As CNET reviews go, few products receive a more glowing report, or higher rating. Makes us proud to be associated with the brand. Very nice ink, indeed.

Interesting article a week or so back by Tim Lane in Melbourne's The Age newspaper. Recently an Australian radio station conducted a poll asking listeners to rank the top 25 sports moments in Australian history. Numero uno was the win by Australia II in the 1983 Cup.

The complete article is here, and we have excerpted a good chunk of it below. Good ink for the Cup and the most famous challenger of all time, to say nothing of a reminder to all of us about what an AC win can mean....


The America's Cup success touched the national psyche in a way that clearly
has stood the test of time. In spite of the impression of the America's Cup as a
rich men's plaything, regardless of the fate that befell Alan Bond, and in
defiance of the fact that for the masses this isn't a spectator sport, and that
until the final race of the 1983 contest there was no television coverage
anyway, the America's Cup win remains etched in our national
consciousness.

It's fair to say there's no great mystery as to why: it was a classic
victory for the little guy, and we were him. We knocked off the most powerful
nation on earth in a battle of technology, as well as of sporting skill, and we
were able to thumb our collective nose at what became a convenient embodiment of
American power, and thus arrogance, namely the New York Yacht Club. The reasons
for the event's enduring appeal are beyond argument.

What does remain open to debate, though, is just what it was that enabled
Australia to snap the US's 132-year winning streak. Was it, as Bertrand argued
passionately in his 1985 book Born to Win, the performance of his crew and
sail-cutting team, or was it, as the Americans prefer to view it, a contentious
breakthrough in 12-metre yacht design that won the day?

The Americans were obsessed with the Australian
challenger well before the showdown arrived. As the three potential US defenders
battled out their elimination trials, one American said: "We have boat trouble
and her name is Australia II." The NYYC challenged the legitimacy of Ben
Lexcen's winged keel and even sought to demonstrate that it was a Dutch
design.

Halsey Herreshoff, who was Dennis Conner's navigator on board the American
defender, Liberty, foreshadowed in the lead-up that if the keel design was
allowed to "continue to be rated without penalty," Australia II was likely to
win. It is salient to note that Herreshoff subsequently appears to have made a
different assessment. In reviewing the event, he said "the ballyhoo about that
(the keel) masked the significant facts that Australia II was the first boat to
go to minimum 12-metre length and displacement and that she had significantly
less wetted surface than any other Twelve; this latter fact won the
Cup!"

On the matter of ballyhoo, he is in agreement with Bertrand. The Australian
skipper claimed in his book that he used the mystery of the keel to unsettle the
Americans and that Conner "was vulnerable because he had fallen victim."
Bertrand insists while his boat was more manoeuvrable at the starts and in
tacking duels, in most conditions, it was no faster than Liberty.

Conner's view is reflected, presumably, in the preface of a 1987
reprint of his 1978 book, No Excuse to Lose. There, his collaborator John
Rousmaniere praises Conner for coming "within a few seconds of winning … against
a vastly superior boat."


Regardless, the 1983 Cup will go down in history, along with 1920 and 1934, as one of the very few great AC Matches.

Speaking of John Rousmaniere, a long-time friend and noted Cup historian, he has written a nice piece for the current (March 2006) issue of Sailing World magazine. Entitled "Who Designed Australia II?", hopefully the article will sooner or later end up on the mags website.

With all that has been done to liven up the proceedings for AC 32, and the close and intense competition to date, is 2007 shaping up to be another barn burner like '83?

We would also like to take this opportunity to congratulate the family and supporters of Australia II's design coordinator, the late Ben Lexcen (née Bob Miller), who has finally been elected to the AC Hall of Fame (for induction this coming October). There should have never been any question that Mr Lexcen was a crucial factor in A II's success and hence deserving of the HoF recognition; but that got lost in the on-going emotion over whether non-Aussies also participated in the design. Under today's AC rules, all that transpired in 1982-83 is a non-issue.

So it is good to see that both Australia II's win, and Ben Lexcen, have withstood the test of time; and heartening to know that the AC rules have been modernized in respect of designers, accommodating the march of time.


Australia II winning race 7, and the 1983 Cup -- ending
NYYC's 132-year winning streak. Photo© Daniel Forster from
the Scuttlebutt website.


Ben Lexcen on A II's keel in Newport, the day after winning the
1983 Cup. All summer the keel had been shrouded when A II was
in the boathoist at the dock. The paint job was to help disguise the
keel's radical shape from helicopter photograpers when A II was
sailing. Photo© Dan Nerney.


Ben Lexcen, 1936-1988. Photo© Dan Nerney.


