Last minute loss to USA 87

by BMW Oracle Racing Media and ACM on 22 Mar 2007 Just as USA 87 seemed set to put a valuable point on the board over one of its 'Big Four' rivals, the last-minute change of fortunes saw the advantage swing to Luna Rossa Challenge in the Valencia Louis Vuitton Act 12 today.

After today’s racing, the round robin leaderboard has Emirates Team New Zealand on top with Luna Rossa Challenge and Alinghi tied for 2nd and BMW ORACLE Racing 4th.

'You hate to give a race away on the final leg,' said BMW ORACLE Racing navigator, Peter Isler.

'The Italians sailed well. We allowed that final split to happen and they got it right and we got it wrong. They picked up a significant windshift that worked for them. It was a tricky day with lots of wind shifts.

'The result shows just how quickly a race can be lost at this level. The positives are that we did a nice job on the first three legs of the race against a boat that is quite fast. We managed to eke out those small gains that are so important in match racing.

'Tactician Bertrand Pace and strategist Eric Doyle did a great job picking the windshifts on the upwind legs and Chris Dickson threw some great leebow tacks on them up the first leg.'

The swift change of fortunes was witnessed at close hand by Austrian ski ace Benni Raich, who sailed as 18th man aboard USA 87 for the race. Raich, who won the 2006 World Cup and two gold medals in the Torino Winter Olympics, said the narrow loss was the skiing equivalent of missing the last gate in a downhill run. 'That’s sport,' he commented.

Racing was delayed for two hours today as the Race Committee waited for a light and fickle wind to establish itself and settle. The late start meant that the scheduled second matches had to be postponed.

They will be added to tomorrow’s schedule, which originally only had one flight. The remaining two flights of racing will complete the round robin phase of the regatta.


Race Summary: Valencia Louis Vuitton Act 12 - Day Five, Race One - USA 87 vs ITA 86.

A heartbreaker windshift on the final downwind leg saw BMW ORACLE Racing’s hard-fought lead evaporate in a matter of minutes and turn into an 8 second loss to Luna Rossa Challenge.


After both yachts hit the startline at pace on starboard tack, with USA 87 in control of the right hand side, the BMW ORACLE Racing team eked out an early lead.

They rounded the first windward mark with a 10-second advantage, withstood a downwind attack from the Italian team, and stretched to a lead of 16 seconds at the leeward mark.

Both yachts rounded the left hand side (looking upwind) of the leeward gate and, after a flurry of downspeed tacks early in the beat, USA 87 broke off the engagement. The American team played the windshifts perfectly, first making gains on the left side of the course, and then the right.

By the final mark rounding, USA 87 had extended to a 27 second lead. Down the last leg to the finish, USA 87 initially covered the Italians gybe for gybe, but then broke off. ITA 86 worked down the left side of the course, while USA 87 came down the right and extended all the way, until fortunes suddenly changed with a shift in favour of the Italians, who closed down the gap and then moved into the lead to squeak across the line just ahead.

Flight 9, Match 5
27 June 2006
Luna Rossa Challenge vs BMW Oracle Racing

Starting time:	Luna Rossa Challenge	BMW ORACLE Racing
16:35:00	ITA 86	USA 87
Time of issue:	Yacht Club Italiano	Golden Gate Yacht Club
17:54:02	ITA	USA

MARK	Gain on leg	Leader	DELTA	Leader	Gain on leg
Start	-	X	00:00:00	X	-
1st Windward	-	-	00:00:10	X	00:00:10
1st Leeward	-	-	00:00:16	X	00:00:06
2nd Windward	-	-	00:00:27	X	00:00:11
Finish	00:00:35	X	00:00:08	-	-

MARK	Elapsed Time	Leg Time	Average Speed	Tacks/Gybes	WIND	Tacks/Gybes	Average Speed	Leg Time	Elapsed Time
Start	00:00:02	-	-	-	10@80	-	-	-	00:00:02
1st Windward	00:20:49	00:20:47	9.10	11	10@81	11	9.20	00:20:37	00:20:39
1st Leeward	00:36:07	00:15:18	9.90	3	10@78	3	9.90	00:15:12	00:35:51
2nd Windward	00:54:15	00:18:08	9.10	13	9@67	13	9.10	00:17:57	00:53:48
Finish	01:11:12	00:16:57	9.90	5	9@83	6	9.80	00:17:32	01:11:20

TOTAL ELAPSED TIME: 01:11:12 -WINNER: Luna Rossa Challenge -FINAL DELTA: 00:00:08