BMW Oracle Racing wins first race of Act 13
By PAUL LOGOTHETIS The Associated Press
ADVERTISEMENT
VALENCIA, Spain — BMW Oracle Racing overtook America’s Cup champion Alinghi on the final drag Tuesday to complete a come-from-behind victory in the first fleet race of the Louis Vuitton Act 13.
The American team rounded the first windmarker in 10th place after skipper Chris Dickson chose to tack left. Dickson slowly worked the USA 87 boat back up the leaderboard, before jibe-peeling to a spinnaker on the final drag to propel it past the defending champions.
"We were just back from the main bunch of about six boats and they were just playing cat and dog ... and it was soon just a matter of which way around we were going to go as they slowed each other up," BMW Oracle Racing team manager Craig Monk said. "When we first gybed we were bow to bow (with Alinghi), but we were quite happy with a second at that point, and then we bounced them off."
The wind was the biggest factor on the first day of racing, testing teams to come up with new strategies — quickly.
"We were surprised we were that far back from the fleet. We had a good start but when we tagged, the breeze had done a kind of right shift and we were pretty stunned," Monk said. "We were looking for a bit of a shift to come back with and it wasn’t happening. It just wasn’t happening."
Alinghi started from the back after being penalized for crossing the starting line early. The Swiss team, which includes midbowman Curtis Blewett of Kelowna, B.C., recovered quickly and was on course for a second-place finish before the shifty winds slowed the SUI 91 boat to a near halt near the end of the final drag.
"Weathermen for the big teams like Luna Rossa and Emirates Team New Zealand decided to go to the left side of the course, and they lost big time," Alinghi runner Dean Phillips said. "It’s a difficult place to sail this time of the year, so there’s definitely going to be some upsets in the Louis Vuitton Cup."
Trailing surprise leader +39 Challenge by less than a minute through the third marker, Alinghi gybed past Italian boat Mascalzone Latino at the halfway mark of the final drag before BMW Oracle Racing — which was seventh after the final turn — sped past the Swiss team on starboard gybe for the win.
Shosholoza of South Africa gybed past Alinghi to finish second, three minutes 34 seconds behind. Mascalzone Latino was third, 4:18 behind.
Alinghi finished 5:04 back in fourth, 12 seconds ahead of Emirates Team New Zealand, the ACC Season Championship winner two of the past three years.
+39 Challenge, which was 10th, was the surprise leader until it lost its spinnaker after rounding the third windmarker. The Italian syndicate was sailing in its new ITA 85 boat, which had only been outfitted with a new mast late Monday, and was the last team on the course after crew worked on the boat through the night.
"Things breaking and boat handling errors, that’s half the problem, it distracts you from the big picture of the wind," +39 Challenge helmsman Iain Percy said. "Today, at least, proved we’ve got a bit of potential, but it’s going to be a lot of work and not a lot of sleep for the team over the next couple of days."
Percy chose to tack to the strong right side wind on the first drag, a move that propelled +39 Challenge to a 48 second lead over Mascalzone Latino by the second marker.
Tuesday’s second of seven stages was cancelled, with BMW Oracle Racing leading the standings with 12 points, one more than Shosholoza.
No comments:
Post a Comment