Our thanks to another long-time (as opposed to old?) friend and NYYC member, Dan Nerney, whose two by now classic photos of "Benny" are used above, with his kind permission.

Congrats to Ray Roberts and his crew on the DK46 Ulumulu Quantum Racing who have added another trophy to the cabinet, taking out the Royal Langkawi International Regatta which finished in Malaysia last night.

By winning the first four of the six race series and placing third and second in the final two windward/leeward races, the Sydney crew sailing the chartered DK46 Drumstick (renamed for this event) dominated the IRC Racing class.

In winning the Prime Minister’s Challenge Trophy, the crew also carted off the major prize -- an all expense paid trip for the entire crew to meet the BMW Oracle Racing Team in Valencia and view some America’s Cup Act racing, courtesy of BMW Malaysia.

"We had an excellent regatta, both on and off the water. We are always very well looked after on the Asian circuit, as we were here. I would love to see more Australians come and compete here," Mr Roberts said late last night.

"We are celebrating tonight – the guys are letting their hair down a bit," the Sydney businessman said. Steve McConaghy, Ulumulu Quantum Racing’s tactician added, "It’s great to get another win on the board. We’ve been putting in the hard yards and it has paid off for us.

"We can relax tonight and enjoy the hospitality of the event – they’ve put on a really good show for the competitors here – I can’t say enough about this event. We are all really looking forward to our trip to Valencia, but we have to get some other races of our own out of the way first."


Ray Roberts (AUS) and his RLIR winning team will be heading to VLC as
the guests of BMWOR, courtesy of BMW Malaysia.

On this day in 1959 Vanguard 2 was launched. The first-ever earth orbiting weather satellite, it was designed to measure cloud-cover distribution over the daylight portion of its orbit.

We mentioned this historical footnote to Chris Bedford today, and he offered to help put it in perspective....

"Modern-day weather forecasting would be impossible without weather satellites," Chris said. "The way in which they impact our daily lives is astounding, really. Imagine a time when [Europeans] had no idea what weather systems where lurking over the North Atlantic Ocean, poised to bring rain on your grape vines or worse, flood your village!

"Today, computer models translate satellite images into numerical representations of the atmosphere. These models then predict the movement of the associated weather systems and in turn, allow us to define and forecast the winds in general over an entire continent, and, more specifically, on the America's Cup course, with amazing accuracy. Even still, we can't see everything with a weather satellite. Our weather team of Rod Dawson, Nathan Williams, and Jeff Clark keep a close up view on the clouds from below, and on the water, for that critical final call just before the 5 minute signal."


First weather eye in the sky. Photo courtesy of NASA and Wikipedia.


Met head Chris Bedford (USA) with his deputy Rod Dawson (NZL) in their
new office at the team base.


Met team members Nathan Williams (NZL) and Jeff Clark (NZL) -- four
more weather eyes on the sky and water.

The two feet of snow in NYC reminded us of this recent Times (of London) Online article by Dean Irvine....

Like all good products designed to get a bloke’s attention, there is a bit of science and technological innovation involved. The fabric of this jacket is made with 11 per cent steel, which creates a non-conductive outershell that neutralises static charges. Static, so the jacket will have us believe, is the enemy – the force that prevents us from focussing long enough to work out a cryptic crossword clue or remembering to pay the bills on time. This silver jacket also claims quite boldly to impart its performance-enhancing qualities in challenging environments and extreme conditions. Would it reveal its benefits in the challenging urban environment of South London when it’s focus-enhancing qualities were needed – doing the su doku on the Tube, playing five-a-side football and at the pub quiz, for example. A trial was needed. One with all the academic rigour of a primary school science project. [More]


Good review: the Henri Lloyd
Sullivan Parka Jacket.

Check the Challenger Commission blog for a couple posts over the weekend that may be of interest to team members and their partners, including the GOBO meeting scheduled for Wednesday this week and the Act 10 Notice of Race which has now been issued by the Regatta Director.


Link me all over.

Excuse the pun, but the widely-read German weekly magazine Focus has recently focused its substantial media spotlight onto the America's Cup.

Journalist Till Behrend, who covers the AC for Focus writes today that:

"I was recently invited to a sportsponsoring congress in Munich. Preparing for the panel, I went through all my sailing stories of 2005. To my own surprise, they added up to 13 full pages (plus a number smaller articles). 12 of the 13 dealt with the America's Cup. So, for the first time, there was about as much America's Cup in FOCUS as there was Formula 1. Just thought this might interest you."

Interest us, indeed! Good news for the sport, and especially for the AC, to have that kind of coverage focused on the Cup in the EU's largest marketplace.

