By Kimball Livingston

If the sailors have their way, we could see a very different America's Cup in the future. First we have to get through America's Cup 32, next year in Valencia.

And then?

During the Allianz Cup, a World Match Racing Tour event sailed in October on San Francisco Bay, America's only America's Cup challenger, Larry Ellison, sat behind a microphone and went public with thoughts that are buzzing among all the Cup teams that will be racing in 2007. Power players at Alinghi and other camps too are thinking along the same lines as Ellison, who said that he'd like to see Cup racing, "follow more closely what they do in Formula 1; we’d have a regatta in Cup boats in San Francisco every year, one in Newport, one in Germany, one in Italy; regattas that people and sponsors could count on, to have some regularity."

Of course that's a merely-for-example list of venues. The goal would be to tame the monster unloosed in 1983, when Australia II broke the longest winning streak in sports history and removed the racing from its comfy cloister in Newport, Rhode Island. Each Cup cycle since has been an adventure. Remember the dramas of overhauling Fremantle, Australia to host the next match? Remember the traumas (too much to describe) of the 1988 races in San Diego? Each cycle has charted new waters and new shoals, while the teams have morphed into fulltime business ventures craving "regularity."

BMW Oracle employs about 150 people. The software company and the car company represent most of the cash backing, but let's think about the watch company logo'd on the boom. Did Girard-Perregaux pony up good money to put its name there for eyeballs? Not really. Eyeballs are a bonus to their relationship marketing, enabling their best customers and best employees (like BMW's and Oracle's) to visit the team and share the America's Cup experience. It's quite a ride, believe me. And that too is a lot like what goes on, in and around, Formula 1 (and the Volvo Ocean Race).

This business model is working for the first-ever generation of sports-hero professional sailors (no more money under the table, and they're far removed from those Swedish deckhands that heaved and hauled in the days of yore).

Full story on the Sail website

By Bruce Gain
02:00 AM Nov, 13, 2006

BERLIN -- Jules Verne, in his 1874 novel The Mysterious Island, described hydrogen as an "inexhaustible source of heat and light." A little over 130 years later, BMW is testing the theory with an innovative internal combustion engine that burns the lightest element much like gasoline, only cleaner.

Wired News was invited to test-drive one of BMW's new Hydrogen 7 automobiles recently. It proved a serious step forward in using hydrogen as a potential energy source for cars, while showing defects that make the concept a clear work in progress.

BMW is the only major carmaker to bring a car with a hydrogen-combustion engine beyond the prototype stage.

The automaker's approach is markedly different than the more familiar concept of hydrogen-powered fuel cells, where energy is stored before it is converted into electricity. By contrast, BMW's Hydrogen 7 is powered by pumping hydrogen into a combustion engine and igniting it. The engine can burn both hydrogen and gasoline, and switches between the two at the flick of a switch.

Burning hydrogen is more efficient than converting it into electricity, making it the more practical choice for hydrogen-fueled cars now, according to BMW.

The automaker is taking that premise to the road with a limited test release next year. BMW said it will put 100 of the hydrogen models into circulation in the United States, Europe and Asia. The cars will be loaned to high-profile people, BMW says, such as celebrities and politicians. If the cars become sufficiently popular, BMW says it can go into full-scale production, without commenting how much the model will cost.

Full story from the Wired website

Team members, family and friends may find of interest the story posted this evening over on the Challenger Commission Blog updating the tempest in a teapot (or, make that, a Victorian ewer) that has come to be known as "Silvergate." There is also a "world exclusive" photo of the surprisingly large piece of the original Cup that reportedly has now been returned to SNG by the Spirit of Adventure Trust.

Our finely-tuned internet (and more) search engines returned this remarkable tidbit over the weekend at the watchusseek watch forums:


GIRARD-PERREGAUX BMW-Oracle Racing Limited Edition500pc

This watch is located in NYC and available for local viewing or nation wide over night insured delivery. Call Gil for more photos or info. Please say Mike sent you when inquiring about this watch to guarantee this special price.

BMW-Oracle Racing Limited Edition of 500 Pcs
Model : GP49905.11.651.FK6A
Size : 42mm
Series: BMW-Oracle Racing Limited Edition of 500 Pcs
Band: Black Rubber Strap with deployment buckle
Case: Stainless Steel
Dial: Carbon Fiber
Movement: Mechanical with automatic winding

The watch is keeping perfect time well within COSC specs and comes complete with both boxes, booklets, warranty certificate and accessories.

Looks like a nice week shaping up for picnics or even the beach maybe, but not for testing and training -- at least not here in VLC. Between now and March, take your pick: sunny but light air, some breeze but with heavy rain, or very heavy northwesterly (offshore) winds that we rarely see here during the spring/summer "racing season."

