The 33rd America's Cup
Surpassing even the acrimonious off-water courtroom drama of the 1988 America’s Cup, the 33rd America's Cup may have produced a once in a life time yacht race between Société Nautique de Genève and the Golden Gate Yacht Club, but the protracted battle off the water scuttled many of the challenging teams who had been ready and waiting for a traditional Challenger Selection Series in the AC90.
Because of the long delays from the legal action, and the fact that the 33rd America's Cup was a Deed of Gift match without a Challenger Selection Series, the Louis Vuitton Pacific Series was established and raced in January and February 2009 as a competition for other America's Cup racing syndicates. Ten syndicates took part in the regatta which used boats provided by Emirates Team New Zealand and BMW Oracle Racing.
This initial event was then expanded into the Louis Vuitton Trophy series of events which started in November 2009. These events were designed to be low-cost and keep syndicates active while waiting for the next America’s Cup, but when AC34 finally started, only three Challengers entered. The AC90 was now old news, AC33 had ushered in the era of the cats.
From 2007 to 2010, no legal stone was left unturned in the courtroom battle between the two super teams, with everything from the Challenger of Record, the date, the venue, the construction of the boats and the match rules all getting their time in the dock across 15 separate court cases. Once all was said and done, it was amazing that the boats were built at all in the short 10-month time frame given.
Société Nautique de Genève built Alinghi 5, a 90-foot cat, with a bowsprit that made it 120 ft overall.
The Golden Gate Yacht Club, built USA-17, a giant wing-powered trimaran.
Once on the water in Valencia Spain, AC33 finally became a boat race again and produced a spectacular, yet underwhelming 2 race series.
Race 1:
An aggressive pre-start by BMW Oracle Racing forced a foul by Alinghi, which had not taken advantage of the diagonal start line allowed for the port-entry boat. Both boats wound up head to the wind over the start line. Alinghi bore off while BMW Oracle Racing remained stalled and started c.650 m behind (1:27). BMW Oracle Racing were clearly able to sail higher and faster (average speed 20.2 kt vs. 19.4 kt), so they caught up with Alinghi within 15 minutes and thereafter extended their lead eventually winning by over 3,000 m. Upwind they were able to out-sail Alinghi even without a jib and their speed differential was greater downwind (23.5 kt vs. 20.7 kt average speed) than upwind. The final delta includes a penalty turn by Alinghi due to not keeping clear at the start. Without the penalty turn the delta was about 8½ minutes. Winds were 5 to 10 knots. Partial timings for the winner were 1h29 upwind, 1h03 downwind.
Race 2:
Alinghi received a penalty for being in the pre-start area before the designated time. There was very little pre-start maneuvering. BMW Oracle Racing started on starboard tack ahead of Alinghi on port tack. Alinghi sailed faster than during the previous race and benefited from a 20-degree wind shift, which put the Swiss boat in the lead at about the midpoint of the first leg. But after crossing ahead, Alinghi fell behind after tacking for the lay line. BMW Oracle Racing then proved to be much faster on the first reach, pulling about 2 kilometers ahead (26.8 kt vs. 25.2 kt average speed).The final delta includes the penalty turn by Alinghi. Without the penalty turn the delta would have been around 4 minutes. Winds were 7 to 8 knots. Partial timings for the winner were 0h59 to upwind mark, 0h29 to gybe mark, 0h39 to finish.