Day 2 of Racing - More Wind and More Action:
BMW Oracle Finds the Gas Pedal

September 6, 2004


Shosholoza in Race 3. photo: ©2004 CupInfo

Sailing conditions were even tougher today as the six teams prepared for the 12:30 start in a 20-knot southeast wind. The Race Committee opted for the shorter two-mile 'B' course with only four legs, as a building wind with gusts to 35 knots was expected later this afternoon.

A bit of right shift at the start made for close action in the last minute before the gun, as the boats were approaching the favored Committee Boat end of the line. In the middle of the pack, BMW Oracle and Le Defi were kicked out and had to turn back towards the line, losing precious seconds on their opponents. Alinghi quickly tacked onto port alongside K-Challenge, while BMW Oracle chose to go for the far left, a tactic that paid off yesterday in similar conditions.

After the race, Alinghi tactician Brad Butterworth told CupInfo: "It was a bit of a difficult day, as we made a mistake focusing on the boats around us only and did not leverage on the first few right shifts to go to the left side, which actually paid off in the end."

K-Challenge sailed well on the first leg and rounded the first upwind mark two lengths ahead of Alinghi, followed by BMW Oracle who gained back over a minute and 45 seconds on the leaders in the first beat. Emirates Team New Zealand rounded one boat length behind BMW, and after them Le Defi and Shosholoza fighting for fifth following a jib failure on the South African boat.

In the first downwind leg, the 2003-generation boats showed their speed advantage and closed on K-Challenge. Alinghi and BMW Oracle took over the lead, matching horsepower against horsepower all the way down to the leeward gate.

Brad Butterworth describes the action: "Approaching downwind we chose the left side (looking upwind) and went for a pole-off gybe, but the chute collapsed. Oracle gained the inside of that mark and we opted for the right buoy for clearer air."

K-Challenge defended their third place position at this first downwind gate, and opted for the right-hand end of the gate while ETNZ appropriately went for a Kiwi drop and chose the left.

In the second beat, the Americans and the New Zealanders both gained over 10 seconds by tacking onto the port layline prior to their closest opponents. BMW Oracle rounded the third mark 15 seconds ahead of Alinghi, followed by ETNZ five lengths behind holding a 10 second advantage over K-Challenge. Le Defi rounded fifth, with what looked to be a comfortable 28-second gap over Shosholoza, but that proved not to be nearly sufficient.

Running downhill on the final leg, Oracle covered all of Alinghi’s gybes for a 26-second win over the second place Swiss. ETNZ finished third by the same margin ahead of K-Challenge. The biggest late action was raging in the back of the fleet, as the South Africans showing spectacular boat speed closed a 10-boat length gap on the final leg. Approaching the finish line on port, to leeward of Le Defi, Shosholoza gybed first towards the favored buoy end of the line. Le Defi had to respond and gybe, losing a little boatspeed in the maneuver. Just enough of a loss, it turned out, for Shosholoza helmsman Geoff Meek to clinch a victory in this last duel of the day, crossing the finish line three seconds ahead of Le Defi.

Overall, Alinghi has a 1 point lead over BMW Oracle in the standings. Race 4 was cancelled today due to the high winds that filled in on the race course minutes after the end of the first race. Tentatively, the Race Committee will run the postponed fleet races (2 & 4) tomorrow.