Portoroz Cup RC44: Team Beecom wins the fleet race whilst Cro-A-Sail is overall winner

The Portoroz Cup finished on Sunday with a big surprise: the Japanese team sailing on board Beecom won the fleet race after an excellent performance, with two wins, two second places and two fourth. They conclude the event with the same number of points as the local favourites from Team Cro-A-Sail, but get the title thanks to their higher number of victories. Magia, helmed by Fabio Apolonio, finishes third.

Despite the light winds, no less than seven races have been sailed by the five strong fleet. The organisers from the Yachting Club Portoroz couldn’t have dreamed of a better outcome, although a little bit more breeze wouldn’t have hurt. “The organisers have done a great job. They have proved that they are good enough to organise an international sailing event”, commented Russell Coutts after the last race.
Many interesting features have been tested during the event, proving the desire of the RC 44 class to be innovative and dynamic. The courses were very short, which guaranteed a permanent show for the public and a lot of action for the teams. The races were also judged directly on the water, avoiding long protests in the evening and bad feelings between the teams. “If a boat is penalised, the crew will be upset against themselves and the jury. But in the evening they will share a beer with their competitors rather than spending the evening working on their protest and arguing”, commented Coutts.

The races were very short and dynamic, and the situation within the fleet changed every minute. During most of the races, the five teams crossed the arrival line within less than 50 seconds. Before the last race, four teams were able to win the event. The suspense was constant and the event very interesting to follow for the numerous public and media, who were invited to sail as guests on board the RC 44’s.

The Portoroz Cup is the last event in the 2006 calendar for the RC 44 fleet. Six regattas will take place next year. The first one will again be the Portoroz Cup, in March, followed by regattas in Trieste (Italy), Lugano (Switzerland), Split (Croatia), Lisbon (Portugal) and Dubai.

Team Omega Russell Coutts racing in the Portoroz Cup. Photo copyright Heike Schwab

Mascalzone Latino Capitalia Team racing in the Portoroz Cup. Photo copyright Heike Schwab

Close races between Mascalzone Latino Capitalia Team and Team Omega Russell Coutts in the Portoroz Cup. Photo copyright Heike Schwab

Italian duel at the Portoroz Cup with Mascalzone Latino Capitalia Team and Magia Team. Photo copyright Heike Schwab

Mascalzone Latino Capitalia Team racing at the Portoroz Cup. Photo copyright Heike Schwab

Mascalzone Latino Capitalia Team racing at the Portoroz Cup. Photo copyright Heike Schwab

Mascalzone Latino Capitalia Team racing at the Portoroz Cup. Photo copyright Heike Schwab

Team Cro-A-Sail fighting the waves in the Biograd regatta. Photo copyright Heike Schwab

Close Racing in the Biograd Regatta, Team Omega Russell Coutts versus Team Cro-A-Sail. Photo copyright Heike Schwab

Inside an America's Cup team: Keeping Alinghi's crew fit

Just like in any other elite professional sport, physical fitness of the crew of an America's Cup team is a key factor in its success. Not only do crew have to be excellent sailors they also have to be physically fit and strong in order to carry out their physically demanding duties. In this installment of the "Inside an America's Cup team" series we visit the Defender of the 32dn America's Cup in order to learn how the world's top sailing team keeps fit. Otmar Keller and René De Vries, trainer and physiotherapist respectively of the Swiss America's Cup team, give us the details.

Alinghi's sailors training in Valencia. Photo copyright Ivo Rovira / Alinghi

Particularities of an America's Cup team

The most important factor that determines the fitness program of an America's Cup team is its sailing program. Sailing activity reaches its highest point, at least in the northern hemisphere, in summer and during that period the team's sailors either take part in the America's Cup official races, in the team's two-boat training schedule or in various regattas throughout the world. As a result, physical training is fashioned in such a way as to provide top physical shape in the period when sailors have to focus on their sailing skills. Winter is usually the period of the year when physical training is more intense.

Unlike other sports, such as basketball, football or athletics, the average age of an America's Cup team can be significantly higher. In the particular case of Alinghi it reaches 40 years, something unimaginable in a basketball team where the average is 25 years. Consequently, the task of the trainer is different as he has to deal with a group of very experienced athletes, some of whom have more than 2 decades of intense high-level sporting activity. In addition, not all sailors have the same physical needs and tasks on the boat and some degree of differentiation is needed.

The grinders are the "muscle" of the boat, they provide all the power needed to run the boat's "engine", the sails. They have to be very powerful, performant and even explosive as they must repeatedly deliver bursts of energy during a couple of minutes in a period of one or two hours. They usually weigh between 100 and 115kg.

The afterguard is situated at the other end of physical needs. They have to be at a very good shape and able to concentrate for long periods (more than 2 hours) under conditions that can be demanding at times.

In between you have the rest of the crew, such as trimmers or foredeck that still have physically demanding positions but not to the degree of the grinders.

Keller divides his sailors roughly into these three groups but stresses that there is also a lot of work done on an individual basis. Some sailors might be weaker in a particular area or come from a different background than the rest of the teams or they can be injured in which case special attention is needed.

Trimmer Claudio Celon is working on his pectorals under the watchful eyes of grinder Nicolas Texier in the team's gym inside the base in Valencia. Photo copyright Ivo Rovira / Alinghi

Alinghi's training goal: Balanced overall athletes

The foremost aim is not to transform Alinghi's men into muscle powerhouses but achieve optimum core stability and physical endurance. The goal of the team's training program is to achieve a balanced development of each athlete focusing on upper body stability. Not only does this strenghthen each sailor it also makes him less prone to injuries and helps him to better carry out his tasks on the boat. The trainer's role is after all to provide sailors with a tool to better do their job.

A usual day at Alinghi's base in Valencia would start at around 7:30am when the first sailors come to the gym to train but the bulk of the team trains at around 9am for approximately an hour and a half. Then all sailors will continue with the preparation of the boat for the day's training session, usually scheduled at 12pm. If sailing takes place earlier at 10am, there is no prior gym session. As we mentioned, physical training is shaped according to the team's sailing activities. The gym session doesn't radically differ from that of any other sports team and mainly consists of the typical weight lifting and more specialized training with the use of sophisticated Tecnogym machines.

In addition to this general schedule, Keller and De Vries obviously pay attention to the particular needs of each sailor depending on his position. Some might need to reinforce their arms or legs while other positions require more endurance. Still, even when focusing on the needs of a position the balanced approach is necessary. For example, grinders don't necessarily train their arms harder than others in the gym. According to De Vries there is a very realistic risk of injury when one overuses a certain muscle. During an ordinary off-season sailing day in Valencia, a grinder uses his arms extensively on the boat and as a result the trainer might want to rest them rather than exercise them even more in the gym.

Long bicycle rides also form part of the balanced fitness program for the Defender of the America's Cup. Here a group of Alinghi sailors ride past the Albufera lake, 5km south of Valencia. Photo copyright Ivo Rovira / Alinghi

Injuries

A large part of the injuries are due to overuse of the muscles from repetitive movements, mainly in the back and the shoulders. Grinders are the ones to suffer more frequently but the afterguard as well can suffer such kind of injuries. Since sailing is not a contact sport you don't see injuries such as pulled hamstring or ruptures, very common in football. On the contrary you can have a direct trauma when for example a sailor is hit by the boom, the spinnaker pole or any other part of the boat, although these are very rare, given Alinghi's very experienced crew.

Ironically, most of the injuries take place outside of the boat, even if these are not frequent either, since an America's Cup sailor spends a considerable part of his day working on the preparation of the boat. Sails are put on the boat by the same men that will later use them. A typical mainsail weighs 100kg and even if 4-5 men are needed to carry it, sailors can suffer back injuries from this effort.

It is of the uttermost importance that injuries be reported immediately after they take place. The physiotherapist insists on that issue even if sailors might be reticent due to the fear of losing their place on the boat. The recovery from an injury is the usual one that all athletes go through. Since most of the injuries are due to muscle overuse, one has to find the origin of this. Usually, the bigger muscles become very strong and as a result pull and stress the smaller muscles around them. If a muscle is overused then the rest of the muscles around it must become stronger and more productive.

Once again, both Keller and De Vries stressed the need for total trunk stability. If all muscles are equally developped there is much less risk of stress on the smaller ones. For this reason, they are very critical of sailors that focus on the big and impressive muscles while ignoring the more important small ones.

Ben Ainslie of Emirates Team New Zealand Wins the Allianz Cup

[Source: World Match Racing Tour] The immensely talented British sailor Ben Ainslie became the fifth first-time winner on the World Match Racing Tour when he won the Allianz Cup Presented by Oracle.

