Statement from SNG

“BMW Oracle Racing (BOR) and its club Golden Gate (GGYC) have again chosen the New York law courts, instead of accepting an invitation to another meeting to discuss the terms of the 33rd America's Cup. They have ignored both our proposal to open the competition to other challengers and our invitation to agree to mutual consent terms.

As Defender of the America's Cup, Alinghi and the Société Nautique de Genève (SNG) are duty bound to fulfill the Deed of Gift that governs the event. The document clearly states that May is the earliest possible date for a race in the Northern Hemisphere, where both clubs are located. The New York Supreme Court Order does not instruct us to breach our duties as trustee.

The Deed of Gift also states that the Challenger of Record should provide the Defender with a Custom-House Registry of the vessel ‘as soon as possible'. This they also ignore. The Deed of Gift is not a document to be cast aside at convenience: the wording is clear on the matter of the dates and cannot be dismissed because it does not suit GGYC and BMW Oracle Racing's current wishes.

The Société Nautique de Genève is prepared to defend its position, which fully respects the Deed of Gift as the governing document of the America's Cup, before the New York Supreme Court and will require BOR and the GGYC to do the same.”

Leg Six finish positions

Leg Six finish positions:

1. Ericsson 4 SWE (Torben Grael/BRA) - 26.04.09 - 21:05 GMT
2. Ericsson 3 SWE (Magnus Olsson/SWE) - 26.04.09 - 21:17 GMT
3. Telefonica Blue ESP (Bouwe Bekking/NED) - 26.04.09 - 21:23 GMT
4. PUMA Racing Team USA (Ken Read/USA) - 26.04.09 - 23:12 GMT
5. Telefonica Black ESP (Fernando Echavarri/ESP) - 27.04.09 - 09:48 GMT
6. Delta Lloyd IRL (Roberto Bermudez/ESP) - 27.04.09 - 10:10 GMT
7. Green Dragon IRL/CHN (Ian Walker/GBR) - 27.04.09 - 16:08 GMT

End of Leg Six

The first points of leg six of the Volvo Ocean Race have been earned, on April 16 evening. Telefónica Blue claimed the maximum four points as she led the seven-strong Volvo fleet through the gate at Fernando de Noronha. It was the first time that Telefónica Blue has been in pole position at a gate, and it wasn’t easy. Heavy squalls and rain reduced the visibility and, 10 miles before the gate, the breeze dropped from 23 knots to three knots. Telefónica Blue has led the fleet from the start. Telefónica Blue was in the enviable position of being able to watch the battle unfold over 100 miles behind them.

At 0700 GMT of day 13, Ericsson had inched to within six miles of the blue boat and skipper Bouwe Bekking was faced with an important tactical decision. Running hard downwind, the wind direction had called for a gybe, and Bekking’s dilemma was when should he carry out the maneuver. He took the decision to play his Stealth card, keeping secret the moment he made his move. She’s been in the lead for the entire leg.

Telefónica Blue was first at the scoring gate. She had a lead of over 100 nm, but, she lost it all when Ericsson 4 came steaming in to steal her thunder. As the Volvo fleet approaches Boston and the finish of leg six, they have one more hurdle to clear. A high-pressure ridge has stopped the leaders and has given the followers another chance at the podium. Once through the ridge, the fleet will have a clear run to cross the finish line.

Ericsson Racing Team continued its dominance of the Volvo Ocean Race 26 Apr when Torben Grael (Ericsson 4) and Magnus Olsson (Ericsson 3) finished first and second on leg six from Rio de Janeiro, Brazil to Boston. Ericsson 4 crossed the finish at 2105 GMT (1605 local) recording an elapsed time of 15 days, 10 hours 30 minutes and 54 seconds. A fearsome battle played out in the closing stages of the leg to decide the points for second place, which culminated in Ericsson 3 taking second, finishing at 2117 GMT, just over five minutes ahead of Telefónica Blue (2123 GMT), after 4,900 nm and nearly 16 days of ocean racing.

Day 5, Leg Six

Day 5, Overnight, Roberto Bermúdez and Delta Lloyd have put in a dazzling performance to regain second place, closing to within seven miles of the leader, Bouwe Bekking’s Telefónica Blue. Instead of the more usual strategy of plotting a course and trimming the sails accordingly, Delta Lloyd’s Dutch navigator, Wouter Verbraak has gone to where the wind is, believing heavily in the theory of diurnal variation. The mornings bring more wind from the left of the course, the afternoons bring lighter breeze and from the right hand side and the evenings bring squalls and left hand wind again. At night, the wind goes lighter and more to the right. Consequently, Delta Lloyd’s wake is as ragged as a drunken man’s stagger, but whether the success is myth or theory, the generation one boat and winner of the 2005-06 race is now in second place and her crew is determined to hang on to it at the scoring gate.

