America's Cup News: 2007 Louis Vuitton Cup


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 Selected Archive of News Stories and Features:


More Stories:

The Canting Keel:
Ruled out?  Sneaking in?  The most famous secret weapon of the 32nd America's Cup, if it exists.  And if it's legal.
Read more


Around the Viaduct

May 20: Umpires post SF calls including the Luna Rossa-BMW Oracle pre-start penalties from SF Race 5:
Umpire's site

April 26: Defending the Weather:
AP story at IHT

April 12: Thierry Pepponet steps aside at Areva: AmericasCup.com

April 6: Good Friday for Shosholoza: Cheers from Bishop Desmond Tutu: SuperXtra

April 6: America's Cup attracting rich corporate sponsors: International Herald Tribune

April 4: Official Book of the 32nd Defense of the America's Cup:
Press Release

April 3: Shopping Expedition?: Sir Keith Mills arrives in Valencia looking for 2009 crew:
Bloomberg

April 3:  See you in San Francisco?  No matter who wins the Cup, ACC's may play in the bay come September:
'Lectronic Latitudes

April 2: Ben Ainslie to helm ETNZ for Act 13?:
Sport Telegraph

April 1: Teams declare their AC32 yachts: No big surprises - Victory includes 2003's SWE-73:  Official website

April 1:  ETNZ Bee is for Ballast: Team Site

Mar 30: Unveiling Day Preview interview with Bruce Farr: Julie Ash's story at NZ Herald

Mar 30: BMWO Video Making the State-of-the-Art Keel: BMW Oracle Blog Highly Recommended!

Mar 25: ETNZ bests Prada in training: Sunday Star Times

Mar 12: Hardware Story -- Harken the favorite of America's Cup boats, chosen by 11 of the teams: Interview with Olaf and Peter at Harken.com

Mar 11: ACM could show 27 million Euro profit on 230 million Euro budget:
LesEchos.fr
(in French)

Mar 11: Valencia After The Cup: It may not be this year, but when it comes what will happen in the Darseña Interior?
Cup In Europe

Mar 8: ETNZ hits the water in Valencia: Gallery of great shots from photographer Chris Cameron

 

 

Emirates Tunes Up Alinghi

ETNZ to race Alinghi May 30? Peter Lester

It's true, the Defender and LVC Finalist raced each other.  With Ed Baird helming, Alinghi looked to be faster and point higher than Team New Zealand:

See story and photos at Americascup.com


Other News:

A lot of good stories, including many coming from the Kiwi side of the world, but not all.  A few highlights:

ETNZ races Alinghi again? Peter Lester

Alinghi breaks rudder? NZ Herald

Schnackenberg drives Luna Rossa: NZ Herald

Gary Jobson picks an All-American America's Cup team:  Sailing World Magazine

A good read; Damon Syson's Wild ACC Ride:
18th man report at Daily Mail


Dickson Leaves BMW Oracle


BMW Oracle's Chris Dickson congratulates James Spithill and Francesco de Angelis of Luna Rossa on their Semi-final victory.  Dickson resigned from BMW Oracle four days later.  Photo: ©2007 Gilles Martin-Raget

BMW Oracle Racing announced May 24 that Chris Dickson has resigned as CEO of the team effective immediately.  In the interim, the current management group will continue to control the day-to-day running of the team.

Read more at BMW Oracle site


The Canting Keel

Ruled out?  Sneaking in?  The most famous secret weapon of the 32nd America's Cup, if it exists.  And if it's legal.

Read more about the Canting Keel


Spithill Chats before the Big Match

Valencia Sailing interviewed James Spithill, Helmsman, Luna Rossa, on how the young Australian sailing star sees his competition:

VS: Let's start with the semifinals. Were you surprised to beat BMW Oracle by such a margin?

James Spithill:  "I was surprised with the score line. Honestly, we always thought it was going to go to the full nine races.  When I was preparing and looking at the two teams, we both looked very strong and I could see no reason why it shouldn't go to the nine races.  So my answer is yes, we were surprised, but the score line doesn't represent how close racing was."

