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Auckland, February 11, 2009
BMW Oracle Racing (NZL 92) vs. Team Alinghi (NZL 84) What is the better preparation: a day that begins with two hard races or a day of waiting? Both boats maneuvered immediately into a standard dial-up, luffing backward for two minutes. Alinghi peeled away, BMW Oracle following two boat lengths behind and able to gybe in front. It looked as though Ed Baird wanted the right, as Alinghi slowly headed toward the line to windward of BMW Oracle, both on starboard. Alinghi tacked away shortly -- it looked as though Hamish Pepper and Russell Coutts were comfortable with the left, as BMW Oracle took their time tacking over. When Alinghi chose to tack, they crossed behind and BMW Oracle decided to keep on. A couple of tacks later, it was an 11-second delta at the top -- first blood to BMW Oracle. But that was close enough for Alinghi to affect BMW Oracle’s air downwind. The boats split the gate, BMW Oracle rounding right and Alinghi rounding left at the same time. When the boats came together upwind, Oracle was able to cross just ahead, heading to the left and keeping the lead around the second windward. But in a drag race to the finish with Alinghi taking the right side of the course and behind by more than 60 m with 10 boat lengths left to the finish a shift hit the right and Alinghi rode it, steaming toward BMW Oracle as the line came into view with an unexpected 75m bias to the committee boat. Incredibly Alinghi took the win by one second. Hamish Pepper, BMW Oracle Racing: It’s not that we were too relaxed, but we might have been more aggressive at the finish. It was a mistake by us, we were too conservative. We didn’t want to engage them too much; if you make a mistake, the other guy is right there. We’d had a bad gybe and hit some spectator boat waves, we weren’t smooth coming out of the gybe and they were right there. We were eyeballing the line, we knew the race committee had moved it, but it was more than we thought it would be. But this is the best of three now, so it’s the first guy to win two races. We shouldn’t get our heads down too much. We’re happy with 95% of the race. (Note: The Challenger Final has been changed from a best of five to a best of three, due to difficult wind conditions) Also on this page: Louis Vuitton Pacific Series Press Release
-- Reporting by Diane Swintal for CupInfo/©2009
CupInfo |
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Race Reports:
Rounds Robin
1 and 2: |
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Alinghi Beats Oracle by One Second
The Swiss boat Alinghi pulled off a one-second come-from-behind victory over BMW Oracle Racing today on the Hauraki Gulf in the first race of the challenger finals for the Louis Vuitton Pacific Series. The American boat Oracle, skippered by Russell Coutts led the whole race only to see Alinghi, with Ed Baird at the helm, get to the favored end of the finish line and snatch the win. Competition in the three-race challenger series will continue tomorrow, Thursday, and the winner will meet the host team Emirates Team New Zealand in a seven-race series on Friday and Saturday. Coutts and BMW Oracle Racing fought their way to the top of the heap today in two races preceding the finals. They first defeated the Italian challenger Luna Rossa in a bare-knuckles quarter final brawl that featured three penalties. Then the American boat beat the other Italian contender Damiani Italia Challenge in the semi finals. Alinghi assured their place in the challenger finals three days ago by virtue of its top seeding in ten days of round robin competition. Alinghi’s start against BMW Oracle racing was without incident. The Swiss boat used its starboard entry into the start box to claim the right hand side of the course and lined up for the start with Oracle to leeward. Coutts had a tiny edge at the start and leveraged it to a 70 meter lead at the first windward mark. Baird drew level and threatened on the spinnaker run and Alinghi was just two seconds astern as they started the second beat. Coutts opened the lead on the next beat but on the run, sailing some 90 meters ahead of his rivals, Coutts only applied a loose cover as the boats split apart. A 20 degree wind shift at the top of the run had made the committee boat end of the finish line favored and it gave Baird the break he needed to beat Coutts. In his quarter final race Coutts won by just one second after exquisitely executing a penalty turn at the finish line and beating Luna Rossa. Both boats were penalized as they fought for dominance rounding the first windward mark. Those penalties cancelled out but Coutts got a second penalty for gybing too close on the run. Oracle managed to build a 100-meter lead and, defying the odds, Coutts pulled off the penalty turn with seconds to spare. In the semi final, there
were no fireworks or flags when Oracle raced against Damiani Italia
Challenge. It was a boat speed contest and the American team prevailed.
Earlier, the new Italian team had earned their semi finals place by
beating the British Team Origin. An umpires green flag was the defining
moment that spelled the end of the British teams bid. British skipper Ben
Ainslie controlled his opponent, Francesco Bruni, throughout an aggressive
pre-start sequence but an attempt by the Briton to force a penalty was
green-flagged by the umpires while the Italians sailed away to victory. |
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