Louis Vuitton Act 10 - Day 1

If we could sum up the racing action today it would most probably be "predictable results", especially in the South Race Course from where we watched the opening day of the 2006 America's Cup racing season.

What was of greater importance though was the performance of the three brand new boats that made their maiden racing appearance this afternoon. The general impression is that NZL-84, the new yacht of Emirates Team New Zealand is very fast. As far as USA-87, the much-discussed new boat of BMW Oracle, is concerned, on-the-spot observers were not impressed. Nobody would go as far as defining as "slow", but she take everybody's breath away. BMW Oracle won both races, but one should consider the fact they were against weaker teams without the same amount of preparation.

A full report and lots of photos will be up in a couple of hours.