"Occasionally a slower boat does win but it doesn't
happen very often," Russell Coutts admitted at
a press conference Monday. With a little over three
weeks until the America's Cup match, Alinghi's attention
had now turned to the black boats.
Team New Zealand this month unveiled the secret design
they have kept hidden under their full-length skirts,
a false hull appendage designed to boost a boat's waterline
length and therefore speed.
"We can now focus on racing Team NZ and looking at the
characteristics of their boat," Russell Coutts said.
"It is no secret that everyone believes their boat is
formidable, and now we have to look at how we can place
Alinghi against Team NZ to try to give us the best chance
of being competitive on the water."
Some observers think Alinghi has revealed all their
cards and won't have much more in their tank to improve
performance but Alinghi executive director Michel Bonnefous
said "We will make a few changes on the boat".
The Swiss team have tested the device extensively on
their second yacht, SUI 75, and have yet to decide whether
to modify SUI 64, which Russell Coutts's crew took to
a 29-4 record in the Louis Vuitton trials and which
will be used to race Team New Zealand, starting on Feb
15.
"We've had to change the whole back of the boat [SUI
75] to use it," said Grant Simmer, design team coordinator.
"We did that with foam primarily and then attached the
appendage to that because the flotation changes".
"The extra volume causes the boat to float up and
we wanted to maintain our length. Yes, there is weight
penalty, but only in the region of 30kg. Given the potential
gain of the hull shape change, that's acceptable."
Team New Zeland have the advantage of having built their
boats with the Hula in mind from the outset.
Asked if the Swiss will fit their appendage on to SUI
64, Simmer said : "You'll have to wait and see about
that. It's a tough thing to do to what is clearly a
good boat."
Because the Swiss team will have to modify the back
of their boat first, the amount of time SUI 64 spends
in the boat shed in the coming 10 days will be monitored
closely.
The "hula" is allowed to touch the hull only where it
is attached, and how Team New Zealand has achieved this
remains a mystery. The 6m-long hula fits snugly against
the hull, the separation just millimetres in places.
"We've tested it on SUI75 and it's definitely do-able
with it touching the hull, but then that's against the
rules", Russell Coutts said."We've got to convince
ourselves that we've got the shape right to add sailing
length without unacceptable drag, and that it remains
rule-legal throughout the series."
Simmer did reiterate the Swiss team had no doubts that
the device was legal, provided the gap to the hull never
closes. Like Team New Zealand, Alinghi have had to prove
over a long period to the cup's chief measurer Ken McAlpine
that SUI 75's appendage does not touch the hull.
During the Louis Vuitton Cup final, McAlpine's measurers
inspected the Alinghi and Oracle BMW yachts before and
after every race, even crawling around inside the hulls.
Similar rigorous checks are expected in the America's
Cup.
The Swiss team Alinghi defeated the American syndicate
Oracle-BMW Racing today to win the Louis Vuitton Cup.
The victory means that landlocked Switzerland will
face New Zealand for the America's Cup beginning Feb.
15, a matchup that stands to be one of the most tense
and awkward in the history of yachting.
For the second time in the 152-year history of the
regatta, the United States will not have a boat in
the America's Cup races (in 2000, Italy's Prada defeated
the San Francisco-based AmericaOne 5-4 in a thriller
of a series). Once again, the America's Cup is not
going back to America.
It is now the third time in four challenge series
that the winner has come from Europe - Italy in 1992
and 2000, and Alinghi.
Alinghi blazed through the Louis Vuitton Cup in record
time, sailing in just 28 races, a minimum number to
become the Challenger. Alinghi was beaten on the water
just twice, once in Round Robin One by OneWorld, and
then again by Oracle BMW Racing in the Final.
But Alinghi saved two races; by not needing to sail
the last race of the Round Robins (they had already
secured first place) and in the Quarter Final when
Prada conceded the fourth race to buy an extra day
for modifications.
With that kind of record, Alinghi was a formidable
opponent in the Final, something Oracle BMW Racing
syndicate head Larry Ellison was quick to acknowledge.
"They are a little like a fine Swiss watch with
some Kiwi parts," Ellison said. "It’s beautiful
to watch sailing at that level… they just did a spectacular
job."
For Alinghi, the task only becomes more difficult.
Team New Zealand is a formidable foe, with a 10 –
0 record in the past two America’s Cups, and an awe
inspiring 47 – 1 scoreline, including the 1995 Louis
Vuitton Cup.