Telefónica Blue is 115 nm off the Brazilian coast with Delta Lloyd to the east, Telefónica Black in her wake and PUMA on her hip, but 24 miles behind. For Green Dragon and the two Ericsson boats sailing on the inside track, closest to the shore, the wind is likely to be light.

Conditions have stabilised briefly as the fleet closes on the scoring gate at Fernando de Noronha, the only scoring gate on this 4,900 nm leg and an island that played the same role on leg one. Gone are the clouds and now the sea is flat with a 12-knot easterly breeze. Boat speeds are stable at 12-13 knots and today Delta Lloyd takes the prize for the highest 24 hour run at 293 nm.

Audi MedCup 2009

Five regattas on the 2009 Audi MedCup Circuit means that each single regatta this season is more important, leaving less opportunity for crews to learn, change and optimise on the race course. With just four weeks left to the first regatta of the season, the curtain raiser that is the City of Alicante Trophy, TP52 and GP42 is coming up fast on the horizon.

For teams who have to complete the preparation of their new boats, time will slip away quickly. The new Matador, having been built in Spain for Alberto Roemmers’ Argentinian team, will race this week at the Palma Vela regatta in Mallorca where three or four Audi MedCup TP52’s will compete as an important part of their build up to Alicante. So too John Cook’s Palma based Cristabella and both of the Russian boats Valars 3 (ex Mean Machine, Podolsky Kirill) and Synergy (ex USA 17) be competing at the big start of season regatta.

Eleven TP52’s and six GP42’s seems likely to be the entry for the City of Alicante Trophy regatta. Racing at the City of Alicante Trophy starts with the Practise Race on Tuesday 12th May, thereafter racing for the TP52 Series points starts on Wednesday 13th May and the GP42 Series points racing starts on Thursday 14th after a Practise Race Wednesday.

Start of Leg Six

After a short stopover of just two weeks in Rio de Janeiro, less for some teams, it was back out on the race track again on Saturday 11 April at the start of the 4,900 nautical mile leg six to Boston, USA, another new port introduced for this, the 10th edition of the Volvo Ocean Race.

In 30 degrees of heat, a marching band playing bagpipes heralded the departure of the seven teams who were accompanied by Samba dancers as they made their way down the dock and onboard their race boats which will be their home for another two weeks.

A light southwesterly sea breeze of 5 – 10 knots allowed the fleet to make a clean start on time in the Guanabara Bay at 1500 local. PUMA (Ken Read/USA) and Green Dragon (Ian Walker/GBR) chose the committee boat end of the line, with Telefónica Black (Fernando Echávarri/ESP) at the pin end.

Ericsson 4 made a very late and slow start but skipper Torben Grael was determined to ‘own’ the right hand side of the course, which was where there was more breeze and less current. Practically rock-hopping so close in to the shore they went, and, at one point heading towards a rather alarmed spectator fleet, Torben Grael displayed his expert local knowledge, and Ericsson 4 started to make steady gains up through the fleet.

Telefónica Black (Fernando Echávarri/ESP) led the fleet to the first mark, set off the famous Copacabana beach and continued to hold that position to lead the fleet past the famous Sugar Loaf mountain and out into open waters. PUMA rounded the mark in second place, but, under huge pressure from Ericsson 4, made a mistake and Torben Grael quickly swiped back second place. Telefónica Blue (Bouwe Bekking/NED) was fourth followed by Ericsson 3 (Magnus Olsson/SWE), Green Dragon and Delta Lloyd.

Heading back in a loop towards the start line, Telefónica Black continued to sail impressively and opened up a big lead on the rest of the fleet. At the second mark Ericsson 3 came from nowhere to arrive at almost the same time as Ericsson 4, looking to take an easy second place until the crew had a problem and could not drop their spinnaker, requiring one member of the crew to climb the mast to free the sail. Almost all the fleet passed them, leaving them only ahead of Delta Lloyd.

On the second upwind leg, Torben Grael repeated his first leg tactics and once again headed towards the Rio shore.

As the fleet headed out to sea, Fernando Echávarri’s Telefónica Black was the clear leader. Ericsson 4 was safely in second place from PUMA in third who, in turn was just ahead of Telefónica Blue, fourth, and Green Dragon fifth. Ericsson 3 was not far behind, but Delta Lloyd was trailing.

The next 12 hours they had absolutely no wind, only massive old swell rolling in to make the boats roll uncontrollably and very uncomfortable. After leading the fleet out of the Guanabara Bay at the start of Volvo Ocean Race leg six in Rio yesterday, Fernando Echávarri’s bowman, Mike Pammenter from South Africa, had to be taken off the racing yacht by a support boat after injuring his ankle.