Hence the reason at least Alinghi, BMWOR and ETNZ have bolted for more reliable sailing venues. Remains to be seen whether any other teams will join the exodus -- word on the waterfront is that Victory Challenge (SWE) are waiting to hear if they have the funding to join Alinghi in Dubai.

This morning another story has appeared about a possible F1 GP in VLC from 2008, this one on the authoritative GrandPrix.com website....

A new Grand Prix in Europe?

While everyone is going on about new races in Asia, there is not doubt that there is one country in Europe where there are serious attempts going on to get a new race: Spain. The Spanish economy is doing well, Fernando Alonso is a double World Champion, and interest in F1 in Spain is at all-time high. There are ymoung Spanish drivers popping out of the woodwork all the time and even vague thoughts of a Spanish F1 team - although F1 franchises are a little thin on the ground at the moment.

One city that thinks that it has a future with F1 is Valencia. The city, 200 miles to the south-west of Barcelona on Spain's Mediterranean coast, is currently the home of the America's Cup. The city, which has a population of 750,000, has spent a great deal of money to transform its port area to include an area where the America's Cup teams are currently based. This features an inner and an outer harbour which have been developed to draw in people. There are restaurants, bars, shops and the 12 team bases, in addition there is an exhibition hall called the House of the America's Cup and an America's Cup Park plus the dramatic Veles e Vents building, which overlooks the area. The outer marina is to have 600 berths. The local authorities are currently considering what happens next as the America's Cup teams will leave after the event in July and the city wants to use the whole area for other big events, to keep the toursit trade coming. Having a Spanish version of the Monaco Grand Prix is a smart idea. The problem is that Barcelona has the Spanish GP several more years.

However, this is not an insurmountable problem as we saw in Germany at the height of Michael Schumacher's popularity when Hockenheim hosted the German GP and Nurburgring was the home of the European and Luxembourg GPs.

Full story

During the Allianz Cup Larry was interviewed by the AP's Bernie WIlson (USA, San DIego), who has covered the Cup for the Associated Press well and for as long as we can remember. Bernie's story is now on the AP wires and running in papers around the world -- including a nice spread in yesterday's International Herald Tribune.

BMW Oracle Racing aims to bring America's Cup within shadow of Golden Gate Bridge
The Associated Press

Less than six months before the America's Cup begins in Spain, the top sailors with the only American-backed syndicate got a breathtaking reminder that victory will mean more than just spraying champagne and hoisting the silver trophy.

If BMW Oracle Racing can return the America's Cup to America for the first time since 1995, the next regatta likely would be sailed with a spectacular backdrop including the Golden Gate Bridge, Alcatraz Island, the Coit Tower and the Transamerica pyramid.

"This is the greatest natural amphitheater for sailing, perhaps in the world," software mogul Larry Ellison said in San Francisco during the recent Allianz Cup, a stop on the World Match Racing Tour.

Ellison and others with BMW Oracle Racing already know what it's like to have 80-foot (24-meter) America's Cup sloops, with mainsails as big as Boeing 747 wings, tacking along the cityfront.

Three years ago, BMW Oracle Racing and America's Cup winner Alinghi of Switzerland sailed an exhibition regatta here, with spectators watching from the shore and nearby buildings. It was mostly smooth sailing, except for when a massive container ship steamed through the course, leaving the rich guys no choice but to yield the right of way.

"A lot of people said, 'Oh, you couldn't race the America's Cup in San Francisco Bay,'" said Gavin Brady, a New Zealander who lives in the U.S. "I think this would be one of the coolest places to run the America's Cup."

When Cup races are held offshore, boats can be separated by hundreds of yards, making it hard to tell who's in the lead.

On San Francisco Bay, "It's like going to a NASCAR race on a small track," Brady said. "There's no big straight. They can't get far enough away from each other, just bumping and crashing. 'Which side of Alcatraz is he going to go? Geez, he went on the other side of Alcatraz!' The whole thing would be an awesome spectacle. It really would change the face of the America's Cup."

Dreams are one thing. Then there's reality.

"First we have to win it," cautions Ellison, the CEO of Oracle Corp.

To claim the oldest trophy in sports, BMW Oracle Racing will have to top 10 other challengers in the Louis Vuitton Cup beginning on April 16 in the Mediterranean off Valencia, Spain, then knock off Alinghi in the America's Cup matches beginning on June 23.