The 29-year-old Ainslie, a helmsman for Emirates Team New Zealand, defeated Ed Baird of Alinghi, 3-1, to win his first World Tour event. Ainslie’s crew included James Dagg, Terry Hutchinson, Jeremy Lomas and Tony Rae. They finished with a 14-5 record and won $25,000 of the $100,000 purse.

“It was a tough day, really windy and shifty, plus the tide, our team did a good job dealing with all the conditions,” said Ainslie. “The first start we didn’t have a great one to be honest, the next three we nailed them. Terry did a great job nailing the shifts.”

Baird sailed with Mike Drummond, Nils Frei, Craig Satterthwaite and Piet Van Nieuwenhuyzen. They finished with a 13-5 record and won $15,000. “I didn’t do a good job on the line,” said Baird. “Compared to the rest of the week I wasn’t as strong off the starts at all. That was the difference. You let him start ahead of you and it’s really hard to pass, especially on this type of racecourse.”

Video highlights of the Final of the Allianz Cup. Video copyright Sportshows Television/Narrowstep - Allianz Cup

In the Petite Final Jesper Bank defeated Ian Williams, 2-0, to place third. Williams finished fourth in the event, but it was good enough to keep him in the lead of the Match Racing World Championship standings. Williams leads Baird by 7 points.

“Our goal coming into the event was to be leading the tour going out, so we’re please with that,” said Williams. “That’ll be our goal at the Monsoon Cup, to come out that still leading the Toru and if we can put in another top four result that should be ok.”

After the first race of the Final it looked as if Baird was going to run away with the regatta. A fairly even start saw both boats come off the line on starboard tack with Baird to windward. The two rode starboard tack to the seawall at St. Francis Yacht Club before tacking. When they did, Baird opened a two-boatlength lead.

Ainslie made it close at the top of the leg and got positioned to leeward of Baird. He luffed Baird, but then the pair drifted into the two-boatlength zone at the windward mark and the umpires penalized Ainslie when he didn’t fall off soon enough to allow Baird buoy room.

Ainslie received a second penalty moments later when he tacked to port and fouled Baird on starboard tack. Baird regained control of the match as Ainslie did one of his penalty turns and went on for the 1-0 lead.

Then Baird’s troubles in the start box began. In the second race Ainslie shut Baird out at the committee boat end, taking a two-boatlength advantage onto the racecourse and sailing to a resounding win to even the score line, 1-1.

Ben Ainslie (foreground) and Ed Baird circle in pre-start maneuvers during the Final of the Allianz Cup. (Allianz Cup/Bob Grieser photo)

In Race 3 Ainslie started to leeward and ahead for another commanding win to go up 2-1.

Ainslie took another commanding lead onto the racecourse in the fourth and clinching race. With about 50 seconds to go Baird got a leeward hook on Ainslie. Ainslie tacked away to port with about 20 seconds to go, but Baird was stuck. He’d lost way and when he called for port tack to chase Ainslie couldn’t get the boat going immediately. When the start gun sounded Baird was crossing two lengths behind Ainslie on port tack.

“We probably were slightly slower than I thought,” said Baird. “When I called for port tack there was a little hesitation. If we had gone right on to port tack we probably would’ve been a little stronger, but not strong enough to win the start.

“Those guys have been sailing well,” said Baird. “They do a lot of practice in these size boats. I fully expected them to be tough and they were. The thing that surprised me was me. I was disappointed that I didn’t have stronger starts.”

“The last three starts we shut him out in one, got him late and the last one we wanted the left and got that,” Ainslie said. “Ed and his team are bloody good. It was a real challenge to us. It was great to beat someone of that caliber.”

Ben Ainslie sails to leeward of Ed Baird in Race 1 of the Allianz Cup Final. (Allianz Cup/Paul Todd photo)

Alinghi's Ed Baird unbeaten in Allianz Cup semifinals

America’s veteran match racer is up 2-0 and England’s wunderkinds are tied 1-1 in the Semifinal Round of the Allianz Cup Presented by Oracle, Stage 5 of the 2005-’06 World Match Racing Tour.

Ed Baird (St. Petersburg, Fla.) leads Denmark’s Jesper Bank 2-0 in one semifinal match. Baird staged a come from behind victory in their first race and then dominated the second race for the lead.

“We got an opportunity at the first windward mark,” Baird said of his first race. “He dialed us down hard on starboard. It was close whether we could cross behind him but were able to.”

Once around the windward mark, Baird’s crew snapped off a maneuver quicker than Bank’s. “We had a much better jibe and that was the race,” said Baird.

In the other half of the semifinal bracket 29-year-old Ian Williams, the match racing world championship points leader, is tied with triple Olympic medalist Ben Ainslie, also 29.

Williams won the first race after unloading a penalty. Ainslie won the second when he nipped Williams at the finish of a 5-minute run that saw the lead change hands three times.

“We were sailing nicely and fast,” said Williams. “But we made a mistake and gave him a get out of jail card. We had two opportunities to jump on him, but didn’t take advantage.”

The semifinals were suspended late this evening with the setting sun. The wind shifted to the west for the semifinal races and blew around 10 knots. The conditions were much more suitable for racing than the light northerlies that the quarterfinals were sailed in and have dominated the regatta, but there were still pratfalls on the racecourse.

“The breeze was more solid at the end,” said Williams. “We were sailing up and down with the current but it brings new challenges, like time and distance in the pre-start.”

Baird noticed differences in the ebb current from the shoreside to the middle of the bay.

“It was a little softer on the shore, we were surprised by that,” said Baird. “The beats were short so you had to start to the right.”

The quarterfinals were held earlier in the day. Baird defeated Chris Dickson, skipper and CEO of BMW ORACLE Racing, 3-1. Bank needed five races to defeat Peter Holmberg, Baird’s teammate at Alinghi.

Williams beat old nemesis Peter Gilmour, 3-1, to knock a chip off his shoulder. Williams has beaten Gilmour plenty in round robin racing on the tour, but has lost to him in three knockout rounds.

“It felt good to get that one,” said Williams. “He seems to be our nemesis in final rounds. For the tour standings it’s a big deal.”

Ainslie defeated Paolo Cian in the last quarterfinal match, also by 3-1. Ainslie won the first two, dropped the third and then won the fourth. Cian aided Ainslie by getting a penalty and being over the start line early. Despite all that Cian led towards the finish line, but saddled with the penalty Ainslie was able to steam past for the win.

In racing for 5th through 8th places this evening, Cian defeated Dickson and then Gilmour to place 5th and Gilmour 6th. Dickson placed 7th when he passed Holmberg on the final run to the finish, relegating Holmberg to 8th.

Racing is scheduled to resume on Sunday morning at 10:00 a.m. and will be broadcast live on the Internet at www.Sail.tv. The Webcast is scheduled to begin at 10:30 a.m., weather permitting.

Alinghi's Ed Baird wins Group B at Allianz Cup

[Source: World Match Racing Tour] Ed Baird, a helmsman for America’s Cup defense syndicate Alinghi, won the Group B round robin at the Allianz Cup Presented by Oracle, Stage 5 of the 2006-’07 World Match Racing Tour.

Baird (St. Petersburg, Fla.) won all three of his matches today and finished with a 6-1 record. Baird tied for the win with Italian Paolo Cian of Team Viano Mercedes Benz – Shosholoza. Cian led yesterday at 4-0, but his lone loss was to Baird in Flight 5 which gave Baird the win.

“It was pretty light,” said Baird, the only skipper to finish in the Championship 8 every Tour season. “There was some current. The current was changing, and each race was different. That was part of the difficulty, to be comfortable with that. Especially in the starting area, it seemed to be quite different than on the racecourse. My guys did a great job of reading that and timing to the line. It gave me a lot of confidence to be in right place in the starts. We got ahead and stayed there today.”

Baird’s timing was the difference in the pre-start against Cian in Flight 5.

“They did an incredible job of time and distance to the line and were able to push us up and out of the line,” said Cian. “So the race was probably over at the beginning. I think we were pretty happy with six wins out of seven races. It’s just the way you read it.”

Racing in the San Francisco bay in the third day of the Allianz Cup. Video copyright Sportshows Television/Narrowstep - Allianz Cup

Denmark’s Jesper Bank, skipper of United Internet Team Germany, finished third at 5-2 and Australian Peter Gilmour, the reigning match racing world champion, was fourth at 4-3.

They advance to tomorrow’s Quarterfinal Round, which features some very intriguing matches. Baird will face Chris Dickson, skipper and CEO of BMW ORACLE Racing. Cian races Ben Ainslie, a helmsman for Emirates Team New Zealand. Bank takes on Peter Holmberg, another helmsman for Alinghi, and Gilmour goes against Ian Williams, the current leader of the world championship standings.

