live TV on the water, those on shore who did see yesterday's coverage said it was brilliant.

As we have done at each of the pre-regattas from Marseille Act 1 on, and as we mentioned in last evening's post, BMWOR hosted another "neighborhod BBQ" here at our base in the paddock. These have been promoted and organized by, among others, our operations manager Laurent "Father" Esquier (FRA/USA). Full marks to Laurent, and to Dicko for green-lighting these, as they are good for our team, the event and the Cup in general.

None of us likes losing, especially to ETNZ, but everyone is jazzed about what a great race it was. Today's opponents are China Team (1-4) and the Swedish Team, Victory Challenge (3-2). Just because their records are not all that flash doesn't mean we can look past them to our matches with Luna Rossa tomorrow and Alinghi on Tue. The Swedish team is clearly better back on SWE-63 than they were with 73 in Malmo last month. China Team was ahead for a good bit of the first leg of their match with Alinghi, so you cannot count CHN-69 out especially in today's lighter air. Speaking of which...

Should be a good medium breeze, flat water test today.


For today's pairing list, please click here.

Our match with ETNZ this afternoon ranks with two of the other great America's Cup matches of the modern era (if not all times): the barn-burner between America Cubed and Il Moro in the '92 match, and the AmericaOne - Prada "match of the century" in the finals of the '00 LVC.

Soft Mediterranean sunshine under clearing skies. Beautiful Egadi Islands rising out of the sea in the background. Sparkling aquamarine sea churned into a lumpy froth by the wind and a gentle swell left over from yesterday's frontal passage. 12 to 18 knots of wind making for perfekt match racing conditions, to say nothing of great surfing conditions. Friendly "cross-town" rivals with pride and more at stake. Two teams at the top of their games and The Game. Large spectator fleet. 100 of our own VIP guests on two exceptional spectator boats.

Aggressive pre-start. Even start. Hand-to-hand combat up the first leg. Lead change downwind. Lead change upwind. Lead change downwind. Nearly a fourth lead change in the final few boat lengths as the trailing yacht surfed up alongside the leader. Excellent race management. Clean sailing -- no penalties. 3 second delta at the finish.

Heart-breaking loss and the disappointment that goes with it. Then the realization that it was one of the great matches of all time, the better team on the day had won (barely), and we can still win the regatta if we win all our remaining matches and ETNZ loses one more -- they, like us, still have matches to come with Alinghi and Luna Rossa.

Upon returning to the harbour, spectators lining the shore five deep. A swinging jazz band at the Foredeck Club crowded with stoked AC fans. Congratulations from everyone you know (and some you don't) for such a great match, including members of the other team. Hosting a barbecue at our base for all the teams and officials. Among many others at the BBQ, old friends Terry Hutchinson (USA -- ETNZ's tactician) and Bertrand Pace (FRA -- our tactician) seen chatting animatedly and amiably.

The America's Cup is alive and well in Europe, probably better than ever.

P.S. to family and friends, and other Cup fan around the world: wish you were here.

As I write this post the "neighborhood barbeque" hosted here in the
paddock by BMW ORACLE Racing for the other teams and officials is
raging. Bloody spectacular.

Cool this morning following the frontal passage yesterday afternoon, and overcast. The weather is still unsettled and CB says we could have some showers, a fair bit of wind again today, and probably just as rough.

Given the stories we heard from other teams last night of the problems they had yesterday (more than met the eye during the race), it would not be surprising if there are some signifcant problems out there again today. Knock on wood '76 continues to be so robust.

Fast boats, well sailed, that don't break. Or as they say in F1, to finish first first you have to finish. No doubt the equipment and crews will be well tested again today.

The mood in camp this morning is calm and relaxed. Three wins on the board, no equipment problems beyond the broken pole yesterday -- firing on all cylinders. But there is a little more anticipation today, a little more excitement in the air, because we have two (at least on paper) tougher races on tap -- K-Challenge (2-1) then ETNZ (both 2-1) -- and another day of challenging conditions.

Alinghi and Luna Rossa meet in the second flight (Flight Five) today, so that should also be interesting.

