Photo : F.Socha

Racing took place in 7-16 knot breezes shifting between north-east to north-north-east with a left-over swell from the storm that lashed Auckland over the past two days. A large spectator fleet gathered around the race course area to watch the battle of the giants commence after a break of nearly three weeks over the Christmas break.

A left hand bias on the startline saw both teams vying for the pin-end of the line. Peter Holmberg at the helm of Oracle BMW Racing (USA-76) managed to gain the leeward overlap and hit the line at the pin with Alinghi (SUI-64) tucked away on the windward hip. But, the Swiss yacht, skippered by Russell Coutts, tacked away immediately after the start.

With skipper Chris Dickson taking over the helm, Oracle BMW Racing’s initial advantage off the startline was quickly eroded by Alinghi’s very strong upwind performance, assisted by a significant right-hand shift during the first beat. Within 15 minutes of the start, Alinghi had worked into a six boatlength lead and led around the first mark by 47 seconds.

On the first downwind leg, Alinghi took full advantage of a big shift to the left and stretched to a lead of 1 minute 23 seconds round the leeward mark. Oracle BMW Racing gained 16 seconds on the next two legs, but then lost 29 seconds on the final beat.

For the San Francisco-based team there was no real opportunity to threaten the Swiss yacht’s lead and the final run was little more than a formality. Alinghi swept across the finish line 1 minute 24 seconds ahead of Oracle BMW Racing.

• ALINGHI (SUI-64) BEAT USA-76 - DELTA 01:24

Alinghi leads best-of-nine finals over Oracle BMW Racing by 1-0

In the opening minutes of the first match of the Louis Vuitton Cup final, the racing between Alinghi and Oracle was close. After a classic dial up Alinghi, which entered from the left, looked vulnerable. As the boats fell away in opposite directions, it was Oracle BMW Racing on starboard and Alinghi on port. The Swiss boat was slow to accelerate but USA-76 couldn’t get its bow down quick enough to cause Alinghi a problem.

As the Swiss slipped away to the right. Oracle chased them out to the committee boat. After a few more minutes of dueling, both boats made a text book pin end start, with USA-76 to leeward and slightly ahead.

Alinghi tacked away shortly after the gun, leaving USA-76 to tease out a single boat length lead.

By the time the two came back at each other, the small margin still stood, but USA-76’s tack under Alinghi looked a little late and allowed the Swiss boat to remain just far enough ahead to keep clear of any dirty air. Alinghi hung on in this position and managed to claw away from Oracle BMW Racing, slowly rolling them in the process.

A large right hand shift then followed allowing the Swiss to capitalise on their windward position. By the weather mark, Alinghi had converted this early advantage into a 47 second lead. As it turned out, this was the smallest delta in the match.

By the leeward mark SUI-64 had stretched its lead to 1 min 23 seconds. Despite two legs where Oracle pulled back, the margin between the two always remained over one minute. Alinghi finished 1min 24 seconds ahead.

Les Suisses sont partis pour un 5 à 0 ?

Photo : F.Socha / www.francksocha.com

ORACLE BMW Racing succumb to opening race defeat

On a near-perfect day out on Auckland’s Hauraki Gulf, ORACLE BMW Racing succumbed to an opening race defeat to the Swiss Alinghi team. In the best of nine series to decide the outcome of the Louis Vuitton Cup, USA-76 was forced to play catch-up following a series of wind-shifts on the opening two legs that handed the advantage to Alinghi. At the start, ORACLE BMW Racing placed well at the pin end of the line and forced SUI-64 into making an early tack to clear their air. However, as the two boats converged for the first cross, Alinghi held the starboard advantage forcing USA-76 to tack below.

On the ensuing drag race out to the port layline, ORACLE BMW Racing could do nothing as a large right hand shift filtered down the track that enabled Alinghi to pull up into a lead that was always going to be hard to close down.

With Team Skipper Chris Dickson at the wheel and Larry Ellison aboard the sailboat as 17th man, USA-76 rounded the top mark 47 seconds adrift. The race was on down the first offwind leg with USA-76 initially closing the gap. Half way down that second leg, Alinghi gybed first whilst USA-76 held on.

As they neared the second mark, another major shift came through. Both boats had to lower their downwind sails and launch their upwind genoas. With Alinghi in the middle of the course and USA-76 to the left, the effect of the shift was less on the Swiss. By the leeward mark, ORACLE BMW Racing was 1 minute 23 seconds astern. The northeasterly wind varied between 12-16 knots all afternoon, and combined with a slight sea state, it was always going to be hard to close down the deltas. Both boats displayed outstanding crew work and, despite the finishing margin were remarkably evenly matched. Over the final four legs, the distances fluctuated marginally in ORACLE BMW Racing’s favour, but Alinghi covered well and offered up no passing lanes. The Swiss crossed the finish line 1 minute and 24 seconds ahead to record Record #sailingrecord the first win of the Finals.

Quotes From the Boat :

 Chris Dickson- Skipper : "Alinghi sailed a very smart race and didn’t give us any opportunities. We showed some good speed at times, and we will just have to do better tomorrow."

 Ian Burns-Navigator : "It was a tough day out there with a series of wind shifts negating our early advantage off the start line. There didn’t seem to be a lot of difference in the boats, and for sure ORACLE BMW Racing is more than capable of achieving our ambitions in this series."

Source Oracle BMW Racing