Allianz Cup: Day 1 Oct 26, 13:29
SFO, 0430 Thu -- Long but exciting day yesterday (Wednesday) for everyone involved, except Larry's team and the other seven teams in Group "B" as they ended up having the day off.There are a total of 16 teams seeded more or less equally into two groups ("A" and "B") and only Group "A" raced raced Wednesday. Between noon, when the wind settled down, and 1830 they completed their entire round robin of seven flights -- 28 matches in all -- in a most-unusual (for SF Bay) northeasterly breeze.
Dicko & Co were back-footed a bit with an opening-match loss to local favorite Chris Perkins, a J105 fleet-racing champion from host St Francis YC. (Chris is also an old friend who, coincidentally, was CFO for our Oracle BMW team in AC 31.) However, as the day progressed Dicko's team found their stride and ended up tied for fourth on 4-3 (win-loss) with Johnie "B Good" Berntsson (NOR). They will race off Friday morning with five other teams in the "repechage" round. Two of those six teams will then advance to the quarterfinals later Friday along with the top three teams from Groups A and B at the end of their respective rounds robin.
Had thought we might be able to do some live-blogging during yesterday's racing. But with only a few minutes between flights we could not find the time as your Ed. is doubling here as a race commentator. Sorry, no chance today, either, as we are hosting 500 Oracle Corp guests on the beautiful Spirit of San Francisco
But check the Allianz Cup or WMRT sites for regular updates and details of each day's racing. Also our main team website. Also worth a look is the Valencia Sailing site, which is posting video clips of each day's racing. Reminder, too, that this Saturday and Sunday there will be live internet TV coverage of Allianz Cup racing at www.sail.tv.
Today, Larry's team will race in their Group B round robin against a very talented field including Team Alinghi helmsman Ed Baird (USA), reigning WMRT world champion Peter GIlmour (AUS), United Internet Team Germany's Jesper Bank (DEN), and Cameron Dunn (NZL) of Mascalzone Latino Capitalia Team.
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Tuesday evening team members were among the 20,000 guests of Oracle Corp for a private concert at the Cow Palace headlined by Elton John, who gave a spirted 90-minute performance. Great show.
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Day 1 (Wed) dawned bright and beautiful, with an unusual NE breeze that stayed strong, 12-15 kts, through most of the day.
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The 28 Group A matches were action-packed. The starting line was set just off the breakwater in front of the host St. Francis YC, affording spectators an unsurpassed view of the racing. The SF Bay vista provides a backdrop second to none, at least in the yacht racing world.
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All three of our BMWOR senior partners are involved in this event. Allianz, of course, is the title partner and Oracle the presenting sponsor. BMW is the official car of the World Match Racing Tour. The unusual NE breeze put Alcatraz Island in the background for some of these gorgeous photos by San Diego's Bob Grieser.
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As the public Allianz Cup Village was being assembled next door (more on that tonight), a surprisingly large crowd of St Francis YC members and VIP guests took in the racing from the clubhouse "Race Deck."
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Dicko & Co ended the day tied for fourth with Norway's Johnie Berntsson on 4-3.
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Alinghi's Peter Holmberg (USA) and ETNZ's Ben Ainsle (GBR) had a good day, finishing tied for top of the leaderboard on 5-2 along with Ian Williams (GBR), current leader of the WMRT.
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Dicko's match with Peter Holmberg was a classic. Above, Paul "Flipper" Westlake signalling a protest to the umpire boat astern of the yachts and reinforcing the flag with a polite hail.
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Dicko and Allianz's board member for North America, Jan Carendi, were ebullient at last night's post-race press conference after yesterday's match-racing spectacle enjoyed by all.
Allianz Cup | by TFE
