In 12 to 15 knots of breeze, the two remaining divisions — 1 and 2 — of TransPac boats got underway yesterday under blue skies off Pt. Fermin. Everything from the TP 52s to the ULDB 70s and Neville Crichton’s R/P 100 Alfa Romeo took advantage of the stronger pressure they’ve enjoyed — compared to the starters from both Thursday and the prior Sunday — to immediately vault into the top overall spots as of this morning’s position reports. Tom Akin’s Bay Area-based TP 52 Flash has jumped out to the lead in Division 1, while James McDowell’s SC 70 Grand Illusion has the Division 2 and overall lead in hand.

Divisions 3, 4 and 5, which started last Thursday, and Divisions 6 and 7, which started the previous Sunday, both had their westward progress stymied by a ridge of high pressure that sent the fleet southward. Chip Megeath’s Tiburon-based R/P 45 Criminal Mischief is one of the furthest-south boats and has moved from last to third in Divison 3 overnight. Division 6 leader, the 1D 35 Relentless, being doublehanded by Tim Fuller and Erik Shampain is the furthest south with a little under 1500 miles yet to go — at a lower latitude than La Paz! In the more northerly group, Bob Barton’s Bay Area-based Andrews 56 Cipango has lead Division 3 since the start. With a spread of nearly 300 miles north-south, there will doubtlessly be some big gains and losses — whether by better pressure or distance sailed — for Divisions 3 through 7 as the race progresses.

After months of waiting, Alinghi has finally unveiled its new Deed of Gift match multihull and . . . it’s a cat — defying the predictions of many a pundit. Like the BMW/Oracle trimaran, it’s a relatively-conventional looking boat. Observers have called it a scaled-up version of Ernesto Bertarelli’s 41-ft Alinghi Catamaran, sans the central pod for rig loads, but with a byzantine web of carbon rods, stays and dolphin strikers instead. The team haven’t released any official dimensional information yet, but it sure looks big! We’ll have to bring you better photos at a later date, because it seems our login to the media area at the Alinghi website is no longer functional, and our new registration hasn’t been vetted yet apparently.

That’s what we’ve been told. Before heading north to Newport and Catalina, we stopped by the BMW Oracle compound — which is located next to Joe’s Crab Shack in downtown San Diego — to see what was going on. The biggest noticeable change since last November is that they brought the big white fabric building in which the 90-ft by 90-ft trimaran had been built down from Washington. Since the sophisticated tri wasn’t anywhere in sight, we presume she was inside getting worked on. A short distance from the building were what appeared to be three massive carbon fiber masts.

From the outside, the compound looked pretty quiet. As we stood looking at the rather small BMW Oracle sign near the guard station, we were approached by a duck who was eager to talk. "If you’re looking for a finely crafted German automobile or some world class enterprise software, you won’t find them in that building," he said. "No, what’s inside that building is the trimaran that’s going to be used in the next America’s Cup. Alinghi, the Defenders, don’t have to announce where the Cup is going to be held for a few more months, but it has to be held by the end of next February."

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Surprised to meet a duck with such an interest in sailing, to say nothing of having a fine command of the English language, we just nodded and let him continue.

"Last year they had the tri sailing at more than 40 knots, which would be fast enough to get my feathers ruffled. Given the speeds and loads, somebody could really get hurt. No wonder that principle helmsman James Spitall and the rest of the crew wear helmets and body armor. And that there are EMTs on the support boats that chase the big tri. There have been rumors around the nest that Larry Ellison, owner of the campaign, sailed on the tri once, and that was enough for him. What’s even more telling is that Russell Coutts, the America’s Cup legend, is rumored to be afraid of the boat, too. But I think that’s just gossip, don’t you?

"You probably want to know what they’ve been doing inside that building since they stopped sailing operations in February," said the loquacious duck without giving us time to answer his question. "I’d probably end up as Peking duck on the BMW Oracle crew menu if they knew that I told you, but they’ve been making a hard sail for the trimaran. Sort of like the one Dennis Conner used when his catamaran beat the Kiwi ‘big boat’ monohull in the funky America’s Cup in San Diego many years ago. I also heard that something like $5 million was spent on either modifying or replacing the two outer hulls. If anyone is feeling sorry for syndicate owner Larry Ellison, they don’t have to. My 401K for ducks has taken a beating in the last year, but not from Oracle. They had an operating income of almost $8 billion in the last quarter, and if I’m not mistaken, Ellison still owns something like 20% of the company. So he’s not having to chase the America’s Cup with a cup in his hand."

"But when is the big tri going to be test-sailing again?" we asked.

"I’m glad you asked," said the duck, "because the big news is that they’ll be sailing shortly. If you’re in San Diego, you won’t be able to miss her. But at the speed she travels, you won’t be able to see her for long — unless you’re in one of those F-18s flying out of North Island."

Since the duck seemed to be such a know-it-all, we asked him who he was picking to win the next Cup. "Some chicks and I were discussing the America’s Cup the other day, and figure BMW Oracle has their work cut out for them. I’m just a duck, but I figure this is going to be — because of the extreme speeds and risk of personal injury and boat destruction — the most NASCAR-like America’s Cup ever."