Less windy, but with it blowing all night it could be as rough or even
rougher today.

"The biggest waves I have ever driven the chase boat in. Going up alongside the yacht wasn't fun and more than a bit scary." --Chase boat driver "Captain" Craig Christensen (NZL).

That about sums up the day.

When the Race Committee first set up today, the north course (ours) was out in the open sea. We experienced several sets of 3-metre seas on our team spectator vessel Zurga as we headed out. As the breeze and seas continued to build, PRO Peter Reggio wisely moved the north course under Levanso Island. The seas were flatter but it was damn rough nonetheless. About 20kts of wind most of the day. It reminded me of Freo during the 86-87 Cup.

Indeed, it also brought to mind the conditions at San Diego in '95 when OneAustralia sank, and in '00 when Young America nearly sank, and the similarly rough day in San Diego in '95 when the keel on DC's Stars & Stripes partially pulled off the hull. Young America and S&S would probably have sunk had it not been for the fast action of their tenders and chase boats getting airbags and pumps onboard the yachts.

Paul "Flipper" Westlake (AUS), main trimmer on '76, said, "I copped a bit of flack from my teammates today about the last time we sailed AC yachts in these conditions, because I went for a swim and had to take a chase boat back to the dock." Flipper was main trimmer on OneAus. By the way, our design coordinator, Ian "Fresh" Burns (AUS), was navigator on OneAus and also went for a swim that day.

Flipper went on to say, "We were happy with today's conditions and never felt that we weren't prepared to race. We were disappointed we didn't race the second one."

Given the conditions there was surprisingly little carnage, probably because the race committee called it off after one flight. [Sat morn update -- last evening we heard about a number of other significant problems other teams experienced during the race, or discovered upon returning to their bases -- so "we saw surprisingly little carnage" would have been more accurate.]

Having said that China Team did pull out of their match with Desafio Espanol. Not sure what they broke. K-Challenge had to retire from their match with Shosholoza after the genoa pulled out of (and in the process broke) the headfoil -- the carbon u-shaped slot fitted over the forestay that the luff of the genoa is fed into when hoisting.

Our guys broke the spinnaker pole when setting the spinnaker after rounding the top mark the second time. They had to "free-fly" the kite down the 2.5 mile leg to the finish, and did a magnificent job of it, or so said the radio commentators covering our match. Navigator Peter Isler (USA) pointed out that 76 even gained on that leg. "The surfing conditions," he said, "were awesome."

The round robin continues in order tomorrow. Today's postponed Flight 4 will now be the first flight tomorrow (Saturday). We race K-Challenge in that one. Then we race ETNZ in the second. There will be two flights on Tuesday, instead of just the 11th and final flight previously scheduled.

Chris Bedford says less windy tomorrow, but perhaps almost as rough.

Tomorrow's pairing list is here.

ETNZ came back into the harbour today, I thought to avoid waiting
around for the start in the very rough conditions outside. However, radio
reports this evening are saying that they appeared to be effecting structural
repairs. Regardless, they easily won their match over United Internet Team
Germany.

What goes up...

...yikes.

The beautiful Italian sail training vessel, Amerigo Vespucci, pulled into
Trapani Harbour this afternoon accompanied by USA-76 after our win over
Mascalzone. AV was in Auckland during part of the last Cup.

(If you liked the last three photos, there are more by our ace team photographer, Gilles Martin-Raget, at our team photo site www.bmor-photo.com).

Two nice, clean points yesterday. Five of us are on 2-0, two on 1-1 (including ETNZ with their light-air loss to K-Challenge), and the other five on 0-2. About what you would expect.

Mascalzone (0-2) in the first one today, then K-Challenge (2-0). We shall see how they go today in the breeze.

As CB promised yesterday, windy and rough!

Pairing list is here.

Will try to make the time to get a fuller post up tonight. The atmosphere in and around the event is great. Lots good happening here, both inside and outside the team.

It has dawned bright but a bit cooler here today. CB continues to say light air. Dicko says it could be a bit of a lottery out there with patchy and streaky wind.

