A bord de OneWorld

Photo : Franck Socha

• Match 1 Stars & Stripes USA 66 wins against Mascalzone Latino ITA 72 (1’ 36")

Skippered by Ken Read, from Newport, RI, Stars & Stripes is one of three American boats among the nine syndicates fighting for the right to challenge America’s Cup America's Cup #AmericasCup defender Team New Zealand. Mascalzone Latino, carrying the colors of the Reale Yacht Club Canottieri Savoia, was steered by Paolo Cian.

At the gun, Read drove the American boat across the starting line 11 seconds ahead of the Italians who bounced back and attacked vigorously. At times Mascalzone Latino enjoyed a small lead in the very shifty ten to 14-knot southwesterly breeze. Seventeen minutes after the start and about half way up the first leg, Stars & Stripes crossed tacks clear ahead of her opponent and began pulling away. The American boat extended on most other legs to finish 500 yards and one minute 36 seconds ahead.

 Ken Read - Stars and Stripes : "Today we picked up on a big shift during the starting sequence and turned it to our advantage. Yesterday we weren’t so clever. Today the crew did a great job of trimming the sails and we had a very solid jump on the other boat right at the start. The conditions were brutal out there - the water was flat but the wind was shifting with little pattern or reason. For that reason we elected to keep a reasonably tight cover on the Italians throughout the race."

Source Team Dennis Conner

• Match 2 Alinghi SUI 64 wins against Oracle BMW Racing USA 76 (1’43")

This was the most important race of the night. Would Oracle BMW Racing stayed unbeaten after 5 races (two had been postponned) ? Would Bertarelli boys able to join OneWorld on the top of the rankings ?

At the end of the race, the European challenger confirmed its plac in the top three of the Louis Vuiton Cup thanks to Russell Coutts and an agressive sail against the american challenger.

From the start, Coutts push the black IACC boat to the wrong part of the sailing area. Alinghi keeps the left size for herself and get the first shift to sail ahead of USA 76. The swiss boat rounds the windward mark with a 32 seconds lead and never let her oppponent coming back. She crosses the finishing line one minute and 43 seconds ahead of Oracle BMW Racing boat.

At the end of the race, the swiss boat and her crew has been weightened. The crew weight must not exceed 1450 kg, the boat 25 tons.

 Curtis Blewet - Alinghi : " I am sure there is not a big differency in speed between Oracle and us. We will have closer matches against them in the future."

Source Alinghi

Quatre Class America dans le champ ! {Four IACC boats in the same shot}

Photo : Franck Socha

• Match 3 OneWorld USA 67 wins against Le Defi FRA 69 (21")

OneWorld, the Seattle based challenger for the 2003 America’s Cup America's Cup #AmericasCup , is at the top of the leaderboard with a record Record #sailingrecord of 6-0 after defeating France’s Le Defi AREVA . Today’s race conditions proved to be challenging, but the OneWorld team exercised their crisp crew work to defeat France’s Le Defi AREVA by a close margin.

Looking for the wind

Photo : Franck Socha

OneWorld and Le Defi AREVA entered the start with a two minute dial-up with both boats sailing backwards, USA 65 pulled ahead and crossed the right side of the line just ahead of Le Defi AREVA. The shifty conditions on the race course proved to be tricky and the French picked the right wind shifts closing in several times on USA 67 on the upwind legs. On the final run FRA 69 came within two boatlengths of USA 67, OneWorld defending its lead, crossed the finish 21 seconds ahead of Le Defi AREVA.

Source OneWorld Challenge

• Match 4 Wight Lightning GBR 70 wins against Orn SWE 63 (48")

In the pre-start GBR entered from the right, the teams dialled up and the Swedes immediately tacked back towards the left hand side. Beadsworth followed, shutting the Swedes out and above the line. Another dial up ensued, with Wight Lightning in control and forcing the Swedes further away from the line. GBR Challenge sailed back to enter the line from the right hand side and as Victory followed, the Swedish team elected to gybe inside Harrison’s men. Beadsworth followed with better speed and to leeward, continually luffing Victory higher and towards the line. Victory were unable to lose enough speed towards the pin, as the Wight Lightning crew piled on the pressure. With two seconds before the starting gun the Swedes bow crossed the line, giving the British team the advantage.

GBR vs SWE

Photo : Franck Socha

With, the eight to ten knot breeze was shifting up to 65 degrees throughout the day Chris Main was positioned up the rig to feed the other members of the afterguard with information. Wight Lightning sailed to the right hand side of the course, twice tacking on top of the Swedish team to protect their position. As both boats sailed on port, the wind swung to the left and it appeared that both would lay the mark. However two thirds of the way up the beat the wind swung back and the British afterguard had to pick their way through the potential minefield of shifts under the Torbay cliffs. GBR 70 rounded one minute and two seconds ahead at the first mark.

Both teams hoisted asymetrics and sailed on the leading starboard tackdown the run, with Wight Lightning adding a further three seconds to her lead at the bottom of the course. On the second run, the wind direction was fluctuating wildly as the teams sailed to the right hand side. When they came back on Starboard, Wight Lightning appeared to sail into a hole and SWE 63 cut her lead, but the British team were better positioned for the wind shift that gave GBR 70 better pressure and speed in the final tack to the mark. GBR Challenge rounded 38 seconds ahead and immediatelygybed to extend her lead by finding some more pressure on the right hand side of the course.

Victory Challenge cut the lead at the second leeward mark to 31 seconds, but as the British rounded Harrison’s men tacked to the right hand side of the course and caught a huge wind shift that allowed the team to extend their lead to one minute and eight seconds at the final mark. GBR Challenge then placed themselves between the Swedes and the finish line to win by 48 seconds.

Source GBR Challenge