The winner of each match is the first to 3 points. The quarterfinals will be broadcast live on the Internet on Saturady at www.sail.tv. The Webcast is scheduled to begin at 10:30 a.m. , weather permitting.

The light winds from the north today inhibited the completion of more racing. The wind blew mostly between 6 and 8 knots, but died away in the afternoon which forced racing to be abandoned after Group B finished its round robin.

Paolo Cian (left) follows Ed Baird back to the start line in their Flight 5 match. Baird won the match and the Group B round robin. (Allianz Cup/Bob Grieser photo)

The event moves on to the quarterfinals without arguably its biggest attraction, Larry Ellison. The CEO of Oracle and founder of the BMW ORACLE Racing Team fell to 0-5 before closing out with two wins. He finished with a 2-5 record and in 6th place in the group.

“Actually, we’re kind of pleased with sixth place,” Ellison said to a packed press conference at the St. Francis Yacht Club. “Let’s here it for sixth place!”

Ellison said he hadn’t raced in J/105s before but enjoyed the regatta. He said that yesterday was a very humbling experience sailing in a cross current.

“It is very difficult and tricky sailing in a cross current,” Ellison said. “And sailing against this caliber of skipper and these quality teams, it’s quite astonishing how good they are at what they do. It was just an honor for me to be out amongst them.”

Cameron Dunn leads Brian Angel off the start line early in their Flight 5 match, which Angel would win. (Allianz Cup/Bob Grieser photo)

The Allianz Cup may not be Ellison’s last World Tour event. He received an impromptu invitation to Stage 6, the Monsoon Cup in Kuala Terengganu, Malaysia, from Gilmour, the event’s technical director.

“Just yesterday I got word that Russell Coutts is unavailable to come because he doesn’t have a crew,” said Gilmour. “So Larry, there’s an opening for you. It’s known as the world’s richest event in sailing with a 1 million ringet ($275,000) prize money.”

“Are you serious?” replied Ellison. “I guess that’s a yes,” Gilmour concluded.

Saturday’s schedule calls for the quarterfinals to begin at 10:00 a.m. The race committee also hopes to sail the semifinals in the afternoon.

First sail tests of ITA-85 prove positive

[Source: +39 Challenge] First miles and first tests for ITA-85.

"The first navigationa hours of ITA-85 were the most emotional for me since the beginning of this America's Cup campaign with the +39 team", commented Giovanni Ceccarelli, principal designer of the Italian challenger. " - The boat's hull line were immediately embraced by Valencia's waters. Everything went as well as it could go. I had drawn a program of tests to be carried out on sea that was completed with a positive outcome, in fact we even pushed ourselves just a little bit with a small regatta. The program now calls for the continuation of testing and then we will move on to true training, probably against another America's Cup team. The smile on Iain Percy's face as well as the rest of the crew aboard during the first mile, was for me the congfirmation and gratification for the job done so far."

Structural tests will continue during next week. The team's crew lead by Iain Percy, coach Stig Westerggard and crew leader Luca Devoti will alternatively sail aboard ITA-85 and the two V1-Lutra 30, the team's 9-meter carbon fiber yachts built in Dubai and used to finetune their match racing skills. This training combination of ITA-85 and the Lutra 30 boats will be the main feature of +39 Challenge's autumn schedule in Valencia.

First test sail of ITA-85. Valencia, 26 October 2006. Photo copyright +39 Challenge

First test sail of ITA-85. Valencia, 26 October 2006. Photo copyright +39 Challenge

Paolo Cian grabs early lead in Group B at Allianz Cup

[Source: World Match Racing Tour] Italy’s Paolo Cian, tied for fifth in the match racing world championship standings, leads the Group B round robin at the Allianz Cup Presented by Oracle after four flights. Cian has a perfect 4-0 record at Stage 5 of the 2006-’07 World Match Racing Tour.

Cian won Stage 3, the St. Moritz Match Race, in August for his first World Tour victory. Today he defeated Larry Ellison, Brian Angel, Cameron Dunn and Jesper Bank in light winds for his undefeated record.

“We are pretty happy,” said Cian, the 39-year-old from Naples, Italy. “It’s too early to say anything, but today, light breeze, I think we had a couple of good starts and my team did an incredible job speedwise upwind and downwind. So we were able to get 4 points from four races. That is a good way to start. We look forward to get another point tomorrow because, as far as I see in the other group, you come through the first stage with 5 points.”

Racing in the San Francisco bay in the second day of the Allianz Cup. Video copyright Sportshows Television/Narrowstep - Allianz Cup

After Cian there’s a tie for second, at 3-1, between old foes Ed Baird of Alinghi and Peter Gilmour of PST. Gilmour staged a furious comeback against Baird two years ago to win the 2004-’05 Tour championship. They’re scheduled to meet in Flight 6. Today it was Baird who came-from-behind in two races to snatch victory.

“We don’t really enjoy being behind, but it was fun to get back in front,” said Baird. “One of the key’s in match racing is if you are behind just to stay very close and try to keep the pressure on the guys in front. We had two races we were basically overlapped after the hoist at the weather mark and it fell our way in the end. It was close.”

The wind conditions were light for Day 2 of the $100,000 regatta. The wind blew from the northeast for most of the day around 6 knots. It would build to 8 knots at times, but also drop to 4 knots or less.

Larry Ellison leads Paolo Cian towards the starting line during their Flight 1 pre-start maneuvers. (Allianz Cup/Paul Todd photo)

Like Day 1, the current played a major factor in the racing, on the runs in particular. In a largely ebb tide starboard jibe was the fast tack, going with the 2-knot current.

“Someone said yesterday that when you get your nose downwind into the current it’s strange apparent wind angles,” said Gilmour, 46, the reigning match racing world champion. “I was trying to imagine what they were saying but it’s not until you get out there and actually do it and feel the boat downwind and the apparent breeze in the strong current, the sort of changes to those angles. It was quite challenging.”

Denmark’s Jesper Bank, skipper of United Internet Team Germany, and Frenchman Mathieu Richard, the 30-year-old skipper of Saba Sailing Team, are tied at 2-2. Cameron Dunn of Mascalzone Latino – Capitalia is sixth at 1-3 and tied with Brian Angel of Redondo Beach, Calif.

Larry Ellison, CEO of Oracle, the world’s largest enterprise software company, and a member of the BMW ORACLE Racing afterguard, completes the round at 0-4. He’s competing in his first World Tour event as a skipper. In the past three years he’s won the Owner/Driver series at the Moët Cup and UBS Trophy, both America’s Cup Class regattas. He’s also a five-time maxi yacht world champion.

Jesper Bank (left) keeps a steely eye on Ed Baird during their Flight 1 match, won by Bank. (Allianz Cup/Paul Todd photo)

According to tactician Gavin Brady, Ellison had trouble in today’s light winds.

“We’ve spent a couple weeks out there getting used to the conditions and of course the conditions when you’re training never seem to be the same when you do the event,” said Gavin Brady, tactician for Ellison. “I think the lightest breeze we had was 15 knots the last two weeks, so its’ a bit of a shock to the system to sail in 6 or 7 knots.

“We made a couple little mistakes, in the start mostly, and paid the price for it,” Brady continued. “On the positive side I think we were only one mistake away from winning a couple of those races. It wasn’t like we were out there making up the numbers. So I think Larry is happy with that and we know we can tighten it up a little more.”

Ian Williams leads group A after first day of Allianz Cup

[Source: World Match Racing Tour] The leader of the match racing world championship standings won today the Group A round robin at the Allianz Cup Presented by Oracle, Stage 5 of the World Match Racing Tour.

Ian Williams, the 29-year-old skipper of Team Pindar, won the group with a 5-2 record. He topped a three-way tiebreaker with Peter Holmberg of Alinghi and Ben Ainslie of Emirates Team New Zealand, two syndicates for the America’s Cup, for the win.

Williams defeated both in head-to-head matches for the tiebreaker. Holmberg defeated Ainslie in their Flight 2 match to place second and Ainslie third. Those three advance to Friday’s Quarterfinal Round, a knockout series with the first to 3 points advancing.

Racing in the San Francisco bay in the first day of the Allianz Cup. Williams against Ainslie and Holmberg against Dickson. Video copyright Sportshows Television/Narrowstep - Allianz Cup

Williams came into the event having won his previous start at the King Edward VII Gold Cup in Bermuda last week, a win that moved him into the lead for the world championship and garnered sponsorship from Pindar, the British print and electronic media company. He kept that momentum going today.