VS: Will boat speed be an important factor in that fight? Is any of the two boats (ITA-94 and NZL-92) faster than the other one?

James Spithill: "Yes, boat speed will be very important as it has always been.  For me both boats look very similar. In the last couple of months we only raced them twice, both races were very close and the result is even. We won one and lost one.  As I said, our boat and the ones of BMW Oracle, the New Zealanders and Spanish were all really close.  I'm expecting the same."

Read more at Valencia Sailing


New British Team buys Defender's Boat

Britain's AC33 hopeful challenger Team Origin announces purchase of Alinghi's 2003-era SUI-75.

Play of the Day: RR2

Desafío dispatched one of their main rivals from the Louis Vuitton Cup, rolling over Mascalzone courtesy of a strong passing move downwind in what's becoming something of a signature move for the Spanish team.

  See How it Happened: Flight School


Return of the J-Class

With interest higher than ever, Sparkman and Stephens may see historic unbuilt 1930's designs come to life.  Along with the original Ranger, the so-called superboat and possibly the most famous Cup Defender ever, up to eight sisterships designed at the same time by W. Starling Burgess and Olin Stephens II have been analyzed using modern methods.  S&S says they are fast, too.

Read more at Sparkman&Stephens

Read J-Class History at CupInfo

 

 


Photo: ©2007 Stephanie Lamy

We saw the exit May 8th of the Son of the Dragon, China's Longtze, who has sailed her last race of the 2007 Louis Vuitton Cup.  Six more teams left the America's Cup stage May 9th: Mascalzone Latino Capitalia, Victory, Shosholoza, Areva, +39, and United Internet Team Germany.  CupInfo salutes them all for what they accomplished to get here, and sincerely hopes we'll see them again before long.  Cheers to all !

Formula 1 to Lap Valencia Harbor?

A street race circuit could host Formula 1 as early as next year, making for a convergence of two sports that often prompt notice of their similarities from fans.

Read more at Americascup.com

See circuit map at Lasprovincias.com


Desafío Español Wins Protest Against Mascalzone

Desafío Español protested Mascalzone Latino's use of backstays during their match in Flight 4, a pivotal race which MLCT won on Wednesday.  Mascalzone is of course one of Desafío's two closest rivals for 4th semi-final slot.  The America's Cup Jury has found for Desafío and declared Mascalzone in breach of the AC Class Rule.  This does not award the race to Desafío, the match will be re-sailed. Update: The re-sail is tentatively planned as the second race Saturday.

Read more at Americascup.com

Read the full text of the decision (pdf)

Desafío asked that Mascalzone be disqualified in their race, but the Jury concluded that the breach did not have a significant effect on the outcome.

Vincenzo Onorato, MLCT Owner: "I am quite happy with the decision of the jury, because they have made it from a sporting point of view. One win for the Spanish, one win for us, now it’s time for a rematch. The rematch will say without any doubt who is the best on the water. So this is wonderful, something I like very much."  

Read more at ACM


Set the TiVo

Airing on ESPN Classic, a new one hour special narrated by Walter Cronkite featuring a detailed look at the America's Cup, including interviews with many of the regatta's most notable and accomplished figures.  See newly discovered historic footage and hear the personal experiences of winning sailors and top designers.

Today's key players such as Ernesto Bertarelli and Larry Ellison are there, of course, as well as past America's Cup champions who know exactly what it takes to win, including Ted Turner, Dennis Conner, Russell Coutts, Bill Koch, Halsey Herreshoff, Gary Jobson, Tom Whidden, David Elwell, and designer Olin Stephens II.  Also featured are leading Cup journalists John Rousmaniere and Peter Montgomery, along with artist John Mecray.

Update: After a private showing April 11 for a packed audience in New York drew rave reviews, Cup fans have reason to look forward to some fascinating new insights into the history of the America's Cup.

The show will be re-aired June 16.

View preview at JobsonSailing.com

 

 

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Photo Credits:
Columbia: Library of Congress, Prints and Photographs Division, Detroit Publishing Company Collection