Ellison and his skipper, New Zealander Chris Dickson, say BMW Oracle Racing is in good shape 3 1/2 years into a four-year campaign. After 12 pre-regattas that have filled the gap since the 2003 America's Cup, the U.S. team is ranked second, right behind Team New Zealand, the hard-luck loser in its home waters three years ago.

Then known as Oracle BMW Racing, the American-sponsored crew made it to the Louis Vuitton Cup finals before losing 5-1 to Alinghi, which went on to sweep Team New Zealand.

That campaign had its share of upheaval. The intense Dickson was banished from the boat for a time due to friction with teammates. When Ellison reinstated him, there were some races when Dickson replaced Ellison in the brain trust at the back of the boat.

"I think that's all behind us," said Ellison, who sometimes steers the America's Cup boat, which has a crew of 17 plus one observer. "Chris is the boss. He's the CEO of the syndicate. As it became very clear in the last campaign, I was on the boat at his pleasure. He's the boss and we all salute."

Full story

Apparently the reason for the massive traffic jams the other day in and around the Port of Valencia -- which inevitably spill over into, and greatly hamper getting in and out of, the Port America's Cup -- was not just the heavy rain, but the stevedores going on strike. More of the same yesterday (a perfectly clear morning) when they went back to work and all the truckers tried to jam into the Port at the same time.

According to this morning's Valencia Life, it's to happen all over again next week....

ENDING, BUT…
The end of the stevedores strike in Valencia Port yesterday managed to bring traffic chaos to the City, where driving conditions were not improved due to the falling rain. As work started at 6 am in the Port, it soon became blocked by the thousands of trucks that had been queuing either to load or land their cargos. However, chaos is expected to return next week when the stevedores once again stage a two-day strike as a gesture of support for the stevedores of Cartagena Port.

Not this time of year in Valencia. Needless to say, yesterday none of the teams still training here docked out; with more periods of torrential rains and heavy winds forecast over the coming months, seems a wise decision to be moving our winter act to Auckland. From today's Valencia Life newsletter....

STORMS PARALYZE PORTS
The massive rainstorms continued to fall in the Valencian Community yesterday, , with one of the first effects being that the Port Captain of Sagunto ordered the facilities closed due to the weather conditions, and yesterday over 90% of the Valencian Community fishing fleets could not set out to sea. The storms also brough tremendous traffic tailbacks on the V-30 and V-31 roads to and from Valencia Port, and this was worsened by the continuing strike of the stevedores. Firemen from Paterna had to intervene on several occasions to stop homes and garages being flooded, whilst there were also electricity cuts in Carlet, Sagunto, Xeraco and Tavernes de la Valldigna. In Castellon some 350 pupils remained at home after clases were cancelled, and a woman was killed after being swept away in her car as she drove near Alzira. In the three provinces, enormous amounts of rainfall were registered with 138 liters per square meter being recorded in Tavernes de la Valldigna (Valencia Province), 62 liters per square meter in Agost (Alicante) and 58 liters per square meter in Xert (Castellon). The storm is expected to relent somewhat throughout today as the Farmers Union stated that the rains accumulated represented 50% more than is usual at this time of year.

From a review today in the Miami New Times about Ralph Steadman's new book called "The Joke's Over: Bruised Memories: Gonzo, Hunter S. Thompson, and Me" (some title!), which chronicles Steadman's exploits with the late Hunter S. Thompson in the 1970's....

One of the book's most memorable chapters chronicles the pair covering the 1970 America's Cup for Scanlan's Monthly before the publication went belly-up. Steadman calls the experience a dress rehearsal for the seminal drawings he later contributed to Fear and Loathing in Las Vegas.

Thompson had rented a boat, where the twosome stayed with a rock band during the week-long event, and Steadman, inspired by his first encounter with pot, wailed nonstop on a set of bongos, attracting crowds and annoying his partner.

Near the end of their stay, without a story to file and having heard from their editors that the magazine was folding, Steadman asked Thompson for one of the little pills the writer had been popping all week.

Thompson handed over one of the hallucinogens. Steadman ate it and then asked, "What happens now?"

"Nothing," Thompson replied, "for about an hour. Then you may feel a little weird."

Before the night was over, the duo tried to spray-paint "f*ck the pope" on a million-dollar racing yacht and nearly got nabbed by security. To distract the guards during their getaway, Thompson fired a flare, which landed on a nearby boat, nearly setting it ablaze.

Fearing arrest, Thompson later ditched a shoeless and incoherent Steadman at the airport.

The barefoot, broke, and blathering artist was rescued by a friend. A doctor was summoned, and he tranquilized Steadman with a shot of Librium.

