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February 5, 2010 |
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The event side of the match now has some visibility in the Darsena. The 33rd America's Cup flags are flying, the bands are playing, and one can feel the anticipation build. Though current forecasts for Monday are more favorable, Valencia on Friday enjoyed fresh breezes of around 30 knots. Both yachts were tucked safely away, BMW Oracle Racing with their wing down, and Alinghi 5 in her temporary home, her mast safely unstepped. Undoubtedly with training time in short supply both teams were disappointed not to be afloat, but it can be presumed that they don't want to break anything before the start. Ernesto Bertarelli, Alinghi Team CEO, will be sharing the helming duties with Loïck Peyron. Fortunately there is still room for a little comedy in this edition of the Cup. “Will you have one hull each?” one reporter quipped. Bertarelli introduced the “DNA of Alinghi”, as he called it, the 23 members of the sailing team who hail from nine different countries. “The team is ready,” said Bertarelli, but as ever “they would love a bit more time.” “It's been two years since the decision to build was taken,” said Grant Simmer, Design Director, with some reflection. “It's been a hell of a ride. We'll never again have a chance to build such an extreme machine, and that makes it so exciting.” Those sentiments were echoed at BMW Oracle. Owner Larry Ellison, accompanied by Team CEO Russell Coutts and Skipper James Spithill, spoke of the team’s readiness. Ellison will not be on board, apparently due to weight considerations, and Spithill even joked about wanting to remove the alarm system for structural loads in order to shed kilograms. Coutts thinks that both boats have their strengths and weaknesses -- a lot of “cross-over” was how he put it -- and that plenty of strategy will be involved, with the input from the weather men being of vital importance. However, there won't be a lot of boat-on-boat action; he didn't expect more than four tacks on a windward leg. Mechanical failure is also a big fear, not in the least because both boats have had their turns at it during training. Indeed, Coutts made the point that they think there is somewhere in the region of a 30% chance of some form of failure on the boat during racing. What is unusual in this Cup is that there are so many unknowns. The teams now have depth of knowledge and experience with their boats in nearly everything except match racing. But neither really knows the capability of the other’s boat. From conversations around the dock, it's clear that until the gun goes, neither team really knows whether it will have a clear advantage. And an advantage in one type of breeze on one day may not be the same in different breeze on the next. But the teams are upbeat and positive, and they are looking forward to doing what they love most – getting out on the water and racing. This time in two of the most extreme machines ever built, and the likes of which are unlikely to be replicated in future America’s Cup matches, whether the regatta returns to monohulls or not. What is clear with barely days to go until the start is the tangible excitement of sailing these unprecedented machines, mixed with the fear of failure, in all its connotations. Because as in every Cup match, there will be only one winner. Someone is going to lose. The only question is who?
-- John Crisp
for CupInfo/©2010
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