Since it is already 6 Feb in NZL, best wishes to all of our Kiwi colleagues and friends on the occasion of your national holiday, Waitangi Day.

Waitangi Day is a public holiday in New Zealand held each year on February 6 to celebrate the signing of the Treaty of Waitangi, New Zealand's founding document, on that date in 1840.

Following the final race Sunday afternoon, there was a "Moet moment" (though, truth be told, it was some other champagne) for the winning team in the Viaduct near the Loaded Hog -- giving the general public at the Auckland Harbour Festival a taste of the Auckland Match Racing Cup.

The formal prizegiving and party was Sunday evening in the Viaduct at the old Alinghi base, which has served as the event HQ. The friendly, relaxed atmosphere was enjoyed by the sailors, officials, sponsors and a number of prominent NZL yachties. There was a strong contingent of BMWOR team members and friends in attendance, including of course Dicko and Bert.

Monday is "Auckland Anniversary Day," a public holiday in much of the "Northland" so no one was in a rush to leave last evening's party, with the exception of a few of sailors who had Sunday-evening flights home or to their next regatta.


Not quite sure what this represented, but this piece of
performance art (yes, it's alive) greeted the guests at Sunday
evening's prizegiving party. Maybe it's something Alinghi left
behind in their old base.


Peter "Montcommentary" Montgomery, the voice of NZL yachting,
emceed the prizegiving with his usual flair-- and, no surprise, some
obvious enthusiasm for the win by the "home team."


Each of the teams from 10th place up were introduced. Finishing 3rd on
a good performance all week, Team Dicko were warmly received by those
assembled. CD thanked the organizers and complimented the winners on
behalf of BMWOR, and cheekily offered to deliver Cameron Appleton's
check when the fourth place team was a no-show at the prizegiving
(having dashed for flights).


Bert also complimented the winners, and said how nice it was to be back
racing in Auckland. Zach was the only member of Bert's crew who didn't
have a flight to catch. Bert had a lot of nice things to say about Zach and
the rest of his crew for a stellar performance in their 2nd place finish.


Victory Challenge trimmer/tactician Lars Linger (left) with his Swedish
AC (and AMRC) skipper Magnus Holmberg (right), flanking RNZYS
Commodore David Charlesworth.


Stuart Alexander (GBR), one of the veteran UK Cup journalists known
as the Three Musketeers (maybe should be updated to Los Tres
Amigos?) making a point about the quality of Spanish vino tinto
to Principal Race Officer (and Deputy Senior Race Officer for AC 32)
Harold Bennett (NZL).


Claudia (Mrs Peter) Montgomery, Billie Barker (Dean's mom), Mandy
(Mrs Dean) Barker, and Peter Montgomery. In the background, ETNZ
chief Grant Dalton.


Congrats to Kiwis Hal and Trudie Wagstaff who were also celebrating their
51st wedding anniversary last evening. Hal is a former President of the
New Zealand yachting federation and long-time international official. He
was one of the many volunteer officials (race committee in his case) who
make these regattas possible -- and for whom BMWOR and no doubt all the
teams are grateful.


Fuku and Flipper, who raced with Dicko this week, said they enjoyed
the regatta here but are looking forward to getting back at it in
Valencia in a few weeks.


Bert and Dicko -- competitors and colleagues -- off to a good start in
2006. Now let's get them back onto the same boat and picking up at
Valencia in May where they successfully left off in Trapani last October.

Well, it's all over but the shouting (and the locals are doing plenty of that given the win by ETNZ's Dean Barker & co.) and the prizegiving this evening at 19:00. Nice job by Dean to best Team Bert 3-0 today in the finals. Dicko's gang were equally dominant in the consolation final, easily handling Cameron Appleton 2-0 to finish 3rd overall. Look for the race report by Ivor Wilkins that the intrepid Jane Eagleson will have posted on our team website later Sunday morning (Europe time).


By midday today there was a good crowd in the grandstands in the
parking lot adjacent to the squadron, taking in the action on the water
along with PJ Montgomery's commentary.


BMWOR sailing team member and NZL native Phil "Blood" Jameson
enjoying his last few days of holiday at home before heading back
to Valencia for the 2006 season, with Cameron Appleton's wife
Nicole.


Up in the Royal New Zealand Yacht Squadron members were enjoying
the action and a good view, including Sue Dickson (Dicko's better half)
along with MRX Fleet Manager Freddy Prohuber. The Farr-designed MRX
yachts are as good an equalized match racing fleet as there is anywhere
in the world.


The view from the Squadron upper deck of the closing moment of the
series as Dean Barker gets the gun to win "match point" over BMWOR's
Team Bert.