Dicko driving and Bertrand "Bert" Pace (FRA) calling tactics again this regatta. Same as Malmo. Peter Isler (USA) is back as navigator, same as he was for the Valencia Acts in June. In Malmo Ian "Fresh" Burns (AUS) had filled in for Peter who was racing in another event.

Those who made it into town last night for the "City Party" say the streets were packed, and it was a blast. Am told that they have closed the local schools for the duration of the event (through the end of next week) so the kids and families can take it all in. Now that, too, has to be an AC first.

Calm, cool and collected in camp this morn. A hint of anticipation in the air, but otherwise the mood is, as Bob in the 2007AC forums likes to say, "Let's Regatta."

Light today...but breezy and rough tomorrow.

20:15 Wed -- USA-76 and the sailing team have just returned from the opening ceremony. The yachts paraded past tens of thousands of cheering people lining the harbour here in Trapani. Biggest crowd anyone on our team can remember for the opening of a regatta, AC or otherwise.

The opening press conference with the skippers is well-reported on our team's main site, as is the other big event of the day -- the announcement of our new main sponsor Allianz. The "eagle" has landed, and needless to say we are delighted the eagle chose BMW ORACLE.

The blue and white branding looks great on the mainsail and the hull. While no doubt there is some envy among the other teams that we have secured a third leading global company, we have also been pleasantly surprised by how many friends on the other teams have been congratulatory and genuinely happy to see another great company involved in the Cup and sailing in general. We hope this might help other teams still in the market for sponsors by convincing any on the fence that the new AC era is a smart investment. It is, indeed, a good day for our team, and the sport, when a company like Allianz comes aboard.

Chris Bedford is still predicting light air for tomorrow. Raceable though maybe not at 12:30 when the warning signal for the first flight is scheduled. However, Friday and Saturday look windy and rough, possible 1-metre seas.

Click here for the pairing list for tomorrow's two "flights."


15:00 -- Signing ceremony at the base today after new main sponsor
Allianz was announced at a well-attended press conference over at the
media center.


15:10 -- The Allianz eagle has landed.


15:30 -- Dicko conducting a quick pre-regatta team meeting in
the sail loft before the sailing teamed docked out this afternoon
for some practice racing against ETNZ.


20:00 -- Massive fireworks show tonight after the opening ceremony,
presumably sponsored by Valencia. Photo courtesy of Kevin Batten.


21:30 -- Spontaneous pizza party in one of our team containers, at the
end of another 15-hour day.

The day before the day before.... Sorry, no time to post anything of substance today due to an all day meeting fest (can't wait for the sailing to start!). Everyone on the team is a bit busy with meetings, last minute preparations, checks and double-checks in their respective areas.

The sailing team was out for a few hours but it was for the most part light (6-8 knots). Dicko said they nonetheless had a productive afternoon. Chris Bedford says we may be looking at light air for at least the beginning of Act 8.

Team BBQ tonight. Tomorrow is a very full day, including the new sponsor press conference, skippers' pre-regatta press conference, and an evening opening ceremony evening in addition to normal team ops.

Some interesting pictures of new sights in the paddock are posted on the Challenger Commission blog.

Ciao.

Weather team member Rod Dawson (NZL) is the mainsail trimmer for Peter Gilmour's champion match racing team on the Swedish Match Tour (of which BMW is a sponsor-partner).

Am told by friends in the States who have seen it that Rod has penned a very good article on mainsail trimming. It appears in the October issue of Sailing World magazine which is just out.

"They asked me to write something to help a person who maybe has just been given the job of trimming the main on a keelboat for the first time," Rod said. "We race a wide range of boats on the Tour, but there are some things about trimming mains that apply generally across the board. Hope it helps."

No surprise how many good sailors there on this team, even among those not on the race boat.


Rod "Hemingway" Dawson at the base this evening.

Another beaut day here. Warm, dry nice breeze. It's noon, and all have launched except China Team, Luna Rossa and Desafio Espanol. Check that, while I was drafting this the Spanish have splashed their boat. Looks like the other two are not practice-sailing today.

