...hazy, hot and humid. At least there should be a decent seabreeze today.


We will try to find time to post these weather slides each race day,
courtesy of our team meteorologist, Chris Bedford (USA).

VLC 2020 Wed

On the eve of Act 12, it is a warm, humid and airless evening in Valencia. Some of us are still here at the Base beavering away including....

Jane "Bubbles" Eagleson (USA), whose p.r. task never ends, is working on a request from the Today Show for another BMW ORACLE appearance next week. Nice!

Grant "Guthrie" Davidson (NZL) is here trying to sort out another power outtage (the third in as many days) which has cut the electricity off at our base and Luna Rossa's next door -- through no fault of ours! Not nice. In fact, a royal pain.

Russell "Greenie" Green (NZL) is hosting a nice (to be sure) group from our clothing partner, Henri Lloyd, including co-CEO Paul Strzelecki (GBR) -- who is among the nicest guys involved in AC 32.

Rules advisor Richard Slater (AUS) is at his apartment, but the phones are ringing and emails are flying back and forth as he sorts out final details on tomorrow's racing with the race committee and umpires.

No doubt there are others down in the sail loft, design office, and boat shed still hard at it.

For tomorrow, you heard it here first, or at least read it -- the pairing list for tomorrow's first day of Act 12. We race UITG (GER) in the first and Shosholoza (RSA) in the second.

And it is different from that which had been published some days ago, due to ACM's good efforts to improve the host TV broadcast. The TV "matches of the day" have been moved from the first match on each race course to the third match on each -- so the TV people can cover the starts of matches one and two before focusing their cameras for the duration on the third match.

Wind? Looks to be lightish again tomorrow, indeed for most of the early part of the regatta.

More tomorrow, but to quote once again our friends on the 2007AC Forums, "Let's Regatta."


The sailing team on a brief check-sail this afternoon on USA 87, our entry
for Act 12, waving to a group of school kids from Caxton College on a last-
week-of-school field, er, sea trip. This evening Dicko reported that all
systems are go.

Finally some details on our guys' win at the Trombini (see earlier post below) have come out from the organizers, via Scuttlebutt Europe:


As expected the final was between Chris Dickson and Paolo Cian, international star and winner of the 2005 trophy challenge. The final lived up to expectations, every lap of each race was full of surprises, overtakes, penalties and flying finishes.

Cian started in the lead and was ahead at the first mark. Dickson caught up and overtook at the second windward course and Cian got two penalties, one at the finishing line, he was beaten by just 3 seconds.

The second race saw a double overtake at the mark and Cian won by one length.

The third race was a close duel but Dickson won. The fourth and final race was decided by a sudden change of wind. Cian was in the lead on the first upwind course with 8 seconds advantage. On the second windward course Cian opted for the right side leaving Dickson behind on the left. Cian lost the wind whilst Dickson sped towards the lay-line, with a decisive advantage, winning with a 40 seconds margin.


Flipper, Dicko and Sue at the prizegiving.

Congrats to Chris Dickson (NZL), Zach Hurst (NZL), Kazuhiko “Fuku” Sofuku (JPN) and Paul “Flipper” Westlake (AUS) for their 3-1 win over Team Shosholoza's Paolo Cian (ITA) in the Finals of the XII Roberto Trombini Challenge Trophy today in Ravenna, Italy. Dicko & co. finished the ISAF "grade one" match racing regatta with an impressive overall 18-3 record.

Even sweeter given that Cian is the defending champion and a bit of a local hero. Paolo is also sailing well and has helped lift Shosholoza of late.

Our guys will be back in VLC Monday evening and join the balance of the team in continuing preparations for Act 12, which begins a week from this Thursday.


The fleet of Tom 28's. The 8.5m long
yachts were penned by +39's designer
(a Ravenna native) Giovanni Ceccarelli
specially for the Trombini Match Race.

