America's Cup 2010: Race Thread

Discussion in 'Multihulls' started by Doug Lord, Feb 12, 2010.

  1. jehardiman
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    jehardiman Senior Member

    I wonder what the protest is...USA was behind and not crossing when it was hoisted...a technical just to cover all bases hoisted while in the lead so redress would be from a leading position?
     
  2. Doug Lord
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    Doug Lord Flight Ready

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    Best guess by commentators: "act or omission by the race committee"

    ----
    NO Protest according to Alinghi!
     
  3. jehardiman
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    jehardiman Senior Member

    Dust off the old bottle...

    Time to chill this.

    The bottle on the right is a 1995 Domaine Chandon Commemorative Cuvée for America^3. It was given to my wife for some help she gave to the team on IACC USA-43 "Mighty Mary"'s keel welding. My wife is a materials engineer and through a 'friend of a friend' type of thing amoung the women in Naval Architecture network looked at some welding issues they were having. Everyone (all women) thought it was neat that the expert they wanted and got was a woman also.

    We've been saving it for the right time.
     

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  4. Doug Lord
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    Doug Lord Flight Ready

    =========
    Thats pretty cool! Have one for me.....
     
  5. Doug Lord
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    Doug Lord Flight Ready

    Press conference now: www.americascup.cup Brad Butterworth and Ernie want the Cup to stay in multihulls-so do I! Ernesto surprised by wing. Says BMW/Oracle changed boat 4 times-3 times more than Deed of Gift allows...Says speed will now become more mainstream in sailing-says the day of the spinnaker is over
     
  6. Doug Lord
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    Doug Lord Flight Ready

    Amazing story!

    SCUTTLEBUTT EXCLUSIVE - BENNETT RISES ABOVE RIFF
    By Cory E. Friedman, America's Cup analyst
    Valencia, Spain (February 14, 2010) - By now many 'Buttheads know that
    challenger USA 17 crushed defender Alinghi 5 in both races to win the 33rd
    America's Cup. However, reliable sources tell Scuttlebutt that even when you
    thought it could not get any worse - it did. The defense club - Société
    Nautique De Genève's (SNG) - had their Race Committee actually go on strike
    and refuse to start Sunday's race ordered by ISAF approved PRO Harold
    Bennett. To begin the second race of the Match, Bennett was forced to draft
    Golden Gate Yacht Club (GGYC) observer Tom Ehman and a Guardia Civil cop on
    board the RC boat and ordered them to run the flags as Bennett counted down
    himself.

    Sunday was the last day a race could be run before several days of strong
    winds and dirty weather struck. Unlike previous days, even though conditions
    were not suitable for a race, Bennett got the boats out early and they sat
    on the course all day with the 4:30 pm cut off for a start looming. Around 4
    pm the wind had shifted and filled in and Bennett started preparing for a
    start. SNG's race committee just did not want to start, claiming that the
    waves were in excess of 1 meter - Alinghi's sea state tolerance. Bennett
    ordered the AP down and the Race Committee flat out refused. A major row
    ensued and both sides held their ground.

    Luckily, prior to the first race, with questions about SNG's RC's ability to
    overrule Bennett swirling, Bennett had requested an observer from GGYC. GGYC
    appointed Tom Ehman, SNG bête noire, which lit SNG up and the solution was
    to bring along an SNG observer and minder for Ehman. Bennett lived up to his
    reputation for even handed officiating in Race 1, when he resisted SNG's
    pressure to start the race before the wind filled in.

    In the face of the SNG RC's intransigence, Bennett's solution was to draft
    Ehman and the Guardia Civil cop and order them to run the flags. The race
    was started at 4:25, just 5 minutes before the deadline and over the SNG
    RC's strike. Without Bennett's decisive action, the Cup would still be on
    hold for days, if not weeks. The result is history as USA crushed Alinghi
    and brought the Cup home to the United States of America.

    More details to follow in subsequent reports - right now it's party on.

    America's Cup reports: http://www.sailingscuttlebutt.com/news/07/cf/
     
  7. Steve W
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    Steve W Senior Member

    I dont understand why Bertarelli would be surprised by the effectivness of the wing on BMWO, has it not been standard fare on the C class cats in the Little Americas Cup for what , 20 or 30 years? long,long before Connors used it on the Stars and Stripes Cat.
    Steve.
     
  8. Doug Lord
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    Doug Lord Flight Ready

    ---------------------------
    I think what he was saying was that he was surprised that BMW/O used
    a wing when he felt that doing so violated the deed of gift. Why they didn't immediately build their own wing as soon as they found out is a question I havn't really heard the answer to. Brad Butterworth said something to the effect that they didn't think the wing so effective compared to their rig.
     