As we were leaving the Squadron we came across one of the event's
official cars, a BMW X3. Our thanks to the organizers of the Auckland
Match Racing Cup and their sponsors, including Auckland City
and BMW, for reviving major match racing in Auckland and putting
on a nice event. A good start to the 2006 season for BMW ORACLE
Racing.

After a slow start, Team Bert has been smoothly consistent in their matches at the AMRC this week, advancing to the finals today against ETNZ's Dean Barker.

No surprise yesterday that Deano, leading at the end of the round robins, chose to race young Kiwi sailor (formerly with K-Challenge) Cameron Appleton. That left Bert and Dicko to battle it out in the other semi, and battle they did.

It is gratifying to see such depth of talent on our team. In the ACC yachts the Dicko-Bert combo (Chris helming and Bertrand calling tactics) has proven very effective, whether in the Acts racing, sparring partners while training, or as testing co-helmsman.

And speaking of talent, both our crews deserve special mention for their nearly flawless boat and sail handling here this week. In the tight racing over these short courses, there is never a dull moment for any of the five crew. With many keen yachties observing the action quayside this week, it was interesting to listen to their comments about just how much the boat handling varied from team to team, and how very good both our teams looked.

Congrats to both teams on their showing here so far this week, and especially to Team Bert on getting to the finals.


Brad Webb, bow.


Sean Clarkson, pit.


Zach Hurst, headsails.


Rod Dawson, mainsail.


Bertrand Pace, skipper.

Team Bert bested Team Dicko today 3-0 in their AMRC semi-final while Dean Barker cored Cameron Appleton by the same 3-0 score. Check our team website later Saturday morning (Europe time) for a full report on today's racing .

Turns out the semi-final matches were first-to-win-three, not first-to-win two as previously advertised in the AMRC notice of race and, in turn, had been posted here on the BOB.

Other matches today determined the final results among the six teams that did not qualify for today's semis. Those final standings:

Ian Williams (GBR) 5th
Mathieu Richard (FRA) 6th
Ed Baird (USA) 7th
Magnus Holmberg (SWE) 8th
Staffan Lindberg (FIN) 9th
Sebastian Col (FRA) 10th

Tomorrow (Sunday) Bert will meet Deano in the first-to-win-three finals that is scheduled to get under way at 10:00; while Dicko & co. meet Team Appleton in the petit-final.


Today the shoreside crowd was the largest yet, and they were
treated to a hard, clean dogfight in the series between the BMWOR
teams helmed by two of our sport's grand masters. The racing in both
3-0 semis was closer than the scores would indicate, and not without
some controversy in the Barker-Appleton series.


The "new" Auckland Match Racing Cup actually dates from 1935,
but has been re-dedicated to yacht racing and will be awarded
tomorrow to either BMWOR's Team Bertrand Pace or ETNZ's Dean
Barker and crew.

Win/Loss records of the ten teams entered in the AMRC at the end of Round Robin 2 this (Friday) afternoon, with both BMWOR teams (Dicko & Bert) advancing to the semis tomorrow:

Dean Barker - 15 / 3
Cameron Appleton - 12 / 6
Bertrand Pace - 12 / 6
Chris Dickson - 11 / 7

Mathieu Richard - 10 / 8
Ian Williams - 9 / 9
Ed Baird - 8 Wins / 10 Losses
Sebastian Col - 6 / 12
Magnus Holmberg - 6 / 12
Staffan Lindberg - 1 / 17

At the outset we predicted a 70% winning rate would get a team through to the semis; turns out 61% (Dicko's 11 of 18) was good enough.

Strong NE breezes today made for great racing. We caught up with sailing team manager Craig Monk (NZL, grinder) who was on the quay watching the action through the binocs.

"Impressive work by our guys for both to qualify," Craig said. "The competition has been strong, racing very close, and there are several top teams not going forward tomorrow."

On the 6pm TV news this evening, the racing has gotten nice coverage. One angle has been that every time ETNZ chief Grant Dalton shows up to watch the racing Dean Barker suffers a loss. Dean said he hopes Dalts goes car racing this weekend. Full marks to Dean and crew for their strong performance so far.

The commentators have also noted how particularly close and aggressive the matches have been between Dicko and Bert. Good stuff.

Congrats to our guys on both teams for solid performances so far. Go get 'em tomorrow.

Check our main team website later this morning (Europe time) for a full race report.

Auckland yachting denizen John Street (left) joins BMWOR's Craig
Monk to take in some of this afternoon's great racing. In the background
Teams Bert and Dicko are both in control of their RR2, Flight 7 matches.