Practice race tomorrow, opening ceremony Wed, and the first day of Act 8 racing is Thu. Two matches per day beginning at 12:30, a half-hour later than in Malmo.

Our scheduled matches:

Thu (29 Sep) -- UITG, Shosholoza
Fri -- Mascalzone, K-Challenge
Sat -- ETNZ, China Team
Sun -- Victory, +39
Mon -- Desafio, Luna Rossa
Tue -- Alinghi

Wed and Thu next week are reserve days, should we need more days to complete the round robin.

Fri the 7th Oct is the first day of the fleet racing Act 9, but is also another reserve day should the match racing RR still not be completed. Otherwise two fleet races on Fri and Sat, and one on Sunday.

Same format and schedule as Malmö.

What about the Dream Princess a.k.a. the "Love Boat?" OK, it's not the QE II, but all in all just fine. Some rooms are apparently better than others, but most seem happy with theirs. And it's tied up just behind the team bases, making for a very convenient three-minute walk. Only real complaint I've heard -- from a sailor on another team -- "no visitors are allowed onboard."

The city center of Trapani is on the other side of the harbour, about five minutes by bike. Nice, quaint, just like the travel brochures (er, websites) say.



Nice pic from the lead story (check it out) on today's ACM website, of
our hook-up with Luna Rossa yesterday.



Dream Princess: Home away from home, parked just behind the team bases.



Electrons Matthew "Mugs" Ulvr-Green (AUS) and Rodney Ernst (USA), and
data whiz Martin Dack (AUS) after checking to be sure all on-board systems
are "Go" prior to 76's dockout a few minutes ago. Trapani city center is
behind them, on the other side of the smallish harbour.

It is indeed beautiful here. Only a 45 min drive from PMO airport on a nice highway with the shimmering sea to the right (north) and mountains, or at least big hills, to the left.

Only news was that we had a small bump with the bottom of the Med yesterday after towing out and as they were getting ready to sail. Nothing earthshaking, literally or figuratively. Minor repairs to the bottom of the keel were effected overnight, and Dicko reports they had a great day sailing today including some good practice starts and two-boating with Luna Rossa.

We have a new significant sponsor that will be formally announced Wednesday. It is not exactly a secret, inasmuch as the branding is already displayed on either side of the boat near the stern. It looks neat.

The venue is better than I think everyone was expecting. All seem pretty happy (both within our team and among the others), even those staying on the "Love Boat." That's what the cruise ship on which most of us are staying has, of course, been dubbed. Am headed there now to check in and then grab some dinner. Full report tomorrow. In the meantime...


...as I type this there is a "sanding party" going on outside my container-
office window on the bottom of the keel. All in a day's work for our
outstanding and dedicated shore team.

Our advance team has been in Trapani on and off over the past several months laying the groundwork for the rest of us.

Now our Ops and Shore teams have been in Trapani for over a week. The Marketing and Sailing teams arrived for the most part Thu and Fri. Over the weekend the stragglers, like myself, are making our way to TPS. (Sorry, some of you know that I have a bit of a shorthand fetish for using airport codes and other three-letter abbrevations for the sake of time and brevity. Trapani does have an airport -- TPS -- but most will fly in and out of the much larger PMO -- Palermo -- which is about an hour's drive east of TPS.

There should be some practice sailing for our guys over the weekend, and by Mon morning our team will be back in full swing. There is plenty going on this coming week before the racing begins on Thu. Stay tuned!

These TPS Acts may be the last "roadshows" for AC 32. Next year all three Acts are in VLC. The '06 schedule should be finalized while we are in TPS. It now looks like Act 10 will be a match racing Act in May, and then we will have a double-Act in June -- the same match/fleet format and schedule as TPS and MMX (yes, that is Malmö's airport code, but everyone flew into CPH).

The exhibition regatta that ACM had originally planned for Lake Geneva (GVA in SUI) next Aug appears to be off; likewise the idea of an AC event of some sort in CHN in Sep or Oct 2006. Why?

