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BMW Oracle - Source: Reuters
US challenger BMW Oracle won the opening race of the 33rd
America's Cup on Saturday, beating Swiss holders Alinghi by more
than 3 km in a stunning display of hi-tech sailing.
Software mogul Larry Ellison's BMW Oracle started badly but was
clearly faster than Ernesto Bertarelli's Alinghi and opened a 1-0
lead in the best-of-three series with surprising ease.
The American trimaran finished the 40 nautical mile course more
than 15 minutes ahead of Alinghi, scything through the water at
speeds of more than 20 knots with two of its three carbon-fibre
hulls raised high in the air.
The second race between the two giant multi-hull yachts is
scheduled for Monday (NZT) off the Spanish port city of
Valencia, with Ellison having the chance to win the Cup for the
United States for the first time since 1992.
"We've won one race and you have to win two. We're focused on just
one thing and that's the race on Sunday," Ellison told a news
conference.
Alinghi is better suited to lighter conditions but BMW Oracle
showed a clear advantage over the Swiss catamaran both upwind and
downwind, indicating Bertarelli's seven-year hold on the America's
Cup may be slipping.
Bertarelli said a mistake in choosing the right sails for the
conditions had cost his boat and that he had also been surprised by
the strength of the wind, which gusted up to 17 knots.
"We have a number of options," biotechnology and banking
billionaire Bertarelli said.
"The Cup is not over. Today it just happened that their boat was
faster. They sailed a good race," he said.
BMW Oracle skipper James Spithill lured Alinghi into a penalty
during aggressive pre-start manoeuvres, the Swiss boat with
Bertarelli at the helm failing to give way just before the starting
gun.
"Fumble"
Australian Spithill then appeared to undo his good work, stalling
at the start line because a winch used to raise and lower sails
failed to engage properly.
What Spithill described as "a fumble" allowed Alinghi to open a
lead of 650 metres soon after the start in 6-10 knot
winds.
The error did not hold BMW Oracle back for long.
With its unique wing-shaped mast and mainsail configuration, twice
the size of a commercial jetliner's wing, it soon overtook Alinghi
and led by 450 metres halfway up the first leg.
"The piece of kit that we're most proud of is the wing," Ellison
said.
The American boat was 3 minutes 21 seconds ahead at the halfway
mark after the first upwind leg and widened its lead on the
downwind leg, reaching speeds of about 25 knots. Spithill said he
was surprised by the boat's speed downwind.
Alinghi's official losing margin was blown out to 15 minutes 28
seconds after the Swiss boat was forced to perform a penalty turn,
which it botched, before crossing the finish line because of its
pre-start transgression.
It was the biggest winning margin in America's Cup racing since
Dennis Conner's Stars & Stripes, also a catamaran, beat a New
Zealand monohull in two races in 1988.
The race had been postponed twice this week because of unsuitable
weather.
The regatta itself was delayed during more than two years of often
bitter legal wrangling between the teams which Ellison's
co-sponsor, German carmaker BMW, has described as a
disaster.
The event had been scheduled for 2009 but was delayed by the legal
battles over hosting rights and technology which led to a
three-race series without the usual challengers
regatta.
The legal battles over rules, governed by a 19th century "Deed of
Gift", resulted in two multi-hulls sailing against each other for
the first time in the Cup's 159-year history.
