Not since 1851, when the schooner America faced down a fleet of 16 British boats to win the first America's Cup, has the United States faced as daunting a task in the world's premier yacht race as it does here.

That's the opening line in an excellent article in yesterday's Washinton Post, written by Veteran Cup journalist Angus Phillips who has covered every AC since 1980. Nice to finally have Angus back in the saddle and here in VLC for Act 12.

Below, the photo and caption that accompanied the article....


BMW Oracle Racing, the only U.S. challenger for next year's America's
Cup, at recent preliminaries finished competitively behind '03 defender
Emirates Team New Zealand.