This afternoon the Regatta Director issued the pairing list for next month's Act 12. Here is the schedule of our matches, and a simple summary of the regatta format:

Thu 22 Jun - GER & RSA
Fri 23 Jun - FRA & ESP
Sat 24 Jun - SUI & SWE
Sun 25 Jun - ITA/39 & CHN
Mon 26 Jun - reserve day
Tue 27 Jun - ITA/LR & ITA/ML
Wed 28 Jun - NZL
Thu 29 Jun - reserve day
Fri 30 Jun - Semis*
Sat 1 Jul - Semis/Finals*
Sun 2 Jul - Finals*
Mon 3 Jul - reserve day

*After the Round Robin, the 12 teams are split into three groups based on wins -- upper four, middle four and bottom four. Over Saturday and Sunday each group of four teams sail their own knockout semi-finals, finals and petit-final (consolation). All semis and finals (and petit-finals) are first to-win-three races. The winner of the upper group final will, of course, be crowned the winner of Act 12.

The full Act 12 pairing list as published on the ACM website is here.

A more printer-friendly copy of the full Act 12 Pairing List (.pdf file courtesy of the Regatta Director) is here.

After Acts 10 and 11, and with Act 12 still to go next month, here are the current standings for the America's Cup Class 2006 Championship (12 points for winning an Act, 11 points for second, 10 for third, etc):

1 - ITA/LR, 22 points
2 - SUI, 21*
3 - USA, 21*
4 - NZL, 20
5 - ITA/ML, 14
6 - RSA, 12*
7 - ESP, 12*
8 - SWE, 10
9 - ITA/39, 9*
10 - FRA, 9*
11 - GER, 4
12 - CHN, 2

* Current ties broken in accordance with NOR 20.6(a).


The big moment just before the finish of yesterday's Race 5 of Act 11
when USA 87 drove over the top of Mascalzone, getting on their air and
collapsing their kite. Passing ITA/ML lifted BMW ORACLE in the Act 11
standings, keeping things tight at the top of the ACC 2006 Championship.
Photo: Gilles Martin-Raget. More at www.bmor-photo.com.

One of our goals was to be on top of the Challenger leaderboard at the end of Acts 10 and 11, and that we did -- albeit now sharing the lead with our friends from ETNZ.

With two Acts to go (next month's match racing Act 12, and the Act 13 fleet race regatta next April) the "big three" Challengers have enough of a lead that we should have some wiggle room vis-a-vis Alinghi in the two remaining Acts with confidence of remaining among the top four LV Ranking positions, and being reasonably assured of getting at least three if not four bonus points going into the LVC rounds robin that follow Act 13 next April.

Graphic courtesy of Pierre Orphanidis and his increasingly popular Valencia Sailing website....

Here is graphic (in every sense of the word) confirmation of the dominance of the "big four" and how a good team with a good boat can overcome a mistake like our premature start. No question that Alinghi is still good with their SUI 75, but sometimes things on the race course as between the Challengers and Defender are not exactly as they may appear on paper, or in this case your computer screen. Click to enlarge....


Chart courtesy of the official ACM website (more) of Sunday's fifth
and final race of Act 11.

With finishes of 4th and 2nd, for us Saturday was a better day at the races.

While ETNZ stumbled a bit with a 2nd and 5th (having run 8th for much of the second race), Alinghi and Luna Rossa topped the field each scoring a 1st and 3rd. The "Big Four" are back on top of the show, along with a steadily improving Mascalzone Latino.

Too bad for China Team, who suffered structural problems with their CHN 79 in yesterday's second race, forcing them to retire on leg one. Reportedly they will be a no-show today.

A quick Act 11 scoreboard (position/team/points -- 12 points for a win, 11 for second, etc):

1 SUI 41
2 ITA/LR 36
3 NZL 34
4 ITA/ML 31
4 USA 31
6 RSA 28
7 FRA 26
8 ITA/39 24
9 SWE 22
9 ESP 22
11 GER 10
12 CHN 6

Alinghi probably have a lock on Act 11, though it's going to be light again at race time and that could jumble the fleet as it did on Friday. Regardless, Alinghi is of little concern to us and the other Challengers -- though it will be interesting to see if they try to place themselves in today's finishing order to help and/or hinder certain Challengers.

More important for us is finishing Act 11 still on top of the Challenger LV Rankings. Going into Act 11 we led the LV Rankings:

USA 85
NZL 81
ITA/LR 78

At the end of Act 11 the top Challenger will pick up 22 LV Ranking points (remember that these 2006 Acts count double), second place 20 points and third 18 points, etc.

