Today’s Photo of the Day comes from Saturday
afternoon, when thousands of people came from all over Northern
California – Castro Valley, Redding, Manteca – to stand on the
beach and watch the the boats race in the St. Francis Big Boat
Series. Well, okay, a few of them where there to play in the
sand, kite sail, and chase dogs, but a couple were there to catch
the racing.
The Moët Cup
September 15 – San Francisco
As promised, Oracle BMW’s Larry Ellison
brought the America’s Cup – in a Brinks armed truck, no less
– to the Golden Gate YC and San Francisco Bay on Sunday. But
as he joked, he had to ask his friend Ernesto Bertarelli of Alinghi,
the winner of the America’s Cup, for a little help. The occasion
was the opening press conference for this week’s Moët (rhymes
with ‘Not yet’) Cup on the San Francisco Cityfront, in which
Alinghi and Oracle BMW will square off in a rematch of the Louis
Vuitton Cup in New Zealand, which decided who got to sail against
the Kiwis for the America’s Cup.
Larry and Ernesto with the America’s Cup and the Moët Cup.
The press conference had all the heavy
hitters on the dias: Ellison and Bertarelli, Oracle BMW’s Chris
Dickson, Alinghi helmsman Jochen Schuemann, and San Francisco
Mayor Willie Brown. And there were members of the press from
all over the world – including one French photographer who took
about 75,000 identical still life photos of the Cup itself.
Ernesto and Larry laugh it up at the press conference.
During the press conference, both Ellison
and Bertarelli acknowledged that their boats were in tip-top
shape, and they had plenty of great sails. Speaking on behalf
of Oracle BMW, Dickson said they had an almost entirely new team
from the one in New Zealand, and that Gavin Brady will be the
helmsman with John Kostecki also in the back of the boat. On
the contrary, Bertarelli said that the Alinghi team is almost
the same one as won the America’s Cup, except that Schuemann
rather than Russell Coutts will be driving.
Alinghi warming up Photos Latitude/JR
Although both camps said they take the
Moët Cup competition very seriously and are out to win –
Oracle BMW has had two boats and as many as 65 employees preparing
for the event for some time – their real purpose is to take the
America’s Cup “to the people.” Ellison, 59, and Bertarelli,
37, are both relatively young and think young, neither are tradition
bound, and they share a common goal of making the America’s Cup
“like Formula One racing but on the water.” In other
words, a sport with huge general public following, and with the
many sponsors that would come with it. That’s why bleachers have
been erected between the St. Francis and Golden Gate YCs, and
why the two races a day every day through Saturday will only
be about an hour long and right on the Cityfront. It should be
great! Racing starts about 1 p.m. each day, with the pro driver
race first, followed by the owner driver race.
Attracting the general public is also why
there will be a big fireworks show tonight at the same location.
This week’s Moët Cup is only the first in a series of ‘bringing
the America’s Cup to the people’ events planned for the next
18 months.
Bertarelli and Ellison are two of the richest men in the world,
yet their goal is to keep the America’s Cup from being too elitist.
Bertarelli, who as holder of the Cup has a great deal of say
over its future, said very specifically that his goal was to
make the Cup “affordable and accessible” to ensure
that there would be many entries in future America’s Cups. Ellison,
who sails under the burgee of the Golden Gate YC, Challenger
of Record for the next Cup, nodded in agreement.
After the formal press conference, both Ellison and Bertarelli
mingled with the crowd of 150 journalists and others, happily
chatting with anyone and everyone. Our short chats with each
suggested that the America’s Cup is in for big changes. For example,
when we asked Ellison if he missed ocean racing in places like
the Caribbean – he’d been very successful at Antigua Sailing
Week with his maxi Sayonara – he said, “Oh, I really
do! But who knows, maybe in the future there will be two kinds
of America’s Cup boats, one for offshore racing and one for around
the buoys only.” While talking with Bertarelli, who loves
sailing ultra high performance cats on Lake Garda, we mentioned
that we had a cruising cat. His faced brightened and he proclaimed,
“Cats are the future of sailing.” We asked him if this
meant that there might be catamarans in the future of the America’s
Cup. He opened his mouth wide as if to say something – but then
stopped himself. We don’t think anybody should read too much
into his aborted comment – other than that change will be a big
part of the America’s Cup in the upcoming years.
Bertarelli also said he’d been out to watch
the St. Francis Big Boat Series, and stated something to the
effect that San Francisco Bay was the best spectator-friendly
sailing venue in the world. When we asked if he was pulling our
leg, he challenged us to name a better one. He’d been quite serious.
Once again, hot and heavy America’s Cup
racing action on the Cityfront starting at 1 p.m. each day through
Saturday, with plenty of bleacher seating. And fireworks tonight.
Don’t miss it.
If a Photo Is Worth a Thousand Words,
What’s a Streaming Video Worth?
September 15 – Rhode Island
If you want a video explanation of why
some people, such as Ernesto Bertarelli, feel that “cats
are the future of sailing,” you need to check out some streaming
video shot by Clint Clemens and sent to us by Peter Johnstone
of Gunboat Multihulls. To view the video, click here.
