Louis Vuitton Act 12 - Day 11 - Preview : First places at stake in first and second division

Good morning from sunny and hot Valencia. The weather follows now the usual summer patterns, with the temperature reaching the high 20's, low 30's, early in the morning, resulting in a stronger thermal breeze. According to today's forecast we will have strong southeasterlies reaching 16 knots, similar to yesteray's conditions.

Given yesterday's results and accidents, we will only have three matches today, all in the north race course. Alinghi and Emirates Team New Zealand will race for first place of the first division and overall in Louis Vuitton Act 12. If the New Zealand challenger beats Alinghi they will be crowned winners.

In the second division everything is at stake as well and it could require two races for each place. After a great victory against Mascalzone Latino - Capitalia Team, the Spanish challenger Desafío Español starts on a right foot to earn the first place in second division. The race for third place is much closer, Team Shosholoza having beaten Victory Challenge. The South African will have to sail spotlessly and avoid errors if they want to repeat their win against the very strong Swedes.

Nevertheless, the main story of the day was the incident between BMW Oracle and Luna Rossa in their race yesterday afternoon. Both teams lodged a protest yesterday evening. After the hearings, the following statement was issued, which we copy from the official website:

After listening to evidence from Italian skipper Francesco de Angelis and BMW ORACLE Racing skipper and helmsman Chris Dickson, along with the Umpires on the race course, the Jury gave a verbal finding:

- The two boats were on a collision course;
- At approximately five boat lengths of separation, USA 87 bore away to pass behind ITA 86;
- At approximately 1.5 boat lengths of separation, ITA 86 luffed up and went into a tack;
- USA 87 attempted to bear away further but then luffed up sharply;
- There was a collision;
- It was not reasonably possible for USA 87 to avoid a collision;
- Luna Rossa luffed and tacked in a position where contact between the boats was extremely likely;
- Luna Rossa broke Rule 14 (avoiding contact);
- BMW ORACLE Racing is eligible for redress;
- Both boats are damaged too badly to sail on Sunday;
- BMW ORACLE Racing is awarded one point as redress as they are unable to race through no fault of their own.

A full written decision will be released on Sunday.

The decision means BMW ORACLE Racing wins the petit final and third place. Luna Rossa will be in fourth place in Louis Vuitton Act 12.

Luna Rossa has summoned the press at their base, where skipper Francesco de Angelis will present his arguments. We will give a full report later.

The first eye observation in Port America's Cup is that both ITA-86 and USA-87 are peeking out of their boat sheds with shore crews working on them. BMW Oracle's boat is without her famous bowsprit, of course.