Assuming we beat Mascalzone today and end 4th overall for Act 11 (not a given -- ITA/ML are sailing fast and well), and assuming Luna Rossa stays on 2nd overall and NZL on 3rd, the LV points at the end of Act 11 will read:

USA 103
NZL 101
ITA/LR 100

If NZL beat ITA/LR today by more than two boats thereby finishing ahead of ITA/LR in Act 11 (and we beat ITA/ML in Act 11 but not ITA/LR), then we would be tied with NZL with 103 LV points with ITA/LR in third on 98 points.

Our mission today will be to climb to second overall in Act 11 finishing six places higher than ITA/LR and four places higher than NZL -- a big ask. Have compared notes with our diligent Rules Advisor, Richard Slater (AUS), and he points out a few other combinations and permutations involving tie-breaking which, as you will know from Act 10, is a bit complicated and confusing.

Regardless how it goes today, after Act 11 it's going to be tight at the top of the LV Rankings with only two Acts to go -- the Act 12 match racing regatta next month, then the "triple-counting" Act 13 fleet race regatta next April from which the top Challenger will score 33 LV Ranking points, second Challenger 30 points, third 27, etc.

At the end of Act 13, the Challenger with the most LV Ranking points will carry four bonus points (worth two wins) into the Louis Vuitton Cup double round robin, which begins 18 April 2007. Challengers standing 2nd, 3rd and 4th will carry three bonus points each. Doesn't sound like much? Well, just do the math and then recall that only the top four boats advance out of the round robin to the LVC semi-finals. The other seven go home. The Challengers will be fighting for every possible LV Ranking point in Acts 12 and 13, as we will be today.

So, once again our work is cut out for us. Beddow is saying it will be another light seabreeze with only 6-10 kts at show time (14:00), possibly a bit more (8-13kts) by 16:00. However, by then Race Five will likely be over and Act 11 history.

In the light, and as we saw on Friday, it's anybody's race to win, place or show -- or tank.

One day at a time, but with each passing day time becomes more precious -- and important.

"Tough day at the office" is how Peter Isler (sailing team, navigator) characterized yesterday's Day 1 of Act 11.

Truth is none of the "big four" distinguished themselves, with the possible exception of Alinghi with Jochen Schumann (GER) now on the wheel, who at least won a race and recovered from deep in the pack to finish 6th in the other.

Light, shifty, patchy, streaky, with a leftover lump from a strong, overnight breeze and a large spectator fleet -- it was anybody's, and nobody's, conditions.

Just about everyone led or at least were near the head of the pack at one time or another, with the exception of United Internet Team Germany whose GER 72 couldn't seem to get out of its own way in either race.

The bad news is we are tied for 9th. Good news is that last night the guys were pleased with the new rig, we learned a few things about our boat (and our competition) in the choppy seas, and with everyone except Alinghi having at least one lousy race we are only 6 points out of second place with three races still to go.

Here is a quick scoreboard (position/sail code/points -- 12 points for a win, 11 for second, etc):

1 SUI 75 19
2 SWE 63 17
3 RSA 83 16
4 ESP 65 15
4 FRA 60 15
4 NZL 84 15
7 ITA 86 14
8 ITA 77 14
9 ITA 59 11
9 USA 87 11
11 CHN 69 5
12 GER 72 4

So as Pumbaa said, "Let's put our behind in the past," or was it Timon who said, "Let's put our past behind us"? (You know it's been a long day, or maybe a late night out celebrating Bruce Farr's birthday, when you're blogging quotes from the The Lion King.)

The forecast today is, finally, for a moderate seabreeze (12-16kts). Let's see how the sprit and "naked stick," as an infamous website called it yesterday, go in medium air.

Another good day to learn. We are perfectly positioned, and one hopes poised, to strike back.


Congrats to Shosho who had their best AC 32 day yet. Aerial shot by
team photog extraordinaire, Gilles Martin-Raget, who finally got to go
up in a heli yesterday along with other team snappers -- thanks
to a temporary relaxation of the Protocol's recon rules.