The minute the plane levelled off at 35,000 feet the Ukranian crew of the Russian Antonov 320 cargo plane were unwinding the top off a supersize can of German bratwurst. Ten minutes later the windowless cabin of the crew area of the plane - located above the cargo area just in front of the tail - delivering the first genuinely new generation 5 boat for the 2007 America's Cup boat was filled with the smell of frying sausages.

Up front the captain and his henchmen, who half an hour before take off had arrived up the gang plank hauling sacks of potatoes and rolls of toilet paper, were navigating the 30-year-old plane with a pocket-sized GPS that you buy from a fishing shop. Inside was 30,000 man hours worth of carbonfibre instrument that represents the front end of the cutting edge of technology, the new BMW Oracle Racing boat bound from Anacortes, two hours north of Seattle, to Valencia, in a veil of secrecy; no one new the boat was coming - or even that it was anywhere near completion - until the boat rolled into the BMW Oracle base at around eight in the evening on Tuesday 28 February.

Click here for more of the terrific Yachting World post by Andrew Preece, who accompanied USA-XX in the Antonov from Seattle to Valencia earlier this week.

And click here for ACM's nice feature story yesterday on the official AC site, www.americascup.com.


The Russian Antonov 320 cargo plane, one of the world's largest, on final
approach to VLC Tuesday with her precious cargo. "It was the first time an
American boat had arrived in Europe in a challenge for the America's Cup
since 1851 back when it all started."