“We come in confident as Team Pindar, with the same tactician and trimmers we had in Bermuda,” said Williams, from Hamble, England. “But it’s a different field, different boats and different venue. It’s a new challenge and we’re really pleased to have got through this round and into the quarterfinals.”

Racing on Day 1 of the Allianz Cup was tricky with the wind on San Francisco Bay blowing between the northeast and northwest. That direction afforded great spectator viewing at the St. Francis Yacht Club, with the starting line just 50 yards off the club, it was perpendicular to the strong currents.

The current played a role in racing, especially in the ebb tide in the afternoon when the northerly died to 4 to 8 knots. On some runs the spinnakers on the boats were hanging limp, but they were swept down the course by the tide.

“It was a constant decision of what you thought was more important, current or wind,” said Holmberg. “I think we made the mistake early on that current was most important. In the conditions we had today – pretty variable with wind, direction and strength – you had to be smart to know when wind was more important than tide. I think wind was most important.”

Ainslie is competing in his first World Tour event since March. He felt his timing was off slightly in the pre-start. “We were a bit rusty today,” said Ainslie. “Our starts were probably our weak point. I think through the whole thing our boathandling was good and teamwork in general was fantastic. So we need to work on [that] for the future and getting used to these boats as well.”

Peter Holmberg leads Ben Ainslie to the finish of their Flight 2 match. Photo copyright: Allianz Cup / Paul Todd.

Chris Dickson, skipper and CEO of BMW ORACLE Racing, placed fourth in the round at 4-3, followed by Johnie Berntsson, 4-3, Staffan Lindberg, 2-5, Chris Perkins, 2-5, and Bjorn Hansen, 1-6. Hansen, however, was penalized 1 point for causing damage in a collision and finished with 0 points.

Dickson, Berntsson and Lindberg advance to the repechage round, where they’ll join the 4th thought 6th place finishers from Group B in a round robin. The two top crews in that round advance to the quarterfinals.

Allianz Cup starts tomorrow Wednesday in San Fransisco

What — Allianz Cup Presented by Oracle, Stage 5 of the 2006-’07 World Tour
Where — San Francisco, USA
When — Oct. 25-29, 2006
Organizing Authority — World Match Racing Tour
Prize Purse — $100,000 (First place, $25,000)
Boat — J/105 (33 feet long)
Racing Area — San Francisco Bay
Who’s Entered — 16 teams including the reigning World match-race champion, seven skippers in the top eight of the World Championship, eight crews from America’s Cup syndicates, eight of the top 10 in the ISAF Open Match Race Rankings.

ENTRY LIST
Ben Ainslie Emirates Team New Zealand — Placed 3rd at Brazil Sailing Cup in March
Brian Angel King Harbor Match Race — Winner Nations Cup North American Final
Ed Baird Alinghi — Tied for 8th in World Championship standings
Jesper Bank United Internet Team Germany — Tied for 8th in World Championship standings
Johnie Berntsson Berntsson Sailing Team — Won ACI Cup in May
Paolo Cian Team Viano Mercedes Benz — Tied for 5th in World Championship standings
Chris Dickson BMW ORACLE Racing — Tied for 5th in World Championship standings
Cameron Dunn Mascalzone Latino — Capitalia Team – Placed 4th at Toscana Elba Cup in July
Larry Ellison BMW ORACLE Racing — Founder of BMW ORACLE Racing Team
Peter Gilmour PST — Reigning match racing world champion and World Tour champion
Björn Hansen Team Apport.net — Placed 6th at Bermuda Gold Cup two weeks ago
Peter Holmberg Alinghi — Placed 6th at St. Moritz Match Race in July
Staffan Lindberg Alandia Sailing Team — Ranked 7th in World Championship standings
Chris Perkins — Local qualifier from St. Francis Yacht Club
Mathieu Richard Saba Sailing Team — Ranked 2nd in World Championship standings
Ian Williams Team Pindar — Ranked 1st in World Championship standings

Video copyright: Sportshows Television/Narrowstep Ltd / Allianz Cup

Paolo Cian (left) and Staffan Lindberg practice in J/105s for the Allianz Cup Presented by Oracle. (Allianz Cup/Bob Grieser photo)

Inside an America's Cup team: Alinghi's weather team

For the third installment of our "Inside an America's Cup team" special section we visit the base of Alinghi, the America's Cup defender, in order to talk to Jon Bilger and Jack Katzfey, head of the weather team and meteorologist respectively. Both men were also part of Alinghi in the previous America's Cup in Auckland where they played an important role in the Swiss challenger's defeat of the New Zealand defender.

Most of the basic terms used in this article have been defined in the first installment on weather in the America's Cup and can be found here.

Meteorological data gathering

A very important aspect we didn't address in our first article was the question of weather data. In order for meteorologists to build their models they need a detailed set of data on current weather situation. How does an America's Cup team gather all the detailed data needed to follow and forecast the wind in Valencia?

A great novelty in this America's Cup, as far as the weathermen are concerned, is the existence of MDS, the Meteorological Data Service. MDS is a set of 21 purpose-built buoys spread around the north and south race courses as well as 6 inland base stations providing almost real-time weather information to all 12 teams. Every 15 seconds each buoy and station records and transmits wind direction, speed, barometric pressure and humidity and each team instantly receives this data.

Even for the Defender of the America's Cup this does make a difference. During the 31st America's Cup in Auckland Alinghi had 7 boats that crisscrossed the Hauraki gulf to get valuable weather data, while in comparison here in Valencia they use three of them, mainly to gather data from specified positions in the race area not covered by the buoys or further afield. Prior to the creation of the MDS the most efficient way to collect such data was the deployment of as many as possible weather boats. Each team, even the ones with the smallest budgets, has now access to an incredible wealth of accurate meteorological data without the need of dedicated weather boats.

Alinghi's "weaponry" in gathering meteorological data. On the left, one of the 21 yellow buoys of the MDS spread around the south and north race course. In the center, the large weather boat whose antenna is 24 meters high and on the right one of the two smaller weather boats. Photo copyright Ivo Rovira / Alinghi

Still, Alinghi can gain a compettitive advantage by deploying their weather boats and gathering data from spots not covered by the MDS or by using more sophisticated instruments. An important tool is their largest weather boat with a 24-meter high antenna. The mast of a typical America's Cup yacht is approximately 32 meters high and it is not rare to observe considerable variations in wind speed and direction between the sea level and the top of the mast. As a result the top of the 24-meter antenna is much closer than the 6-meter high antenna of the buoy and can provide much more accurate data.

Another advantage the MDS gives is the ability for any team to have real-time weather data on the race course during an official race. According to the America's Cup rules all weather boats must leave the course before the start of the race. As a result, up to the 31st America's Cup it was impossible to have an exact view of what happened during the race as far as weather was concerned since no detailed gathering of data was possible. On the contrary, thanks to the MDS, all teams have now the ability to see the real-time wind conditions in various positions throughout the race course even during official races. This data cannot be used by the racing yacht but still the weather team can check the validity of their forecast and, equally important, the sailing team can analyze it at the end of the day and discuss their tactics during the race.

The Spanish national port authority has also set an additional 2 seawatch buoys to provide wave and current information for the race course area. On the left-hand column of our website and under the "Valencia Guides" section you can click on the link and see the buoy's data real-time. Last but not least, the city of Valencia has provided a wind profiler that provides wind shear information every 50-metres up to an altitude of two-kilometres, located at the entrance of the new canal.

Alinghi's weather model

Alinghi uses a weather model developed by CSIRO (Commonwealth Scientific and Industrial Research Organisation), Australia's national science agency and one of the largest research agencies in the world. The relationship between the Swiss team and the Australian national research body dates back to 2001 when Bilger, head of the weather team of then challenger Alinghi, was looking for a weather model to use in order to forecast wind. Katzfey was then a researcher at CSIRO's Atmospheric Research department and a promiment specialist in regional weather modelling. The two decided to join forces and as a result Katzfey moved to Alinghi where he is now in charge of building and running the weather model.

According to Katzey, the CSIRO model has proved to be very successful both in Auckland and here in Valencia. Through the 5 years it has now been in use it has been optimized and improved and is now capable of producing a 24-hour forecast with a resolution down to 1km in approximately 2 hours. Alinghi doesn't rely on any external computing power (as far as the weather team is concerned) and its model runs on a cluster of computers located right inside the base in Valencia. The model was originally developed to study climate change in Australia and as a result it had to be extremely efficient and fast as it would have taken a prohibiting amount of time to make large-scale forecasts. This is the reason it runs so fast (compared to other weather models).

