Please select your home edition
Edition
A+T Instruments 2024 Leaderboard

33rd America's Cup to BMW Oracle Racing

by Daphne Morgan Barnicoat on 15 Feb 2010
BMW Oracle with Alinghi in the background off Valencia BMW Oracle Racing Photo Gilles Martin-Raget www.bmworacleracing.com

Alinghi put forth a tremendous effort today in its attempt to defend the 33rd America's Cup. The Swiss team from the Société Nautique de Genève led for most of the first leg of the triangular course, but couldn't hold off the Challenger BMW Oracle Racing. Alinghi lost the race by 5m26s and the America's Cup Match, 2-0.

Team president and principal helmsman Ernesto Bertarelli congratulated his competitor after the race: 'Congratulations to the BMW Oracle team. The boat was faster, there's no question about that.'

Today's race was postponed for more than six hours from the scheduled start time of 10:06 as, similar to Friday, the race committee waited for the wind to settle. Around 16:10 the race committee set a windward mark bearing 100 degrees, just south of due east, and the two crews started at 16:25. Bertarelli guided Alinghi 5 onto the race course on port tack about mid-line, despite receiving a penalty. The crew wanted the right side of the course, hoping for the favourable wind shift. Almost 14 minutes into the race Alinghi 5 tacked to starboard and into a right-hand wind shift that lifted the 90ft load waterline catamaran into the lead. For the next 35 minutes or so both boats held starboard tack with Alinghi, now steered by Loïck Peyron, to windward of the challenger and holding the lead in the wind shift.
Alinghi crossed the challenger near the windward mark, but lost the lead when it tacked to port to approach the mark. The challenger led by 28 seconds at the first mark and then, propelled by its wing, increased that lead by more than 2 minutes at the second mark.

Alinghi was created in 2000 by Ernesto Bertarelli and won the 31st America's Cup at its first try in 2003, defeating Team New Zealand 5-0 to become the first European team to win the Cup. The Swiss team successfully defended the 32nd America's Cup in Valencia in 2007 defeating Team New Zealand again 5-2.

Quotes from Alinghi:

Ernesto Bertarelli, team president and principal helmsman
'The thing that comes to mind right now is that over the last 10 years anyone who has ever come close to the Alinghi team understands what I feel now. There's a unique warmth, unique spirit, unique friendship that ties any person who has either worked, cheered, come close and met the Alinghi team, so I'm very proud of our team and what we have achieved over last 10 years.'

Most significant moment: 'The best part is not actually having the silver trophy, the best thing is having a team which is successful, which has a spirit, which wins...goodness knows we won. If there's any team over the last 10 years that has won, it's Alinghi. Now, these last two races we did not win. We were disadvantaged. We didn't have a boat quite fast enough. But I think with what we were given, with the odds we had, we did our best and we showed we were not going to lie down and give up and forfeit. We just wanted to fight as hard as we could and that's what we did. We exit with our head high and proud of our achievement so far.'

Will you continue? 'It's not for me to decide the future of the Cup anymore. I will wait to see where the future is going to take us and then I will decide.'

Rolf Vrolijk, principal designer
'The whole team here is of course disappointed. We have worked for this for 10 years and at the end you want to win. That's why you do this. Everybody did a really good job. I think we did the best we could in the time we had. We're quite happy the boat today showed some performance against the other boat. Maybe with more time we would have done better, but I think we will all survive again!'

Brad Butterworth, team skipper and tactician
'We were a bit disappointed the whole thing is over in two races, but you have to hand it to Oracle. What they wound up with is like a plane, not a boat. So they deserve to beat us. They went very fast and sailed well. Give all credit to them.'

On the pre-start penalty: 'We had a little problem; the start line was difficult to get to at our end. There were a lot of boats near the port end and we had to gybe around and were late to the starboard end. And that was full of boats too. We were a couple of seconds late and got a penalty, but that wasn't going to decide the race.'
On the last 10 years: 'It's always been good. Tonight's a bit of a disappointment because we lost, but we've been sailing together since 2001 and here it is 2010. We've had a fantastic record. I've always enjoyed this team. The people we've had are fantastic. It'll be some of the best memories forever.'

www.alinghi.com
North Sails Loft 57 PodcastMaritimo S SeriesHyde Sails 2024 - One Design

Related Articles

2025 29er Europeans at Lake Garda Day 1
Five teams tied at the top Ikke Huber / Liam Berger (Switzerland) lead the charge after sweeping all 3 races in the Green fleet — an impressive perfect score of 2 points. Lucas & Moritz Hamm, the dynamic twin duo from Germany, matched their Swiss rivals with consistency and pace.
Posted on 3 Jul
Onboard reporters in the Course des Caps
Enjoying the challenge of bringing the race to life In the Course des Caps - Boulogne sur Mer - Banque Populaire du Nord, the Onboard Reporters, or OBRs, are back doing a wonderful job of bringing IMOCA racing to life with pictures, videos, interviews and reports from the boats.
Posted on 3 Jul
Rolex TP52 Worlds in Cascais Day 2
Consistent American Magic Quantum Racing move clear ahead American Magic Quantum Racing stepped three points clear at the top of the 2025 Rolex TP52 World Championship leaderboard today in Cascais, Portugal on the strength of a first and third from two breezy races.
Posted on 3 Jul
505 UK Nationals at Weymouth
Michael Sims and Carl Gibbon hold back Howie Hamlin and Andy Zinn Apart from one 'stumble' in Race 7, the two leading boats were almost invisibly tied together to the point that after 8 races, they were tied on points.
Posted on 3 Jul
Robert H. Tiedemann Classics Regatta concludes
A triumphant start to the Classic Yacht Challenge Series The 2025 Robert H. Tiedemann Classics Regatta, hosted by the New York Yacht Club, delivered a spectacular start to this year's Classic Yacht Challenge Series.
Posted on 3 Jul
Unforgettable Transatlantic Race 2025 finish
First to arrive was Ocean Fifty Calamity, co-skippered by Timo Tavio and Kimo Nordström. It was rush hour in Cowes on Day 15 of the west-to-east Transatlantic Race 2025, as boats crossed the finish line in Cowes within minutes of each other after an epic 3,000-mile battle for top honors in IRC 1.
Posted on 3 Jul
iQFOiL World Championships set to open in Aarhus
Olympic medalists and world-class riders gather in Denmark for the biggest iQFOiL event of the year. The stage is set in Aarhus for a spectacular week of high-speed sailing as the iQFOiL World Championships 2025 kick off on 4 July, bringing together over 200 of the world's best windsurfers from more than 40 nations.
Posted on 3 Jul
The Ocean Race Europe to showcase new race tracker
Developed with PredictWind to revolutionise race coverage The Ocean Race, often described as the toughest test of a team in sport and widely recognised as a leader in impactful ocean health initiatives, and PredictWind, a global leader in marine weather forecasting, are collaborating on a new race tracker.
Posted on 3 Jul
Oliver Heer confirms 2028 Vendée Globe ambition
The Swiss skipper aims to return for the 2028 edition of the legendary solo race with a newer boat After completing the Vendée Globe 2024 on his first attempt, Oliver Heer, the Swiss-German skipper of Tut gut Sailing, has confirmed his intention to return for the 2028 edition of the legendary solo race.
Posted on 3 Jul
SailingFast to provide unrivalled event support
During the WASZP Games at the Weymouth & Portland National Sailing Academy SailingFast UK is set to land in Weymouth on the 8th of July and will be on-site until the 26th of July to provide the GOLD STANDARD in event support.
Posted on 3 Jul