Full story

And you thought the Cup was tame in the era of "Ficker is Quicker"? Perhaps Dyer Jones or Dick Enersen can fill us in on the exploits in Newport that year of Messrs Thompson and Steadman. While we are sure they were not involved, one hears they do have recollections.

Certainly today's Cup is more, er, calm and professional, save for one or two members of other teams who might be deserving of a "Hunter S Thompson Award" for their acts at certain Acts.

From a story posted today on Pitpass.com....

When Sebastian Vettel made his F1 debut on the Friday of the Turkish Grand Prix - assuming the role of 'third driver' from Robert Kubica, who in turn had been promoted to a full race seat following the 'departure' of Jacques Villeneuve - there were widespread shouts, not merely among race fans but within the F1 paddock, of "who?"

However, later that day, having posted the fastest time of the day, the sport appeared to have found the latest sensation.

All in all, it was a historic day for the young German, for not only had he edged out Michael Schumacher, Kimi Raikkonen, Felipe Massa and Fernando Alonso, he had, at 19 years and 53 days, become the youngest driver to take part in a Grand Prix weekend. On the other hand, he became the youngest to receive a fine in an F1 car (speeding in the pitlane), incurring the fine just 9 seconds into his F1 career.

Full story

So, Mirko and Dr. Theissen, when do we get to meet this new driving sensation and have him to our base in Valencia for another F1-AC crossover promotion? As much as we liked having Ralfie and Jacques around, during Act 10 Nick Heidfeld was a lot more interesting and fun, and it sounds like you have found another winner -- on and off the track -- in Mr Vettel.

The Allianz Cup is still generating nice ink. From today's Vallejo (California) Times-Herald, a story about umpire and sailing coach Susan Arms....

Cal Maritime instructor is crazy about sailing, from racing to umpiring
By ROBERT MCCOCKRAN, Times-Herald staff writer
Article Launched:11/06/2006 06:35:48 AM PST

Susan "Charlie" Arms loves sailing. The director of sailing and varsity offshore sailing coach at California Maritime Academy was with her team this past weekend in Annapolis, racing in the Intercollegiate Offshore Championships.

She has plenty of experience in competitive sailing, and is world ranked in match competitions. Last month, she umpired at the Allianz Cup presented by Oracle, the only U.S. event on the World Match Race Tour.

Arms, 42, of Vallejo, said the umpiring team consisted of an international group, many of whom judge at the America's Cup.

"I got into umpiring, which is the on-the-water judging of events, because as a match racer, who was getting umpired, I kind of wanted to know what are the umpires looking at (and) what's happening in their realm," Arms said.

Full story

What the story did not say, was how tough the event was for the umpires -- given four days of light, fluky air, cross currents, and very close competition. I do not have the actual ump call/penalty statistics, but suffice to say there were plenty of calls. After the event most of the racers I spoke to thought that the international ump team led by David Tallis (AUS, also a member of the AC 32 ump team) did a commendable job. Overall, certainly that was our view from the commentary booth.

A number of you have asked if there is a more direkt way to get to the BOB than through the main team website, where all along there has been a nice front page link (thank you, Roland). The BOB is hosted by an Austrian company -- for reasons that I am sure make sense to BMW -- called Two Day, hence the "twoday.net" URL that you may have noticed connected with the BOB.

Suffice to say, to get to the BOB you can simply direkt your browser to www.bmworacleracing.com/blog. Hopefully that's easier to remember. Better yet, please bookmark our site in your "favorites" list.

We have checked the BOB for compatibility with the new versions of both Internet Explorer and Firefox, and all looks fine to us. Please let us know if you ever have any problems with viewing our blog with either of those browsers or any other. We also note that the BOB is quite readable on a number of popular mobile devices including Treo, Sony-Ericsson and Nokia smartphones.

While we are at it, we are pleased to report that our site stats continue very strong. October readership nearly matched the record set in July, thanks it would appear to interest wide and far in the Allianz Cup. Thanks for your continuing support and kind comments. They are appreciated, and motivate us to keep it up day after day throughout the year. Now, with our growing success, it is planned to continue through the balance of this Cup.

Honorable mention, too, to all of you who contribute story ideas as well as additions and corrections to what we have otherwise posted on here. Apropos of which, I should give myself a bonehead award for the best typo of the year. A post during the Allianz Cup was complimentary of the TV guys and their good output despite a "makeshift control room" -- but "makeshift" was missing the "h". Luckily the post was done in the evening SFO time when at least the the bulk of our USA and European readers would been offline if not asleep; and, thankfully, early Europe time the next morning (only an hour or so after the post went up) eagle-eyed Sten Mohr (DEN, afterguard) noticed the typo and dashed off an email calling it to my attention. We were able to fix it before too many people read it and thought we were trash-talking Sam Usher and his very capable NarrowStep TV team. Ah, life at the speed of the internet!