To summarize, it’s a video taken recently
in Rhode Island of Clemens’ Morrelli & Melvin 62 catamaran Safari challenging the R/P 80 monohull Carrera
from behind on a close reach in about 22 knots of wind. Although
the Carrera – a boat similar but slightly longer than
R/P TransPac winners Pegasus and Pyewacket – is
doing 18.5 knots and is being crewed by some America’s Cup vets,
the cruising cat, crewed by “one guy and two women in bikinis
on the bow,” overtakes the monohull and passes her as though
she were almost standing still. Johnstone estimates the cat was
hitting 30 knots. It’s very graphic stuff.
If anyone really likes what they see, they can charter the sistership Safari for something like the Heineken Regatta in St.
Martin the first weekend in March – Profligate and a bunch
of other cats are expected to be there, too – for $18,000. For
serious inquiries only, call Peter at (401) 662-0204.
Mari-Cha IV,
Largest Racing Yacht Afloat, in Sea Trials
September 15 – Cherbourg, France
Photo Thierry Martinez
Most of you might remember that Bob Miller,
owner of the Duty Free Shops in most airports, entered his gigantic
147-ft ketch Mari-Cha III, one time holder of the Transatlantic
sailing record, in last year’s West Marine Pacific Cup. Miller
has built a new but smaller boat . . . she’s only 140 feet. Whereas Mari-Cha III is both a racer and a luxurious cruiser,
the new design – a collaboration by Frenchman Philippe Briand,
Kiwi Greg Elliott, and American Clay Oliver, and built at JMV
in Cherbourg, is a balls-to-the-wall racing machine with a canting
keel. In other words, she’s similar to the R/P Max 86s being
built for Roy Disney and Hasso Plattner – but 54 feet longer!
Unlike the sloop-rigged Max 86s, Mari-Cha has a schooner
rig in the sense both masts are of equal height. She’ll have
a crew of 25, and will set 904 square meters of sail upwind,
and 1,415 square meters of sail downwind! The whole yacht is
made of carbon, and she is going to be a rocket – Miller intends
to break all the great sailing records. We’ll bet you 10 cents
that Miller will have her down in St. Barth this New Year’s Eve
for the Around the Island Race/Parade. It may not be one of the
world’s great sailing records, but he’ll certainly want to beat
the current one held by Mari-Cha III.
Big Boat Series Wrap-Up
September 15 – San Francisco
“I’ve been to 30 Big Boat Series or
thereabouts, and this was the best one ever,” claimed John
Kilroy, skipper of the Farr 40 Samba Pa Ti, at yesterday’s
awards ceremony. “The number of boats, the wind conditions,
the race management – it was all great.”
Kilroy, who also wrapped up the 8-regatta
West Coast Farr 40 Championship, was one of five class winners
who took home shiny new Rolexes as well as first place trophies.
Roger Sturgeon (Rosebud, TP-52), Martin Brauns (Winnetou,
SC 52), John Siegel (Scorpio, Wylie 42) and Dick DeVos (Windquest, 1D-35) were the other watch winners. For reasons
that escape us, the largest (34 boats) and highly competitive
J/105 class was overlooked in the watch sweepstakes this year. Aquavit skipper Tim Russell, sailing with youthful tactician
Don Trask, topped the 105s whether or not race five is reinstated
(it was tossed by the race committee due to a freighter fracas,
but the case apparently may be reopened).
Other class winners in the record 115-boat
fleet were John Wimer (Desdemona, J/120), Mark Dowdy (Eclipse,
Express 37), Thomas Sponhlotz (Blue Agave, Beneteau 40.7),
and Mike Garl (White Dove, Beneteau 40.7, Americap C). Oracle BMW and Alinghi also sailed two quick races,
with Larry Ellison’s minions getting the best of the Swiss visitors
– a preview, perhaps, of the upcoming Moët Cup.
See www.stfyc.com
for full results. And don’t miss our coverage in the October
issue of Latitude
38.
Upwind or down, the first three days were warm and sunny.
Above and below: symmetry in the Farr 40 fleet
Mary Coleman, one of the few women skippers drives her Farr 40 Astra.
A TransPac 52 leads two others on a steaming run. Photos Latitude/Richard
Take a Sail Magazine Senior Editor
on the Ha-Ha?
September 15 – San Francisco
Kimball Livingston, San Francisco-based
Senior Editor, West Coast, for Sail magazine, who for
many years was the sailing writer for the San Francisco Chronicle,
is interested in a berth on the Ha-Ha in order to do a story
for Sail magazine. Got any room?
Livingston is an old friend of Latitude,
and we can vouch for his sailing skills and excellent manners.
Long ago he took third with an SC 27 in the Singlehanded Farallones
Race and helped Bob Cole win his class in the TransPac with the
Farr 51 Zamazaan, and when Clay Bernard needed rail meat
for the Davidson 50 Great Fun in the Molokai Destruction
Derby – it blew in the high 40s – Livingston offered his body
for slaughter.
You can contact Kimball via
email or at (415) 850-9274.
YOTREPS
September 15 – The Pacific Ocean and Cyberspace
Who is out making passages in the Pacific
and what kind of weather are they having? The YOTREPS daily yacht
tracking page has moved to www.bitwrangler.com/psn.
Looking for current as well as recent wind
and sea readings from 17 buoys and stations between Pt. Arena
and the Mexican border? Here’s the place – which has further
links to weather buoys and stations all over the U.S.: www.ndbc.noaa.gov/Maps/Southwest.shtml.
Pacific Winds and Pressure
The University of Hawaii Dept. of Meteorology
page posts a daily map of the NE Pacific Ocean barometric
pressure and winds.
