Posts Tagged "San Francisco"

Still alive! The improbable comeback is strong and well here in San Francisco. Today Oracle won Race 16 by 33 seconds in very light wind condition. That’s the 5th straight win for Jimmy Spithill and his crew. Oracle’s boat is now faster in all wind conditions than the kiwis’ boat. The momentum has completely shifted away and Oracle can defend the cup. Further more if Oracle wins tomorrow (in stronger wind conditions), it will have won more races than the Kiwis and won nine races, opening the door for litigation about the 2 points penalty. It was interesting to note that Oracle gained time on all five legs of the racecourse. Tomorrow the wind will pick up in San Francisco, which should favor Oracle. The forecast is unclear if they could race...

The 34th America’s cup is now the longest America’s cup ever! And we may witnessing the biggest comeback in the sport of sailing. Day 12 was a big day for Oracle Team USA with two wins in the same day and now 4 wins in a row. The first race was held in light wind where team New Zealand’s boat excels .Jimmy Spithill and its crew did a great start and were able to contain the kiwis. The second race had more wind and another great start by team USA (almost pushing the other boat out-of-bounds). This race was easier for Oracle which had some point had a 700m lead. The kiwis were the fastest at the beginning of the competition but now the US team have improved and are the fastest. The score of 8 to 5 is still strongly in favor of the kiwi but jimmy...

Today every reporter and photographer I talked to, had the obituary of Team USA written and ready to be submitted by the end of Race 12. Guess what, Jimmy Spithill and its crew are not going to let the Kiwis get the cup so easily. In the 9th day of the America’s cup, they show great strength both at the start and on the racetrack by foiling upwind at 30-32 knots and posting an average speed for the race just under 30 knots. Race 13 were again postponed due to high winds. Oracle has offered to raise the high wind limit, but it’s all in their advantage, their boat is faster in higher wind. Team New Zealand had obviously refused. Tomorrow is day 10 but I can’t be there…

Yesterday we had the excitement of a near capsize (FYI it was a 44.8 degree pitch). My guess is anything above 45 and they would have lost the boat. Today was two really close races. In the first race team USA did a great job blocking team New Zealand and did a perfect race increasing their lead on each leg, crossing the finish line with a 46 second lead. Some spectator don’t understand that those boats are really fast and don’t turn on a dime… Guess who had a discussion with the Coast Guard. On the second race of the day, it was the closest race we have ever seen. They were four lead changes in the race, Team New Zealand won by only 17 seconds. The current score is 7 points for Team New Zealand, 1 point for team...

What a race !! The score was 6 points for Team New Zealand and -1 for Team USA. Team New Zealand was expected to win the two races. Team USA was fast but significantly slower on the up wing leg. Each time Team New Zealand was able to close the gap, pass and then increase its lead on the up wind leg against Team USA. Today was different in many aspects. First the wind was at the upper limit (more on that later) which seems to favor Team USA. Second Team USA said they made modifications to their boat to make it more competitive in the up wind leg. Third Grant Dalton was not on the NZ boat (last time it was not on the boat, Team USA won the race). Team New Zealand took the better start and was leading at first mark. During the down wind leg, Team USA was able to...