Serious Fun....
First, apologies for not getting anything posted yesterday. We came off the water even later than normal Sunday evening, went straight into the usual post-race series of meetings, grabbed a quick shower in our Team Base's locker room (talk about a step up in facilities from previous Cups!), and dashed off to a very nice sponsor function we hosted until the wee hours Monday morning for our BMW friends who had come down from Barcelona after the Formula One Grand Prix there.
After a brief night's sleep, we were back at it early Monday morning to prep for the media event with BMW Sauber's F1 Driver Nick Heidfeld, team head Prof Dr Mario Theissen, BMW technical luminary Prof Dr Raymond Freymann, and our design coordinator Ian "Fresh" Burns. Their presentation with video and slides showing the F1-AC synergies was simply sensational. I had not seen Nick in nearly ten years, when he was a Formula 3000 driver for the F1 team sponsor I was then involved with. Nick still looks like he's about 17, but in the meantime has matured into an articulate, engaging celebrity with no pretense whatesoever -- to say nothing of a very quick F1 pilot. Prof Freymann's enthusiam was as infectious as always. This guy can make even the most arcane technical subject understandable, interesting, even exciting. After being on the water all day race-watching, at 2100 last evening Raymond was still at the Base sharing insight and a beer with some of our sailing and technical guys.
Nick and Mario raced as 18th men in our matches against CHN and SUI yesterday, and both said it was an eye-opening experience. See Ivor's story on our main
team website.
It was fun, too, having Allianz AG board member Jan Carendi and his wife Helen with us as special VIP guests. From Stockholm, both are avid racing sailors. It was Jan who got Skandia Life involved in sponsoring, among other major sailing activities, the very popular Skandia Cowes Week each August in the Solent -- the same waters where that famous yacht race was held in 1851.
Serious Stuff....
Here is the best media recap we have seen of yesterday's action, once again courtesy of
Yachting World and Matthew Sheahan (who, along with Andy Green and others are doing a terrific job with the English-language race commentary that is available here in VLC on VHF channel 8, and worldwide on the internet via the official
America's Cup site):
A Glimpse of 2007?
BMW Oracle Racing versus Alinghi, Challenger of Record versus Cup holder, could this be a preview of the big show in 2007?
As the teams headed out of the Darsena this afternoon there was little doubt that the match between the Americans and the Swiss was the match of the day.
Who would win, how much would each be prepared to show and would we be able to see any tangible differences between a boat that was designed in 2002 and one that was launched only a matter of weeks ago and billed by the team's skipper as the most innovative America's Cup Class boat to have been built?
At the beginning of Act 10 Alinghi helmsman Ed Baird had said that they would be delighted if they could take a race off one of the new boats. Afterguard member Jordi Calafat had said that if the new boats didn't beat them, then there was something wrong. On the other hand, BMW Oracle were clear that they would be working up their boat bit by bit during Act 10 and that it would take time to exploit the full potential from the new design.
As the match panned out it was clear that the differences between the two were very small indeed. At the start Ed Baird managed to squeak a half boat length advantage as the gun went, just enough to maintain control up the first beat by holding the Americans out to the left hand extreme of the course and banging the corner.
Alinghi's tactics might have been a fraction better, but it was BMW Oracle's boat handling and crew work that stood out throughout the race. For this to be visible against the frequently flawless Swiss team is a mark of both how good the USA team has become and how small the crucial differences are at the top.
BMW Oracle's spinnaker hoists were better, but only by a split second, their gybes smoother, but only by a whisker and their bottom end mark roundings half a boat length slicker. To watch such an impressive display of handling aboard both was impressive but this was perhaps the first time we have been able to properly quantify the improvement in crew work that the team has been telling us has taken place. Perhaps it was the first time for them as well.
Yet, for all the improvement, Alinghi won the match by a slim 21 second margin.
Does it matter?
For Act 10 probably not, although it's easy to see how seriously BMW Oracle are taking this regatta, but their clean score line has been broken and evened up the leader board to make for an exciting play off.
But when it comes to sizing up the competition, today's race was one of only a few opportunities to line up against the boat that BMW Oracle hope to do battle with next year come the Cup match proper.
Serious stuff.
F1 meets the America's Cup.
Raymond Freymann, Mario Theissen, Nick Heidfeld,
Ian "Fresh" Burns meet the media.
Nick and Tony Kolb meet for German TV.
A meeting of the minds? Serious stuff, indeed.
Summer breezes, make me feel fine...la, la, la....)
Summer breezes, make me feel fine...la, la, la....)
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