America’s Cup

Ah, Valencia, city of Calatrava.City of Festivals.Birthplace of paella.Home to America’s Cup 33.The announced plans for Saturday included an Owner’s Press Conference conference with the two major players in the same room—Ernesto Bertarelli the Defender and Larry Ellison the Challenger—which sounded like a photo op for a wide lens. Better make that a

Everybody’s asking, will it happen? It has to happen.America’s Cup 33.Race One. Monday, February 8. First Warning 1000 local time Valencia.Even if mutual consent should erupt, and we see no signs of that, don’t figure it would extend to delaying a match that now has Consorcio Valencia trumpeting the millions

Justice Shirley Kornreich of the New York Supreme Court has told the two syndicates competing in the 33rd America’s Cup that she will not hear any further arguments between now and the time the competition is scheduled to begin in February—in effect giving the final go-ahead for some actual racing.In recent weeks, challenger BMW Oracle capped off years of legal wrangling by claiming that

BMW Oracle has begun sailing in Valencia, Spain, as it continues to tune up for next months scheduled running of the 33rd Americas Cup regatta. The team has also unveiled a new name for its boat. Previously referred to—none too glamorously—as BOR 90, the 90ft trimaran is now being called USA.“Everyone was very excited to get out on the water,” said team CEO Russell

For those looking to capture the true tenor of the 33rd America’s Cup without having to wade through all those boring legal briefs, look no further than the work of Alinghi’s team cartoonist, Mark O’Brien.A native of Dunedin, New Zealand, O’Brien has been covering sailing for years, ever since he created a series on the 1989-90 Whitbread for the Auckland Star during the fleet’s

Ian Campbell of the University of Southampton’s (UK) venerable Wolfson Test Unit takes data provided to him by SAIL and runs it through their velocity prediction programs and the WinDesign VPP developed in conjunction with Clay Oliver’s Yacht Research International. His detailed analysis, which begins on page 14 of SAIL’s February issue, suggests that

I’m pretty sure the BMW Oracle folks weren’t really expecting Alinghi to apologize for what they claim are misrepresentations attributed to Alinghi skipper Brad Butterworth—regarding the breakup of the Singapore negotiations—but for the record, Golden Gate YC commodore Marcus Young did request an apology in a January 15 letter to SNG commodore Pierre-Yves Firmenich. In a new

I had a couple more of those conversations today.They start with someone asking, “Are you going to Valencia?”Yep.“What’s it gonna be like?”Darned if I know.At this point in ‘07 I was long since pre-registered at the America’s Cup Media Center, which may or may not now exist. The building, yes, but no authority has put itself forward advising me how, as foreign

The Socit Nautique de Genve (SNG), the 33rd America’s Cup defending yacht club, has published a draft version of the Sailing Instructions for the America’s Cup Deed-of-Gift match due to start February 8 in Valencia, Spain.SNG, which is being represented by team Alinghi, has also sent a copy of the draft to the challenger, BMW Oracle Racing, which is representing San Francisco’s Golden

VALENCIA, Spain—Alinghi’s A5 catamaran and BMW Oracle Racing’s BOR 90 trimaran have both arrived in Valencia, Spain, in preparation for next month’s 33rd America’s Cup.“The voyage from Ras Al Khaimah to Valencia went smoothly, and over the coming days we will settle back into our base in the Darsena,” said Alinghi design coordinator Grant Simmer. “The team will focus on