Alinghi's weather team briefing the sailors on the day's forecast. One of the most important moments in the workday of any America's Cup team is the daily morning briefing. Photo copyright Ivo Rovira / Alinghi

The Alinghi weather team doesn’t need to go too far afield geographically in its model. In general Alinghi’s weathermen study the patterns up to central Spain, the south of France and the Balearic islands. A system in nortwestern Spain, 400km away, will not necessarily have influence over Valencia and for the America’s Cup there is no necessity to have such a geographically expanded view of the weather, it’s more at the local level that differences matter.

Concerning the time frame of their forecast, Alinghi’s weathermen start with a 8-day forecast in order to get a “general idea” of developing weather patterns and then focus on the first 2-3 days. Still the most important task is to correctly predict the following day. Sea breeze being the primordial factor to watch it is very difficult and unstable to predict it further into the future. It all comes down to the precise knowledge of wind direction and speed.

A non-specialist could naturally wonder why the Swiss team doesn't refine its model even further in order to be able to forecast changes in a scale smaller than the current 1km. According to the Alinghi weather specialists there are two main reasons why this isn't feasible. First of all, as its geographical precision increases, the number of mathematical equations rises exponentially, making it extremely time-consuming and impossible to obtain results in a reasonable period. Secondly, the model cannot be more precise than the input data it uses. Since the input data for the model are raw weather measurements, an America's Cup team would need to have them more densely collected which would also become impractical and expensive.

Valencia compared to Auckland

Being the first time an America’s Cup is held in the Mediterranean sea, let alone in Valencia, and given the presence of both weathermen in Auckland in the last America's Cup it was an obvious question for us to ask them to compare wind patterns over the two cities.

In Auckland the weather is subject to many variations, with wind speed increasing from light to strong in a short time and big directional changes during the day. There is a relatively small land mass with weather systems going across it very quickly and the local geography is also complicated, particularly due to the fact it’s a bay. Having said that, both men were quick to add that Valencia’s weather was by no means much easier to predict. It is true it’s an enormous land mass with smaller variations, especially in summer, but still many local factors have an important role in shaping wind patterns.

In Auckland when you woke up in the morning you didn’t know what direction the wind would come from while the only thing that is almost certain in Valencia during summer is that wind comes from the east and extremely rarely from the west. Nevertheless, when you forecast wind for an America’s Cup campaign this is too rough an approximation, what you really want to know is exact wind speed and direction, still very difficult to precisely predict even in Valencia.

When asked whether Valencia lives up to its promises as far as wind speed is concerned, Katzey did not hesitate to qualify local conditions as “spot on what we anticipated”. Having taken part in the selection process he thinks there is a “common perception” Valencia would turn out to be windier than what it really is but he always knew the mean would be around 12 knots and that is what we have been getting so far.

Closeup picture of one of the 21 weather buoys. Their mast is 6 meters high and this particular one on the north race course is the closest one to Valencia's main beach. Photo by Pierre Orphanidis / Valencia Sailing

ITA-85 of +39 Challenge launched this morning

[Source: +39 Challenge] ITA-85 starts sailing. After last June’s presentation and a few last-minute adjustments, the +39 boat will be sailing its first miles in the next days. There are still some adjustments to be carried out during the spring of 2007, before the Louis Vuitton Acts, the qualification races for the America’s Cup. On Saturday (October 21st) the boat was plunged into the water in front of the whole crew, the managers and the group who has taken part in its building. Project head Giovanni Ceccarelli, project manager Rech Morassutti and Dannaval-Sicilcraft’s and Soleri’s shipyards workers "symbolically" handed over the new boat to Luca Devoti, Iain Percy and his team (absence "justified" for Stefano Rizzi, Friulan skipper competing in the Middle Sea Race in Malta with Paul Cayard on a 30 metre Maximus).

The boat has undergone over 40,000 workhours and close to 2,500 kilograms of carbon fiber plus 1,500 kilograms were used for the female mould. Orange and blue are the main colours, representing the two souls of the group: Sicily and Lake Garda. The +39 Challenge training season has already started in the last few weeks on board of two 30 feet boats where the team has been rehearsing Match-Race techniques, including starts, tacks, sailing close-hauled and manoeuvring according to every sailing scenario.

"Ita 85"’s partners are Regione Sicilia, Fondiaria-Sai, Db-Line, Yamamay, Gilli and Sergio Tacchini.

ITA-85 lowered into the water for the first time. Valencia, 21 October 2006. Photo copyright: +39 Challenge.

ITA-85 lowered into the water for the first time. Valencia, 21 October 2006. Photo copyright: +39 Challenge.

ITA-85 resting at the +39 Challenge base. Valencia, 21 October 2006. Photo by Pierre Orphanidis / Valencia Sailing.

NZL-92 launched in Auckland

[Text and Images: Emirates Team New Zealand] Emirates Team New Zealand has launched its second 2007 race yacht, with Prime Minster Helen Clark performing the honours at the team’s Auckland base.

More than 800 people closely associated with the campaign, including sponsors and suppliers, were invited to a base barbecue to celebrate another milestone on the road to the 2007 America’s Cup.

Team managing director Grant Dalton said the launch of the new yacht sets the course for the rest of the campaign.

"The hardware is in place … now it is up to the team to put together a regatta-winning performance. To achieve that we are now racing against the clock. We have come a long way since 2003 and we have a long way to go."

“We have until April 16 next year to pull together all the strands that will make it possible to win the America’s Cup. According to the Omega countdown clock that is 178 days from now. In NZL 92 we think we have a potentially competitive yacht. Now, the yachtsmen, designers and shore crew have to extract that potential. That’s not as easy as it sounds. We launched NZL 84 in December last year and we’re still learning something every time we go sailing in it."

Related multimedia content:
- For pictures of the launch and first sail of NZL-92 in Auckland click here.
- For a video of the launch from TV New Zealand click here.

Emirates Team New Zealand sail NZL-92 for the first time in Auckland. Photo copyright: Chris Cameron / Emirates Team New Zealand.

Inside an America's Cup team: The boat designer

We continue our "Inside an America's Cup team" series with Jason Ker, principal designer of Team Shosholoza. Ker lays out the main tasks of a boat designer in the America's Cup but also gives a more specific view on the 32nd edition of the event in Valencia.

Designing an America's Cup yacht and especially a triumphant one is one of the biggest challenges for any boat designer, even for an acclaimed one such as Ker. Nevertheless, spending 3 years working on cutting-edge technology, the design team can successfully carry out another America's Cup campaign or apply its knowhow on other major races such as the Volvo Ocean Race or the TP52 class.

Valencia Sailing: How long does it take to design an America’s Cup boat?
Jason Ker: We really started working on the original design in September 2004 and we launched the boat in June 2005, with a team of 12 people. The work of a designer often doesn’t end when construction of the boat starts, because of the extremely short timescale we were still designing when the sailors were about to go sailing for the first time. There are obviously defined dates for each piece of the boat with the deck being the first part whose design we finalized. Then, shortly after, we finalized the hull while in parallel we were working on the rig program.

In total, for Shosholoza considerable design hours were spent on the rig, as much as anything else on the yacht. The particularity of the rig system, unlike the hull and the deck, is that it has hundreds of pieces that must be designed. In addition it is related to sail design and development and it is a time consuming process. As far as sail design is concerned we have only one dedicated sail designer but he gets input from others in the design team and in particular he gets input and direction from CFD engineers regarding flying shapes to try to achieve and also in the form of numerical predictions of the performance of designed shapes. Sail design is also a good example of teamwork between the designers and sailors.

While the actual cost of designing and building an AC yacht (not including any research) could be as little as 10% of even Shosholoza’s tiny campaign budget, in reality closer to 25% is a more sensible number when proper research is included.

Valencia Sailing: RSA-83 was the first yacht to be designed from scratch under the Version 5 of the America’s Cup Rules. Did that make your task more complicated?
Jason Ker: I believe there isn’t any difference between Version 4 and Version 5 from a build point of view. We didn’t have any experience in Version 4 either but this didn’t make our job any more difficult.

Aerodynamic computer modelling of complete upwind rig geometry of Shosholoza's RSA-83. Computation of such a model takes 3-8 hours on a cluster of 42 CPUs. Simulating the flow of air and water around the yacht is the bread and butter of an America's Cup designer.

Valencia Sailing: Are you satisfied with the boat you designed?
Jason Ker: Absolutely. We are pretty happy we what we built and we have more on the way. A new bow is being made in southern Spain with the mould being made right now. We have some other modifications for RSA-83 during the winter. We also have a new mast that is being assembled right here inside our boatshed and it just arrived two days ago from Formula Spars in the UK. In simpler words, we are “turbocharging” our racing yacht. This continuous development is an important feature of the America’s Cup. Although 18 months ago we had the newest boat in Valencia, right now it is becoming one of the oldest and we hope not to get outdated.