Finally, a close friend of our team has just written to say what a good job we have done walking the fine line between telling people what is going on within our team but, as Vito Corleone said in The Godfather, "Never tell anyone outside the family what you are thinking." ;-)

As always, you can tell us what you are thinking by email, via blog [at] tfehman [dot] com.

This evening is your last chance in 2006 to catch Peter "Pedro" Isler (USA, sailing team) live -- on stage again tonight at the Teatre Ves, his third appearance there. If tonight's gig is half as much fun as the last two it will be a great evening. One hears that, otra vez, a few AC friends will sit in with Pedro for a song or two, including our own Jane "Dylan" Eagleson (USA, media relations). She sat in during the first gig to wide acclaim, and also joined the jam session with Pedro and others at the team farewell party on Friday evening. So expect her to be in top form as well.

Over the weekekend Scott MacLeod, President of the World Match Racing Tour, wrote this brief but thoughtful letter to officials and partners with this year's inaugural Allianz Cup presented by Oracle....


Dear Allianz Cup Sponsor:

This link to a report by Brian Angel (a last minute wildcard) gives you a little insight into what I believe makes the World Match Racing Tour and the Allianz Cup a great series for the sport: http://www.sailingscuttlebutt.com/news/06/1101/

Thank you for your sponsorship of the Allianz Cup presented by Oracle which allowed us the opportunity to bring the WMRT to the US. Someday we may see Brian Angel at the wheel of an America's Cup yacht and he can thank all of you for his start!

Best regards, Scott


Thanks, Mr President. And congrats to you and your WMRT team for the fine event. Likewise to Sam Usher & Co. of Narrowstep and Sail.tv.

All Allianz Cup stories that we posted here on the BOB, including Mr Angel's laudatory letter which we blogged last week, are available here.

Cup correspondent for the NZ Herald, Julie Ash, wrote a nice story for the Monday morning edition about our team breaking camp in VLC and heading for AKL....


Yachting: Oracle breezing into City of Sails
Monday November 6, 2006
By Julie Ash

America's Cup syndicate BMW Oracle Racing are on their way to Auckland, having wound up their sailing programme in Valencia.

The syndicate, headed by US computer billionaire Larry Ellison, will train in Auckland from mid-November until around February. The syndicate have so far shipped one boat here (2003- generation boat) USA71. It is not known whether they intend to fly or ship any of their new boats to New Zealand.

Since February, Oracle have sailed more than 150 days in Valencia, which has included performance testing, crew training, in-house racing as well as competing in the three Cup pre-regattas. The team launched their first new boat USA87 earlier this year which they raced in two of the pre-regattas. The construction of the team's second 2007-generation yacht continues in Anacortes, Seattle.

Chief executive and skipper Chris Dickson said they set an ambitious programme at the start of the year and felt they achieved their goals.

Full story


Should be interesting to have two of the top challengers training in the same waters over the next few months. Remains to be seen how much, if at all, we might sail against one another. Most of the Challengers have trained together in VLC at one time or another, including ourselves and ETNZ before they left in August.

As a group the Challengers remain as tight or tighter than at any time in my 25+ years of Cup involvement. This has translated into concerted efforts by the Challengers on and off the water. As always it will take a number of very good Challengers going at it hammer and tongs before and during the LVC to hone one of us to be good enough to take on and defeat what no doubt is and will be a very capable Team Alinghi.

Nice albeit brief story today on the ACM website about the international remote control boat regatta going on in the Port America's Cup this weekend. It is said to feature "some of the best sailors in Europe" including our own Nathan Williams (NZL, weather team).

Full story

Chris Bedford (USA, team meteorologist) was not kidding when he said that, after record high temps in October, summer in Valencia was finally coming to an end. Last night the winds howled and it rained cats and dogs. Today it's been cool, dark and rainy. One of the yachts did dock out to tick off some remaining items on the testing list.

It has been a very productive and successful session here since we came back from the short break in early August after the German Sailing Grand Prix at Kiel.

For a number of us the week started in a plane returning from SFO and the Allianz Cup. With all that, plus getting back here to finish up this session and pack up, it's been a busy final few weeks. No doubt we're all a bit burned out, and happy the long 2006 sailing session in VLC is coming to an end. But I sense an overwhelming feeling of satisfaction and achievement. There's a brief official statement on our main team website.

De-brief meetings and pack up continue tomorrow and Sunday, with a number of people and certain key assets soon making their way to NZL for the upcoming "winter" training session there. Talk about the perpetual summer program!