Alinghi Conceded Moet Cup To Oracle

Blue skies and a huge spectator fleet - mega yachts, cruise ships, row boats, tall ships, windsurfers - graced the Bay for the final day of the Moet Cup, a 6-day regatta between Alinghi and Oracle. The regatta involved both a pro driver and an owner driver series. After six days of extremely close racing, Alinghi conceded both the pro driver and owner driver series to Oracle.

If you must have one funny guy on board an America's Cup Class boat, it doesn't get any better than San Francisco's own comic Robin Williams, famous for movies such as Good Morning Vietnam, Mrs Doubtfire and Patch Adams. Rounding out an absolutely perfect week of America's Cup Class yacht racing, Williams sailed as 17th man on board Alinghi in race 4 of the owner driver series today. "It was a very exciting race and Alinghi won which was just great," said Williams, noting that this was his first time yacht racing. Jokes aside, and there were plenty of them with Williams on board, Ernesto Bertarelli helmed his team to take the race four from Larry Ellison and Oracle in the owner driver series.

Race One - owner driver
An aggressive start by both boats as they approached the line early, having to stall along the line before crossing. Oracle on starboard tacked away first and headed off to the right toward Alcatraz while Alinghi headed to the left. Although separated, the boats held even positions for a close battle along the city front shore. Oracle with a 2 ½ boat length lead at the windward mark broke it's spinnaker pole rounding, giving Alinghi an opportunity to roll past, take the lead and win by 24 seconds.

Race Two - pro driver
Race seven to determine the winner of the Moet Cup, Oracle took an early and substantial lead off the start in a steady 18 knots of breeze. With not much difference between the two sides of the course due to a tide change, Alinghi chose to stay close to Oracle. Alinghi initiated a tacking duel lasting some 12 tacks through the middle of the course as the teams headed to the top mark with Oracle in a controlling position 27 seconds ahead of Alinghi. SUI-64, showing better downwind speed than USA-76 all week, gained 8 seconds to round the leeward mark just 19 seconds behind Oracle but not enough to pass the American team. Oracle won by 32 seconds to take the Moet Cup.

Race Three - owner driver
Starting in 20 knots of breeze for the final race in this series, Ernesto Bertarelli drove SUI-64 across the start with not an inch to spare after an aggressive pre-start sequence that resulted in Alinghi being flagged a windward leeward penalty. The boats immediately split off the line with Oracle heading to the right. With the breeze lightening up toward the top mark and tide flooding, the teams had shifty winds to manouever on the beat. Oracle's experience on the Bay paid off royally as they played the shifts, taking a substantial lead to win the race by 1:22 after Alinghi took a penalty turn.

QUOTES:

Ernesto Bertarelli: "There's no substitute for preparation and training. Larry and Chris demonstrated that this week. They had a plan to win and they executed that plan. I think the biggest problem for us was miscommunication. But we've had a great week and I'm absolutely looking forward to new regattas next year."

Jochen Schuemann: "It was really good to be able to come here. We enjoyed the sailing and even the losing because the racing was close enough to get excited. The short course meant that the boats were close but along with the conditions that were new to us made the racing very challenging."

Pro Regatta, 20 September

Race 7 Alinghi: 0 - Oracle: 1 Delta: 32 seconds

Overall Ranking
Alinghi: 3 - Oracle: 4

Owner Driver Regatta, 20 September
Race 4
Alinghi: 1 - Oracle: 0 Delta: 24 seconds

Overall Ranking
Alinghi: 2 - Oracle: 3 Delta: 1:22

Information about the MOËT CUP and race results and updates during the event can be found by visiting the Golden Gate Yacht Club web site at www.ggyc.com.