Valencia Sailing: How is then RSA-83 performing compared to the newer boats that were built and raced after June 2005?
Jason Ker: Now that I have observed all the new boats that were built, I would say they all have their pluses and minuses. I think the biggest differences were seen in rigs and sails. My view is that in 2006 all of the top teams had superior rigs and sails while the bottom teams had inferior ones. The differences in hulls played a much smaller role. On the contrary, I think that in 2007 differences in rigs and sails will get less pronounced as the smaller teams catch up. As a result, differences in hulls may gain importance next year.

We certainly learned some things from what the other new boats brought up and certainly from our own experiences with RSA-83. NZL-84 of Emirates Team New Zealand is an interesting boat while USA-87 of BMW Oracle is a good one as well, but it's harder to judge. Concerning Alinghi's SUI-91, I can't make a judgement since I haven't seen it racing, although I think that after building the best boats in Auckland they will probably have moved forward and built another excellent boat.

Valencia Sailing: You are one of the world's top designers of racing yachts. How much different is designing an America's Cup boat from the ones you have so far designed?
Jason Ker: Compared to other boats, the amount of time there is normally available to design an America's Cup yacht is far greater which allows us to go into minute detail. In addition, even if Shosholoza has one the smallest budgets among the teams in Valencia, you have a relatively "unlimited" budget for design in comparison to other types of design. You could say the steps in designing these boats are similar to other racing yachts but you have more time, more people involved and more resources. You do things that you normally wouldn't consider doing for a normal racing yacht. When AC designers apply themselves to other yacht design, they have effectively the same set of tools in the box but usually much less time to use them.

As a result of the design work we have done for the America's Cup, we have developed extremely good software tools and technology, what boat designers call design tools. In simple words, these tools allow you to be able to predict whether something is faster or slower, whether it will break or not. In some cases we have developed our own in-house solutions but we are also in position to know how to get the best answers from existing commercial tools. Keep in mind that it can take easily 6 months for a really good CFD (Computational Fluid Dynamics) engineer to be up and running and accurately predicting hull drag and then only if he has excellent reference data to check against.

I think I can speak for all our design team when I say that we are keen to apply our tools and knowledge not just on a future America's Cup campaign but also any of the other major racing yacht classes such as the Volvo Ocean Race or the TP52.

Appendage simulation for RSA-83, produced in this case by a combination of Flowlogic (the waves) and CFX. A RANS code can provide great insight into the different flow problems enabling the designer to improve performance whilst Flowlogic rapidly creates geometrically accurate waves.

Valencia Sailing: Have the tools you mentioned and the amazing advance in computer power made model testing obsolete?
Jason Ker: Not obsolete. We ran ten models (after we started building RSA-83) and I still think that it is the way to obtain the best results and has other advantages. The problem is that it takes a lot of time to build the model, test it and then analyze the results, however the advantage is that a test-point can be done in 20 minutes in the tank while that same point takes more like 24 hours in the computer on 20 processors for similar accuracy – a typical test in the tank might be 100 points per model and four models in a session so simple math can show that the tank is not yet obsolete...

For the new bow we are building we have entirely relied on CFD (Computational Fluid Dynamics) as again we didn’t have the time to build a model and test it in a tank and the original hull of RSA-83 was also entirely modeled through CFD but rather less advanced technology at that time. I would say that the main benefit of the tank has been the calibration of the CFD, to obtain confidence in the result the model predicts, but also it gives extra confidence before committing to build a new America's Cup hull, time permitting.

It should also be noted that for initial design computations, the team uses Flowlogic, a very advanced panel code which is capable of computing a matrix of runs overnight using just one processor. This enables the team to sift through different concepts that should be explored in more detail however a particular benefit that the team has used is that Flowlogic can be used to provide a very accurate flotation position for the Rans computations and also geometry to enable a more accurate mesh to be created.

Valencia Sailing: How important is boat design in the success of an America's Cup team?
Jason Ker: It is difficult to break it down to each individual factor. You need a good boat to win and you also need a good program and good sailors to win. It's a combination of all. You can come last with the best boat or best sailors but you can't come first unless you have almost the best of everything.

Valencia Sailing: Wind is the most important factor an America's Cup boat designer takes into consideration. What's your view on Valencia's wind patterns so far?
Jason Ker: The wind in Valencia so far has proved to be very reliable. It certainly is much more reliable than Auckland in the previous America's Cup and we haven't lost a single full day of official racing so far. On the other hand, there is less wind than promised, particularly in the early season and this is obviously taken into consideration by all designers here in Valencia. If the 32nd America's Cup were taking place in Auckland, boats would have been designed for slightly higher average wind speeds.

What is CFD?

CFD (Computational Fluid Dynamics) is one of the most important software tool for any boat designer in the America's Cup. The advances in software and hardware have made the use of such tool an integral part in the design process of all racing yachts. It basically simulates the fluid of air and water around the yacht.

CFD works by dividing the region of interest, the air and water around the yacht, into a large number of cells or control volumes (the mesh or grid). In each of these cells, the partial differential equations describing the fluid flow (the Navier-Stokes equations) are rewritten as algebraic equations that relate the pressure, velocity, temperature and other variables to the values in the neighboring cells. These equations are then solved numerically yielding a complete picture of the flow down to the resolution of the grid.

Team Shosholoza’s design team use structured meshes created by ICEM but automatically linked to Geometries created by Unigraphics’ NX3 CAD software, in this way a highly refined mesh for sails, hulls or appendages can be rapidly created for new geometries.

Once the mesh is complete, the model input values are specified and the software then solves the equations of state for each cell until an acceptable convergence is achieved. This can be a time consuming process, but fast optimized codes such as CFX and Fluent can exploit parallel processing. Shosholoza's design team uses a cluster of 48 Intel Itanium CPUs located inside the team base in Valencia in addition to 64 CPUs, sometimes provided by T-Systems in Germany. The clusters in both Valencia and Stutgart are accessed across the internet by CFD engineers from South Africa and Valencia, this kind of remote computing is efficient for the very large computations required for hulls and downwind sails.

When the model has been solved, the results can be analyzed both numerically and graphically and visualized in easy-to-understand 3-D graphs...

Abstract art? Could easily be. Getting good results from CFD is both an art form and a skill, especially when seeking minute differences.

Excellent lineup for the Allianz Cup in San Fransisco

[Source: World Match Racing Tour] Past match racing world champions Chris Dickson and Peter Gilmour, along with BMW ORACLE Racing team founder and owner Larry Ellison, are among the entrants for the first Allianz Cup Presented by Oracle, Stage 5 of the 2006-’07 World Match Racing Tour.

Sixteen teams are entered in the $100,000 Allianz Cup, scheduled Oct. 25-29 at the St. Francis Yacht Club in San Francisco. The winner earns $25,000. The teams represent a mix of America’s Cup syndicates and the next generation of match-race sailors.

“We think we’ve assembled an outstanding field for our first event in the USA,” said World Tour President Scott MacLeod. “There are eight teams representing Cup syndicates and it’ll be fun to see whether the younger sailors can upset the Cup veterans.”

The Cup sailors include Ellison and Dickson. Ellison, CEO of Oracle, the world’s largest enterprise software company, is a member of the BMW ORACLE Racing afterguard and is competing in his first World Tour event as a skipper. In the past three years he’s won the Owner/Driver series at the Moët Cup and UBS Trophy, both America’s Cup Class regattas. He’s also a five-time maxi yacht world champion.

Dickson is the skipper and CEO of BMW ORACLE Racing. Dickson won the season-opening Portugal Match Cup in July for his first career Tour victory. He’s a three-time winner of the Match Racing World Championship (1988, ’89 and ’91) and is in his fifth America’s Cup syndicate.

“The World Match Racing Tour events provide a superb tuning ground for the hand-to-hand combat we face in the America’s Cup boats,” said Dickson. “Sailed in smaller boats, the often aggressive sailing at these events fine-tunes not only our starts, crew maneuvers and boat-handling, but we also learn more about rules and on-the-water umpire calls.”

The defense syndicate for the America’s Cup, Alinghi, also has two teams entered, represented by Ed Baird and Peter Holmberg. Baird, a three-time match racing world champion, is the only skipper who has finished in the Championship 8 of every World Tour season, and Holmberg is a past champion (2001-’02).

Gilmour is the reigning ISAF Match Racing World Champion. He won his fourth world title this year when he won his third consecutive World Match Racing Tour championship. Gilmour holds the record for most Tour victories with 11.

Other America’s Cup skippers include Ben Ainslie of Emirates Team New Zealand, Jesper Bank of United Internet Team Germany, Cameron Dunn of Mascalzone Latino – Capitalia, and Paolo Cian, of Team Shosholoza and Team Viano Mercedes Benz.