For Coutts and a number of his team mates, the win
brings a February match up against a renewed version
of their old squad, the Defender, Team New Zealand
and all of the interesting story lines that accompany
such a match up.
"I have a huge amount of respect for Team New
Zealand,” said Alinghi founder and navigator, Ernesto
Bertarelli. “We’ve sailed against the new Team New
Zealand several times with Russell and the guys and
lost two times, they beat us so we know that they
are a very, very, strong team".
"I have a huge respect for Dean Barker, I think
he is intelligent, smart and a very nice young man
and he has the courage to lead Team New Zealand to
victory, so we have to (be at our best)."
But the Swiss team can take comfort from the fact
that six sailors from those teams now form the backbone
of Alinghi. And many of the other old Team New Zealand
sailors are spread across several other Louis Vuitton
Cup syndicates.
"Team Alinghi is a fantastic team. I mean Team
New Zealand was a great team, but this team (Alinghi)
is so close it’s unbelievable," enthused Russell
Coutts.
" We’ve developed a real feeling in this team…
I think the strength of Alinghi is that everyone is
trying to do their best…at Alinghi we’re all motivated
and trying our very best. We’ve worked hard for this
and it’s an achievement of a goal. We’ve come a long
way from starting from nowhere, so I’m very, very
happy."
Should Switzerland defeat New Zealand, Bertarelli
has named Barcelona, Spain, and Marseilles, France,
or an unidentified site in Italy as possible places
to hold the 32nd defense.
The action starts with an unveiling ceremony on February
11th and Race One, scheduled for a 13:15 start on
February 15th.
Tension
increased on the Hauraki Gulf (01/23/03) (source
: FoxSports)
Tension between America's Cup rivals Team New Zealand
and Alinghi increased Thursday when the Swiss team was
fined $10,000 by Auckland police for intruding on a
New Zealand training zone.
Only 24 hours earlier, Auckland's harbormaster, police
and Cup officials called a meeting of the teams to discuss
several on-the-water confrontations and allegations
of harassment.
Team New Zealand, which refused to comment on the Thursday,
has repeatedly complained that Alinghi chase boats have
shadowed and photographed its yachts during training
exercises.
"Today, two vessels from the Alinghi syndicate were
stopped by a police (boat) from entering Team New Zealand's
designated course," Auckland police said in a statement
Thursday.
"Police gave the syndicate members maps of the course
and pointed out the layout. The Alinghi vessels then
proceeded to enter the course right up the middle."
Alinghi, in a short statement, apologized to police
and Team New Zealand. It attributed the intrusion into
the New Zealand training area to a mistake by an inexperienced
chase boat crew.
"Two contract staff using a borrowed chase boat . .
. inadvertently strayed into a restricted sailing area,"
Alinghi said. "The team noted that the contractors were
inexperienced and entered the zone by mistake while
attempting to locate another Alinghi chase boat in the
Hauraki Gulf."
Alinghi spokesman Bernard Schopfer said later the Swiss
syndicate was "embarrassed" by the incident. He said
that its occurrence only 24 hours after Wednesday's
meeting was "very unfortunately timed."
America's Cup rules place strict restriction on reconnaissance
activities. Article 13 of the Cup protocol specifically
prohibits "persistent on-the-water observation, including
photography" and "any illegal act."
The
truth will come out, says Butterworth (01/17/03) (source
: FoxSports)
Alinghi tactician Brad Butterworth Thursday said
lies were told about his reasons for quitting Team New
Zealand at the end of the 2000 America's Cup.
Butterworth pointed an accusing finger at the controversial
group BlackHeart, which formed in September to harass
Team New Zealand sailors who have chosen to sail with
foreign syndicates.
BlackHeart announced Wednesday it was scaling down its
campaign after letters threatening violence against
the families of New Zealand sailors were received by
Alinghi, for which Coutts and Butterworth now sail.
The group said it had been unable to distance itself
from the letters and had decided to withdraw from "the
media circus" the threats had created.
Coutts and Butterworth became the focus of the BlackHeart
campaign though more than a third of Team New Zealand's
staff in 2000 left to join other teams.
"My personal feeling is that it would be a lot better
if the businessmen (who support BlackHeart) put their
money into Team New Zealand rather than used it to intimidate
families," Butterworth said.
"I think sick and pathetic is probably it but there
have been a lot of lies told towards Russell (Coutts)
and I in the last couple of years and sooner or later
the truth will come out."