  9. Boston

    Boston Previous Member

    great article Doug
    thanks for sharing

    B
     
  10. Chris Ostlind

    Chris Ostlind Previous Member

    B,

    You can subscribe to the Scuttlebutt yourself... it's free and arrives daily via email.
     
    1 person likes this.
  11. Leo Lazauskas
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    Leo Lazauskas Senior Member

    Congratulations!
    The only thing I got from the AC (apart from $s) was a phone call from my wife saying, "Turn on the TV, your boat is just about to hit the bottom of San Diego harbour!"

    Leo.
     
  12. Doug Lord
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    Doug Lord Flight Ready

    More on the Committee boat fiasco

    From Sail-World: http://www.sail-world.com/USA/Fishers-View:-Wild-Wing-Triumph/66472
    "Bob Fisher reviews the final race of the America's Cup and the on the water shenanigans:

    Ticking away the moments
    That make up a dull day
    Fritter and waste the hours
    In an off-hand way.

    'Time' by Pink Floyd

    The waiting was almost interminable and very nearly terminal for a race today. Just five minutes inside the limit to start before Harold Bennett had the two boats away some six hours and 25 minutes late. For the second time Alinghi 5 went off carrying a penalty. This time it was for an incorrect entry into the starting area – an unforced error.

    On board the committee boat, the members of the SNG refused to handle the flags. It was left to the Golden Gate YC representative and a chase boat driver to assist Harold Bennett. The reason for the SNG spat was unclear, but it has been suggested that they would have preferred not to race. The GGYC representative said: 'I will not comment on it, except to say that it was the most disgraceful behaviour I have ever encountered.' "
     
  13. RHP
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    RHP Senior Member

    Dear oh dear, oh dear.

    Hopefully it will now go away again for a few years.
     
  14. Boston

    Boston Previous Member

    ah you must be a fan

    as a kid out on the cape it was all the rage
    we had the best times when the race was in town
    it was like Christmas but only every few years
    which made it even better

    we almost always landed on a boat and the folks were roaring drunk for days on end. as I kid it was like dying and going to heaven. Hell its been a while but I think we even missed school for it.
     

  15. Doug Lord
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    Doug Lord Flight Ready

    Disgrace and Salvation

    From Scuttlebutt:

    "A BIT OF A MUTINY"
    By Stuart Streuli, Sailing World
    New Zealander Harold Bennett was the principal race officer for the 33rd
    America's Cup.
    However, the Swiss team on Alinghi 5 didn't want to race (on Sunday),
    feeling most likely that the waves were too high, and relayed that to
    members of the Société Nautique de Genève working on the race committee
    boat. What happened next is just one last piece of absurdity in what has
    been a fairly unique chapter in the history of the America's Cup.
    ----------------------------------------------------------------------
    * Harold, what happened on the boat when you tried to start Race 2? Is it
    true that the SNG members on the boat refused to perform their jobs?

    HAROLD BENNETT: We had a bit of a mutiny. I don't think SNG wanted to go, so
    they decided they weren't going to do flags. So Tom [Ehman, BMW Oracle
    Racing's head of external affairs] took the AP down and my boat driver,
    who's also an international umpire, he shot up forward and did the rest of
    the signals.

    * Does this stray into Rule 69 territory? Would you normal write a report
    for ISAF?

    HAROLD BENNETT: Yes I do have to and obviously that's going to be included
    in any report. That's what you do, you've got outline what's going on on the
    boat, whether it's good or bad.

    * When you said, 'Let's get this race off.' They just said, 'We're not doing
    it.'? No reason?

    HAROLD BENNETT: Well one guy was over my shoulder, telling me that the waves
    were too big, that the boats were going to break. I just said, I don't
    believe that. I know that boat boats when they were going upwind the alarms
    were going off. I understand that, I was told by the sailors of both teams
    afterward, last night. They were taking a little bit of strain. But crikey,
    if the boats are that flimsy, I guess it's a problem, isn't it.
    Complete interview on Sailing World's America's Cup micro-site (dated
    February 16, 2010): http://tinyurl.com/ye9fyej
    ===============
    UPDATE: There is a rumor today 2/17/10 published by the editor of Sailing Anarchy that Bennett has been dismissed-but I thought he was already done. They may be trying to get rid of him before he can write a report that would surely impugn Alinghi management under Rule 69...
    UPDATE 2, 2/17/10- From Bennett to the Editor: Editor- when we first heard the story, we posted the question about whether he had been fired on the forum and front page and then received some further info that it was indeed true. BUT, we just received this from Bennett himself after we contacted him to ask whether he had been fired:

    "Not true just looking at first available flights home. I am not hired by SNG my contract is with ISAF and my job is done."
     
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