Next year some teams want to continue training in VLC into the fall months. And ACM is in a cost-cutting mode. But I and a number of others inside and outside our team think there needs to be at least one other event for the Cup teams, in AC yachts, during the long gap between Act 12 in Jun '06 and the final Act (the Fleet Race Regatta) in VLC the first week of Apr '07. That's nine months without any formal racing! If not, we risk losing much of the promotional momentum that we will have built up with these pre-regattas.

So our next post will be from TPS, where most of the team members and regatta officials are being accommodated on two cruise ships. That should be interesting and no doubt will provide some grist for our Acts 8 and 9 blogging mill.

It is hard to find the time to blog during these regattas. We are busy with other duties, and the workday often runs from 0500 through midnight. Also, we don't have round-the-clock internet access like we do in VLC between home, office, and even the ESP mobile phone. Regardless, we will do our best to give our rapidly increasing readership a daily taste of the Acts 8 and 9 behind-the-scenes action.

In the meantime, take a look at this insightful post about TPS on the Victory Challenge (we even have three letter codes for all the teams, but won't bore you with those here) website by our old friend, Bert Willborg. It is interesting to read how he, as a Swede, compares and contrasts TPS with MMX.

Bert, Victory Challenges p.r. man, has not had an easy weekend given the problems they had with their mast yesterday. Tough break, no pun intended. We're all wishing them a "speedy recovery" and hope they will be set to go and none the worse for wear when TPA LVA 8 begins Thu.


Looking west over Trapani (foreground) to the racing area in the waters
between Trapani and the Egadi Islands (background). Beaut!

We first came to Valencia in November, 2003 on a charter flight from Geneva with 100 other Cup officials and team reps. The announcement that Valencia had been chosen over the other finalist cities -- Lisbon, Marseille and Naples -- had been made by Pierre-Yves Firmenich, Commodore of the Société Nautique de Genève ("SNG" -- Alinghi's home club) at noon that day.

For much of that flight I sat wth Dennis Conner and Bill Trenkle and mused about the past, present and future of the Cup. At one point, Dennis said, simply, "the Cup is dead, long live the Cup." After being involved with Dennis in one way or another over six Cup campaigns one learns to look beyond what may sound like a shallow comment for deeper meaning.

And, of course, DC was saying that, from the days' events, it was now quite clear that the old Cup era was gone, and a new one had dawned.

The next day from the window of a tour bus we saw for the first time the newly developed area of Valencia called the la Ciudad de las Artes y Ciencias -- the City of the Arts and Sciences. The most striking building was then in the midst of contstruction, and appeared to be a huge fish. Turns out to be a conquistador's helmet housing the new Palace of the Arts.

Since that first day in Valencia we have watched what, at times, has appeared to be painfully slow progress on this most impressive edifice. (For example, the top piece of helmet is attached only at the base on the north end, and is cantalevered -- no other attachment -- over the entire distance to the other end.) In the past few weeks it has finally started to look nearly finished, at least from the outside. Good thing, as it is scheduled to open in two weeks time....

Here, courtesy of this morning's Valencia Life is a bit of a preview:

Yesterday, Francisco Camps, the President of the Valencian Community, visited the new Palau de Les Arts in the City of Arts and Sciences in Valencia, accompanied by the Palau’s designer, Valencian architect Santiago Calatrava.

One of the most impressive elements of the new building is a 530 square metre stage area with a proscenium some 70 metres high. The first concert is slated to take place in the Palau on October 8, as work is frantically continuing on the other theatres in the building. This building, unlike the station that Mr. Calatrava designed for New York, features white concrete and glass along with sensuous lines. All in all the new Palau will have a total of four auditoria, with the main theatre having an orchestra pit capable of taking 120 musicians.

Dennis was right about the Cup. Valencia is in the same boat. The King is dead. Long live the king.



Looking southeast over the long-time coming but nearly finished
Palau de Les Arts (foreground), out to the Port America's Cup
(background, left) and the Med.



Sr Camps (left) and Sr Calatrava inside the impressive main auditorium
yesterday.