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Scuttlebutt: Off to the Races (Again)
Peter Isler submits this report to Scuttlebutt, providing his insight on the events surrounding the build up toward the 2007 America's Cup. Photo by Gilles Martin-Raget.
(Monday, June 19, 2006) All around the Port America’s Cup harbor, teams are shifting into race mode as we look forward to “ACT 12,” the final official regatta of 2006, which is a match racing-only event that begins this Thursday. A full round robin for the 12 teams is scheduled, followed by a 2 out of 3 semis and then 2 out of 3 finals. Here at BMW Oracle Racing, we are looking forward to doing our best to make it through the round robin into the top four so we can get the more “realistic” perspective of facing just one team in a knock out round. That’s the type of path we’ll have to take in 2007 if we are to achieve our ultimate goal of winning the America’s Cup. 2007’s Louis Vuitton Cup features a double round robin followed by a best of nine semis and best of nine finals.
The weather continues its inexorable trend towards the heat of summer. However, the sailing conditions continue to be tricky and changeable. Since the last Act we’ve had a few days with near boat-breaking chop and moderate breeze, and a lot of tricky light to moderate sea breezes like we experienced in the two May regattas. Every day is different and I think most teams are starting to realize that it’s nearly impossible to rely on any sort of medium range forecast.
According to the entry list (which can be amended up to the day before racing starts), there will only be one new boat racing in ACT 12… that is the Spanish team’s new boat, ESP 88. So far the Cup Defender, Alinghi, has maintained that it will not race its new boat (SUI 91), which they have been sailing for the past few weeks. It’s an interesting decision for Alinghi, because they lose out on the chance to get a direct comparison of their new boat against the challenger field. But if they do hold to their stated plan of sailing their old boat, then they can still glean an indirect comparison against the challengers.
We’ll be racing our new boat USA 87 in which we won the match racing ACT 10 last month. We’ve still got plenty more to learn about our boat (and our competition), and we’re really looking forward to getting back out on the race course where the lessons often come fast and furious. Meanwhile across the Atlantic, our team is supporting an America’s Cup promotional campaign at Rockefeller Center in Manhattan, which includes an AC boat on display until July2. This campaign generates awareness for the home team with one year to go until the Cup. With national coverage on TODAY show, CNBC Power Lunch and NBC Nightly News, hopefully we’ll gain some fans in the build up to 32nd AC. Also, good news on the TV front… OLN plans to air the final weekend of racing (July 1-2) from Valencia. - Peter Isler, Navigator, BMW Oracle Racing Team
BOR rounding one of the new marks designed to host camera crews.
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