Editorial- It's game on!

by .. on 16 Apr 2007

Spectacular Boat Parade for the 32nd America´s Cup ACM 2007/Carlo Borlenghi

Welcome to the Monday edition of Sail-World.Com/Australian newsletter

Lots of Australian sailing news from the weekend. Double handed Osaka race has sensationally become a single hander, Magnetic Island Race Week NOR, CYCA Ladies Day, Veterans Race, Australian Blind Match racing, Short Handed Trans Tasman and Queensland Youth titles - and there is a Victorian HP Coaching position available.

Tonight (Australian time) the talking stops and the sailing starts in the 32nd America’s Cup.

In the new shortened Cup format, seven of the 11 teams have just three weeks left in Valencia.

There are some very mixed views about the 32nd America’s Cup as a venue and a format. Our Sail-World columnist, Bob Fisher, doesn’t pull any punches with his comments on the venue. Luna Rossa’s Patrizo Bertelli, the most experienced team boss and now in his third Cup campaign, is pretty blunt about the format.

However BMW Oracle’s Larry Ellison likes it and he is stealing some lime-light.

Whatever your views on the format, BMW Oracle Racing has stolen a march on the other challengers with the choice of German supermodel Tatjana Patitz as their 18th 'man' for the opening round. Patitz who was borm in Germany but lives in California, very neatly covering the dual sponor hertitage of BMW Oracle Racing.

Tomorrow Sail-World launches the first of our daily newsletters on the America’s Cup which will give you the key results, photos and stories from the day’s racing, plus expert analysis from Bob Fisher, who has been covering sailing and America’s Cup for almost 40 years and is a top sailor in his own right. Bob is renowned for his independent perspective on Cup and sailing matters, and he doesn’t hold back in today’s column.

Sadly, most of the Challengers will have been eliminated from the new format Louis Vuitton Cup in just three weeks time. © ACM2007/Steffano Gattini

For the opening day the draw is as follows:

Monday, April 16th

Louis Vuitton Cup' - Round Robin 1 - Flight 1

Mascalzone Latino Capitalia Team (ITA 99) - Emirates Team New Zealand (NZL 92)
+39 Challenge (ITA 85) - AREVA Challenge (FRA 93)
United Internet Team Germany (GER 89) - BMW Oracle Racing (USA 98)
Team Shosholoza (RSA 83) - Victory Challenge (SWE 96)
China Team (CHN 95) - Luna Rossa Challenge (ITA 94)
Bye: Desafío Español 2007 (ESP 97)

Louis Vuitton Cup' - Round Robin 1 - Flight 2

Desafío Español 2007 (ESP 97) - +39 Challenge (ITA 85)
Mascalzone Latino Capitalia Team (ITA 99) - AREVA Challenge (FRA 93)
United Internet Team Germany (GER 89) - Team Shosholoza (RSA 83)
China Team (CHN 95) - BMW Oracle Racing (USA 98)
Victory Challenge (SWE 96) - Luna Rossa Challenge (ITA 94)
Bye: Emirates Team New Zealand (NZL 92)

If you have friends, clubmates or fellow sailors who follow the America’s Cup, but aren’t subscribed to Sail-World, please forward this newsletter and tell them to signup using the following link: www.sail-world.com/subscription to receive the best and first in comprehensive coverage of this premier yachting event.

Good Sailing!

Rob Kothe & Sail-World NZ's editor Richard Gladwell

If you want to link to this article then please use this URL: www.sail-world.com/32651

Related Articles

A WIC debrief with Cascadia Sailing's Jen Glass
A debrief report from the Women's International Championships with Jen Glass One of the hardest fought regattas of the year was the NYYC's Women's International Championships. The invitational event saw 20 star-studded, all-women's teams from 14 countries compete aboard the NYYC's fleet of identical IC37s on Narragansett Bay.
Posted on 24 Sep NYYC's WIC, StFYC's RBBS, SailGP news
Women's International Championship, Rolex Big Boat Series, and SailGP news This past week marked the inaugural edition of the NYYC's Women's International Championship, which took place on the waters off of Newport, Rhode Island, and which was contested aboard the NYYC's fleet of identical Mark Mills' designed IC37s.
Posted on 22 Sep On Board With Ollie!
The ex-Charal IMOCA becomes Embrace the Challenge, modified for crewed sailing I went to see Oliver Heer in Gosport to talk about the new (to him) IMOCA 'Embrace the Challenge', which was Jérémie Beyou's Charal.
Posted on 21 Sep Women's International Championship kicks off
Twenty teams have started racing at Newport, Rhode Island It's the opening day of the inaugural Women's International Championship at the New York Yacht Club and, without doubt, it is the stand-out event in sailing this week.
Posted on 15 Sep Mighty Mary, WIC, match racing
Mighty Mary, the NYYC's WIC and the Women's Match Racing Worlds I recently had the chance to stream Mary Mazzio's film, Mighty Mary, ahead of its September 11 debut. The film, which was narrated by Elizabeth Banks and Hugh Jackman, chronicles the first all-women's team to compete in the America's Cup defender trials.
Posted on 9 Sep Fly Higher. Travel Faster. Last Longer. - Pt. III
Bring on the final of the Gitana 18 trilogy - the Ultim - Edmond de Rothschild In Part One of Fly Higher. Travel Faster. Last Longer. we got to see just how different Gitana 18 is, and most importantly, why so. Part Two raised the stakes, literally, by seeing how much higher Gitana 18 will fly, and at what speeds. Now for the finale
Posted on 9 Sep Return of the Doublehanders
It doesn't feel that long ago when they seemed to be going out of fashion... It doesn't feel that long ago when doublehanders seemed to be going out of fashion. There was a new crop of singlehanded dinghies, led by the RS Aero, and it felt like everyone was sailing on their own.
Posted on 1 Sep SailGP news, GGR skippers assembled, team racing
SailGP notched another milestone in the evolution of sail SailGP notched another milestone in the evolution of sail- and foil-powered speed sailing this weekend at the Rockwool Germany Sail Grand Prix, when DS Automobiles SailGP Team France hit 58.11 knots.
Posted on 25 Aug Fly Higher. Travel Faster. Last Longer. - Pt. II
Alphabet Soup - When it comes to appendages, we've had so many letters of the alphabet already When it comes to appendages, we've had so many letters of the alphabet already; C, T, L, J etc. The U rudders have always intrigued me. The answer lies in the higher flight of Gitana 18, meaning the rudders too are a half to one metre longer
Posted on 25 Aug 2026 Fireball World Championship Aftermovie
All the daily action with sailor interviews and more! The 2026 Fireball World Championship, hosted by the Royal Torbay Yacht Club, saw 85 boats competing with sailors from 14 nations represented.
Posted on 20 Aug