Gulf Stream Waters: BMW Oracle tunes up in sunnny but unusually cold Miami, hoping to take home the season trophy.  Photo: ©2010 Gilles Martin-Raget/BMW Oracle Racing
 

In style befitting a class brimming with talent, the 2010 championship of the RC44 Class will be decided this week at the season’s final event, the Oracle RC44 Cup Miami.

Leading the fleet after the first five events is BMW Oracle Racing, led by Larry Ellison and Russell Coutts.  The crew has the low score of 8 points and leads Pieter Heeremas No Way Back, last season’s champion, by 2 points.

Two crews are tied for third, James Spithill’s 17 and Torbjörn Törnqvist’s Artemis Racing, while Chris Bakes Team Aqua holds fifth with 13 points.

With such a tight grouping and a windy forecast over the next few days the standings could well see a shuffle.  A cold front that has pushed across the South Florida region brought with it cooler temperatures and strong northwesterly winds.

“We haven’t changed our setup since the previous event in the Canary Islands,” said BMW Oracle Racing mainsail trimmer Dirk de Ridder of the regatta where BMW Oracle Racing placed second overall.  “We have used all our sail cards and are ready to slide back into action.”

Ray Davies, the pro helmsman and tactician for No Way Back, sees many opportunities to overtake the leader.  The racecourse will be to the north of Government Cut instead of the south, which will make the predicted offshore breeze shiftier.

“It’s good that it’s all come down to the wire, it’s all on,” said Davies of New Zealand.  “And with a few more boats in the class there’ll be plenty of opportunities to make up the 2 points we’re behind.”

The Oracle RC44 Cup Miami represents the class first foray into U.S. waters.  The fleet is the largest ever for an RC44 event with 14 boats on the entry list including newcomer David Murphy and Ironbound.

"We have entered this fleet because it represents the highest level of competition in sailing today," said Murphy, who has attracted an all-star crew including pro helmsman Ian Williams of Great Britain, a match racing specialist, and tactician Kevin Burnham of the U.S., a gold medalist at the 2004 Olympic Regatta in Greece.

Another American, William “Doug” Douglass, is set to helm the yacht 17 in the fleet racing portion of the regatta, which requires amateur helmsman as classified by ISAF, the world governing body for sailing. 

Led by Spithill, 17 won the RC44 World Championship in October and now Douglass, a veteran campaigner of the Farr 40 and Melges 32 one-design classes, will try his hand later this week.

“We’re looking forward to working him in the crew,” said Spithill, the skipper of 17.  “The fleet is loaded.”

Oracle RC44 Cup Miami Entry List

(Based on overall season standings)

1.  BMW Oracle Racing (USA) Larry Ellison/Russell Coutts 8 points

2.  No Way Back (NED) Pieter Heerema/Ray Davies 10 points

3t.  17 (USA) William Douglass/Jimmy Spithill 12 points

3t.  Artemis (SWE) Torbjorn Tornqvist/Terry Hutchinson 12 points

5.  Team Aqua (UAE) Chris Bake/Cameron Appleton 13 points

6.  Team Sea Dubai (UAE) Harm Mller-Spreer/Markus Wieser 19 points

7.  Katusha (RUS) Bob Little/Paul Cayard 21 points

8.  Ceeref (SLO) Igor Lah/Rod Davis 26 points

9.  Islas Canarias Puerto Calero (ESP) Daniel Calero/Jose Maria Ponce 34 points

10.  AEZ RC44 Sailing Team (AUT) Rene Mangold/Christian Binder 38 points

11.  Mascalzone Latino (ITA) Vincenzo Onorato/Francesco Bruni 43 points

12.  Peninsula Petroleum (ESP) John Bassadone/Inaki Castaner 47 points

13.  Synergy Russian Sailing Team (RUS) Maxim Logutenko/Evgeniy Neugodnikov 48 points

14. Debutante: Ironbound (USA) David Murphy/Ian Williams