The young guns are represented by Ian Williams and Mathieu Richard, finalists in last week’s Stage 4, the Bermuda Gold Cup. Williams, 29, defeated Richard, 30, 3-1 to win his first World Tour event. The win thrust Williams into the lead for the World Championship with the high score of 35 points, 5 points ahead of Richard.

“The Allianz Cup’s going to be a fantastic event,” said Williams. “It’s a great lineup that’s been put together. It’ll be pretty tough for sure, but we go in as Tour leader and hopefully we can come out as Tour leader.”

Allianz Cup Presented by Oracle Entry List
Ben Ainslie (GBR) Emirates Team New Zealand
Brian Angel (USA) King Harbor Match Race
Ed Baird (USA) Alinghi
Jesper Bank (DEN) United Internet Team Germany
Johnie Berntsson (SWE) Team Semcon
Paolo Cian (ITA) Team Viano Mercedes Benz
Chris Dickson (NZL) BMW ORACLE Racing
Cameron Dunn (NZL) Mascalzone Latino – Capitalia Team
Larry Ellison (USA) BMW ORACLE Racing
Peter Gilmour (AUS) PST
Björn Hansen (SWE) Team Apport.net
Peter Holmberg (ISV) Alinghi
Staffan Lindberg (FIN) Alandia Sailing Team
Chris Perkins (USA)
Mathieu Richard (FRA) Saba Sailing Team
Ian Williams (GBR) Williams Sail Racing

New America's Cup boats

We are preparing yet another section on our website where one will be able to learn everything there is know about the construction process of an America's Cup boat.

We are also sorry for not posting interesting and exciting news and photos every day but there has been hardly any action at all in Valencia during the last couple of weeks. All teams keep training but rain and unstable weather make it more difficult each day. We also wish we could wander around the north and south race courses, taking nice photos of the boats training but we can't.

In the meantime, the stream of news about yet another sail number being allocated to a boat under construction is continuous. Some teams have made their sail number public, others even showed photos of the hull under construction, as was the case with CHN-95 of China Team. On the contrary, others kept the status of construction secret.

Still we have been able to learn that Mascalzone Latino Capitalia Team received number ITA-94, BMW Oracle's new boat will flash the number USA-98 on their mainsail and Luna Rossa just got ITA-99. This info must always be taken with a pinch of salt but whatever the case, the current America's Cup class that started in 1992 will have its 100th member very soon.

The expected arrival of all these brand new yachts will make the period from Christmas to February very interesting in Valencia !!

Inside an America's Cup team: The importance of weather forecast

This is the first installment of a brand new section called "Inside an America's Cup team" where we will try to give an in-depth perspective of the various departments that comprise an America's Cup team.

All America's Cup teams in Valencia have at least one meteorologist working full time on weather observation and forecast. Why is it so important for the teams to have a dedicated weather department? What part does weather forecast play in the success of a team? We talked to Guenter Meschkat, meteorologist of Team Shosholoza, who gave us a detailed overview of his daily job in Valencia.

Basic overview of the weather in Valencia

The most important meteorological phenomenon in Valencia affecting sailing in general and the America's Cup in particular is the sea breeze, especially in the critical months from April to July since the Louis Vuitton Cup and the America's Cup take place during these months in 2007. In meteorology the sea breeze is a local wind created by temperature differential between land and sea. According to Guenter Meschkat no other larger scale atmospheric conditions affect Valencia's weather in such a significant way, at least as far as the America's Cup is concerned during the previously mentioned period.

Here is a basic explanation of how the sea breeze is created (with numbers in brackets refering to the numbers in the graph): At the surface, the sun warms both the ground and ocean at the same rate. However, since the heat in the ground is not absorbed well it returns it to warm the air. The warmed air, with its decreased density, begins to rise (1). The rising air creates a weak low pressure area (called a thermal low) due to a decrease in air mass at the surface (2). Typically, from 3,000 to 5,000 feet (1,000 to 1,500 meters) above this low pressure, as the air cools, it begins to collect resulting in an increase in pressure, creating a "high" (3).

These differences in pressures over land, both at the surface and aloft are greater than the differences in pressures over water at the same elevations (4 and 5). Therefore, as the atmosphere seeks to reestablish equal pressure both onshore and offshore, two high pressure to low pressure airflows develop; the offshore flow aloft (6) and surface onshore flow, called the sea breeze (7).

According to Shosholoza's meteorologist the sea breeze in Valencia follows more or less a pattern, keeping in mind that weather is not an exact science. It starts at around 11am with winds coming from the North East and then at around noon a shift to the right can be observed with winds coming from the East. At early afternoon winds shift further to the right, coming from a direction of 140 degrees from South East. Finally, the sea breeze starts decreasing at around 4pm and dies down 1 or two hours later. This fact can cause problems to races that start at around that time frame.

Correct forecast of sea breeze is the key element in Valencia

Given the primordial role the sea breeze plays over any sailing in Valencia's bay, the key task for any weatherman in the 32nd America's Cup, according to Shosholoza's meteorologist, is to build a model that will simulate it as accurately as possible and correctly predict its development. We will not enter into the details of how these models work but will give the basic outline of their functioning. In brief, a model is a complex set of a large number of mathematical equations that approximate and simulate the real-world atmosphere.

Any model will divide a given area into a grid made up of squares whose size will depend on the required degree of accuracy. After that, the computer program will approximate the weather and simulate its future development, giving a value for each square. Obviously, the smaller the scale (ie the smaller the size of the square) the better the approximation. The Synoptic scale uses squares whose side is from 15km to 50km and is used in the weather forecasts we read in the newspapers or see on the TV news. The Mesoscale uses squares whose side can go below 1km and up to 10km and is the one used by all America's Cup teams in order to make their forecast.

Each America's Cup team run their own numerical mesoscale forecast model. Team Shosholoza uses the METRAS model, developed by the German University of Hamburg. In addition, two mathematicians from the German University of Karlsruhe work together with the team in order to continuously optimize the computer programs that run the model, making them more accurate and faster. METRAS gives a forecast of air temperature, pressure, humidity as well as wind speed and direction for every square of the grid at 10-minute intervals. In addition, within the same square these values are given for different altitudes, the first one being at 10 meters from sea level, approximately one third of the mast of an America's Cup yacht.

These models are very complex and take into consideration a very large number of factors. The sea breeze depends, among others, on sea and earth temperature, land morphology, the existence of mountains or built-up areas, inland lakes close to the coast or even vegetation! A very good example of that is the lake of Albufera, located 5km south of Valencia and just 200m from the coast. Being adjacent to the South race course and surrounded by a large pine forest it influences the sea breeze considerably, resulting in different patterns between the South and North courses.

A second factor of great importance in the local Valencia weather model is the presence of a mountain range approximately 15km from the coast. These steep mountains, whose peaks reach 1100m, and the corresponding valleys have a great influence over the development of the sea breeze.

Summarizing, although the 32nd America's Cup is taking place on the Mediterranean coast these three elements (mountains, lake and a large metropolitan area) adjacent to the race courses make the construction of the model much more complex.

How teams use weather predictions

How do the America's Cup teams use the predictions produced by their models? In order to be more accurate we will distinguish between a forecast and a nowcast. The forecast is a longer-term prediction of up to 30 hours while the nowcast, as its name implies, refers to the current weather situation and its immediate development over the next 30 minutes. Although both contain future predictions their construction and use by an America’s Cup team are quite different.

The forecast, given its complexity, necessitates a whopping amount of computer power. In order to run its forecast program, Shosholoza uses a cluster of computers made up of 220 Intel Itanium CPUs, located in the T-Systems headquarters in Germany. Despite this seemingly immense computer power, the METRAS program (more than 20,000 lines long) needs to start running at midnight the day before. After running for 8 hours the program will have been able to forecast the weather for the next 4 hours.

As a result, when Shosholoza's weather team geso to the team base in Valencia at 8am to start their workday, they have a complete simulation of the weather at 10-minute intervals till only 12pm! For that reason, not only does the program have to run continuously but they also start a new run, working in parallel with the others, every 3 hours with new real weather data, at 3am, 6am, 9am and so forth!

This forecast is then used in order to establish the day’s activities. When not in official racing, all teams train on a daily basis off Valencia’s coast and as a result their schedule will depend on weather development till approximately 6pm. The the team's mornings briefing takes place at around 10am and that is where the important decisions of the day are taken.

Depending on the weather forecast the team will adapt their training program, choose the right sail sets, decide whether to experiment and test new equipment or even decide where to sail. It is not rare to see the yachts move from one race course to the other in order to take advantage of stronger winds, joining other teams that were already there, with apparently better predictions for that particular day. If at a later stage, around 1pm, the weather department has a refined forecast for the rest of the day, the chase boats can swap sails with the team’s yacht.

The nowcast takes considerably less time to be built and its use is much different. Unlike the forecast, Shosholoza uses an in-house cluster of computers to run it, right inside the base. It is intended to be used by the crew of the yacht during the pre-start procedure and the first 10 minutes of a race. According to the rules of the America's Cup, the racing yacht can communicate with the rest of the team till 5 minutes before the start of the race and after that moment all communication is strictly prohibited. As a result, the Shosholoza's weather team till exactly that deadline provide the crew with an almost real-time overview of the weather and a continuously developing short forecast for the next 10-15 minutes.

At exactly 5 minutes before the start, in addition to the exact current wind conditions, the crew needs to have two basic information in order to plan their strategy and decide where to go at the start: wind shift and wind pressure. In sailor-talk, wind shift means change in wind direction while wind pressure means wind speed. These two factors are of uttermost importance during pre-start and their correct knowledge can make the difference between being the leader or the laggard at the start. The crew needs to know on what side wind speed is greater but also if a shift (change in direction) can be foreseen. Just a change of 3 degrees in wind direction can decide who is ahead at the start line and approximately at 80% of the races the boat having the advantage at the starting line will win the race.

Given this information, the team will make the final decision about the start, whether to go to the right or left side of the race course. Even if pressure (wind speed) is greater on the left side, if the nowcast can foresee a significant shift to the right in the next minutes, the team might as well go to the right side and take advantage of it.

Graphs

Satellite view of the Valencia area with the mountain range visible at the back (west). The four limit points correspond to the four corners of the official America's Cup racing area.

A synoptic scale weather forecast of central and eastern Spain for 18 September 2006. The arrows represent wind direction while the colored areas correspond to the bottom scale, showing wind speed in knots.

A mesocale weather forecast of the Valencia region for 18 September 2006. The arrows represent wind direction while the colored areas correspond to the right-hand scale, showing wind speed in knots. The black spots correspond to weather measurement stations and buoys. One can easily observe that the prevailing wind direction around Valencia is from east-southeast while wind speed is greater exactly in the area that corresponds to the official racing area of the 32nd America's Cup. Further to the west and inland, there is a considerable decrease in wind speed due to the aforementioned mountain range surrounding the Valencia region.

Victory Challenge has been allocated sailnumber SWE-96 for its new boat

[Source: Victory Challenge] Victory Challenge today announced that the team has been allocated sail number 96 for new boat that is being built for the 32nd America’s Cup. SWE-96 has been designed by Mani Frers and his father, German Frers, and their team at the design office in Milan. The boat is being built at Lindholmen Science Park in Göteborg, under the management of Killian Bushe, boatbuilding manager for the winning boats in the two last Volvo Ocean Races.

The announcement was made at a press breakfast with Magnus Holmberg, skipper and helmsman, and with Mani Frers and Killian Bushe, at the Nordic Sea Hotel in Stockholm today.

SWE-96 is the 14th sail number that has been allocated to boats participating in the 32nd America’s Cup. The sail number is allocated after the building of the actual hull has begun. This means that the process of making the boat ready for next year’s races in Valencia has come a long way.

Construction is taking place in Victory Challenge’s boatbuilding yard at the Lindholmen Science Park in Hisingen, Göteborg, in a cluster of high tech and development-intensive companies which have grown up in an area that was previously part of the city’s mighty shipbuilding industry.

There is really no shipbuilding activity remaining, instead there are companies like Volvo Cars, Volvo Technology, Ericsson, IBM, Semcon and WM-data Caran, as well as Göteborg University, Chalmers University of Technology and the joint IT University.

It is difficult to think of a more suitable place for the building of a boat for sailing’s Formula 1, in an area with its roots in the shipbuilding industry but which is today characterised by innovation and optimism.

At his disposal he has a newly-built 40 metre-long oven, which is an important part of building a carbon fibre composite boat. This is not the only new thing; the entire construction process has changed since Örn (SWE-63) and (SWE-73) Orm were created for the America’s Cup in Auckland, 2002-2003.

Last time, in the same boatyard, Victory Challenge used a male mould. Then the boat was built on a wooden plug, which was somewhat smaller than the actual boat to get the right size. It was quicker, but also required more finishing work with filler which, in turn, made the hull heavier.

This time a female mould was used. Therefore a wooden plug was built first, exactly according to Mani Frers’ drawing of the boat. A carbon fibre mould was laminated on to it, which was then hardened in the oven, just like when the actual boat is made.

The boat, with one layer of carbon fibre, one layer with a honeycomb of kevlar, and another layer of carbon fibre, is built inside the mould.

It is that part of the process that is now taking place.

There are many advantages to this more time-consuming process of building an America’s Cup boat. One obvious one is saving weight. A lot less filler is needed – and simply that reduces the weight of the boat by more than 100 kilos.

Then remember that the hull of a 24-metre-long America’s Cup boat that is built on a male mould weighs about 800 kilos.

Using a female mould means that more than an additional 100 kilos can be moved down to the bulb, which increases the boat’s speed.

The total weight may still not exceed 24 tons.

At present Victory Challenge has 25 people on the boatbuilding team in Göteborg, with 14 different nationalities represented.

That they are part of the team is also about innovation and development.

Boatbuilding manager, Killian Bushe, is uncompromising in order to achieve the best possible result. He also built the winning boat for ABN AMRO for the Volvo Ocean Race 2005-2006, and for Illbruck for the round the world sailing in 2001-2002.

New Spanish America's Cup boat receives sailnumber ESP-97

[Source: Desafío Español] The new Desafío Español boat, under construction in the King Marine boatyard close to Valencia, received today her sailnumber. The technical director of the America’s Cup Class, Ken McAlpine, made public to the head of the team's technical department that the new Spanish boat will have on her mainsail the number ESP-97.

ESP-97, whose construction is scheduled to finish during the month of January, will be the second boat the Spanish challenger builds under Version 5 of the America's Cup protocol and will be able to race in the Louis Vuitton Cup in 2007. She also is the fifteenth boat built for the 32nd America's Cup, since the first one to be built was Shosholoza's RSA-83 and sail numbers are awarded in an increasing order once lamination of the hull has started.

The new boat is an evolution of ESP-88, lead by the technical office of Desafío Español 2007 whose principal designers are Scott Graham, John Reichel and Jim Pugh. James Criner has been in charge of the appendix design as well as CFD (Computational Fluid Dynamics).

ESP-88, the first boat built for the Spanish team was officially christened and launched on the 12th of May. Desafío Español raced with that yacht in Louis Vuitton Act 12, where it finished fifth, consolidating even further its fourth spot in the Louis Vuitton Ranking of the challengers.

The following members of the Desafío Español's technical office took part in the design of ESP-97:

Technical Director: John Cutler
Principal Designers: Scott Graham, John Reichel and Jim Pugh
Appendixes and CFD: James Criner
Tank Test: Richard Whitaker
Engineering: Arrand Bird and Oscar Jáuregui
Sail Design: Sandro Benigni and Nihat Aydin
Mast Design: Paul Snape, Dave Hulse and Pablo Rosano
Data Analysis: Carolina Maggioli and Gonzalo Infante
Composites: Alex Shimell
Construction coordinator: Iñigo Toledo

Chinese new boat gets CHN-95 sailnumber; to arrive mid-December in Valencia

[Source: China Team] The first Class America ever built in China will carry the number 95. The building of the hull was completed in Dong Guan and validated by the technical director of tonnage, Ken Mac Alpine. CHN-95 will be delivered directly to Valencia from Hong Kong and is expected to arrive mid-December.

Why CHN-95
The naming of a Class America is made up of two parts. The first three letters represent the country of origin of the Yacht Club, CHN for China, ITA for Italy, NZL for New Zealand, and so on.

The number that follows is attributed by the techincal director of tonnage to every new Class America in chronological order of construction. CHN-95 will therefore be the 95th Class America since the beginning of tonnage in 1992. This means a boat can change its nationality but never its number.

The hull of CHN-95, the new chinese America's Cup yacht. Photo Copyright Jesse Lin-Wang Hua/Imaginechina

The hull of CHN-95, the new chinese America's Cup yacht. Photo Copyright Jesse Lin-Wang Hua/Imaginechina

The hull of CHN-95, the new chinese America's Cup yacht. Photo Copyright Jesse Lin-Wang Hua/Imaginechina

The hull of CHN-95, the new chinese America's Cup yacht. Photo Copyright Jesse Lin-Wang Hua/Imaginechina