Light In-Port Race in Rio

Two races are scheduled on Saturday, beginning at 13:00 local time (16:00 GMT), and they will be scored as a series. The winner on the day will be awarded four scoring points towards the overall Volvo Ocean Race leaderboard. The 'Light In-Port Race in the Volvo Ocean Race' also sees the return of Telefonica Black and Team Delta Lloyd, both of whom arrived in Rio by ship, missing the leg from Qingdao after suffering damage during Leg 4 of the race. Both teams are eager to make up for lost time. Telefonica Black expects a boost for the in-port race from the addition of double Olympic Gold Medallist Luis Doreste, who will sail as tactician.

It was a great win in the ‘Light In-Port Race’ for Bouwe Bekking’s Telefónica Blue after a long postponement in Rio de Janeiro today. PUMA (Ken Read/USA) put in a solid performance to take second, but the surprise result was the outstanding performance by the rejuvenated Delta Lloyd with Spaniard, Roberto Bérmudez in charge, who took the third podium position.

Only one race was run due to the two hour postponement, but once the sea breeze filled in, there was a solid seven to 10 knot southerly breeze on the Guanabara Bay. Ian Walker and Green Dragon led the fleet off the pin end of the start line, with Ericsson 4 (Torben Grael/BRA), sailing with HRH the Crown Princess Victoria of Sweden onboard, and Delta Lloyd looking good at the windward end.

Ken Read elected to start on port tack, and out in the clear air on the right hand side of the course, the choice paid off. At the first mark PUMA led the field, followed closely by Ericsson 3, the winner of leg five, with Magnus Olsson as skipper.

Both Ericsson 4 and Telefónica Black managed to beat back Green Dragon to post fourth and fifth at the finish, pushing Ian Walker and his men into sixth place. After their superb start, Green Dragon was never really in contention and Ian Walker will no doubt be disappointed with his result today. Ericsson 3’s day was effectively over when she had to take a penalty for a port/starboard infringement with Telefónica Black.

The Light In-Port Race Rio de Janeiro Results (Provisional)
1. Telefónica Blue 4.0 points
2. PUMA 3.5 points
3. Delta Lloyd 3.0 points
4. Ericsson 4: 2.5 points
5. Telefónica Black 2.0 points
6. Green Dragon 1.5 points
7. Ericsson 3: 1 points
8. Team Russia DNS

Overall Leaderboard
1. Ericsson 4 (Torben Grael/BRA): 66 points
2. PUMA (Ken Read/USA): 56.5 points
3. Telefónica Blue (Bouwe Bekking/NED): 54.5 points
4. Ericsson 3 (Magnus Olsson/SWE): 44.5 points
5. Green Dragon (Ian Walker/GBR): 41 points
6. Telefónica Black (Fernando Echávarri/ESP): 23 points
7. Delta Lloyd (Roberto Bermudez/ESP): 15 points
8. Team Russia (Andreas Hanakamp/AUT): 10.5 points

GGYC Won Appeal

The Golden Gate Yacht Club has won their appeal in the New York Courts, reinstating them in place of the Club Nautico Espanol De Vela as Challenger of Record for the 33rd America's Cup. Following a long-running dispute between the Golden Gate Yacht Club (GGYC) and the Defender of the America's Cup, the Societe Nautique De Geneve (SNG), swung firmly in the favour of the GGYC today, with the New York State Court of Appeals ruling unanimously in their favour.

The case centred around the validity of Club Nautico Espanol De Vela (CNEV) as a challenger under the criteria contained in the Deed of Gift, the document which governs the America's Cup. Today's court ruling reserves the previous decision of the Appelate Division and reinstates the original ruling of Justice Cahn in the Supreme Court, that the CNEV is not a valid challenger as it does not meet the criteria for having an annual regatta.

In its ruling the court noted, "for a challenging yacht club to be within the eligibility requirements, it must have held at least one qualifying annual regatta before it submits its Notice of Challenge to a Defender".

The Court concluded, "Since CNEV has failed to show that at the time it submitted its Notice of Challenge it was a 'lub fulfilling all the conditions required by' the Deed of Gift, it does not qualify as the Challenger of Record for the 33rd America's Cup competition and Supreme Court was correct in declaring GGYC to be the valid Challenger of Record. It has been posited that the right to act as trustee of the America's Cup should be decided on the water and not in a courtroom. We wholeheartedly agree. It falls now to SNG and GGYC to work together to maintain this noble sailing tradition as 'a perpetual Challenge Cup for friendly competition between foreign countries.'"

If the GGYC and SNG are unable to agree upon a set of rules to govern the competition for the 33rd America's Cup, as currently appears likely, the racing will take place under the conditions outlined in the Deed of Gift. With the Challenge certificate submitted by GGYC, this is likely to take place in two giant multihulls, over a best-of-three race series. BMW ORACLE Racing, the team of the GGYC, launched their 90ft trimaran in August last year. Alinghi, the team of the SNG and the Defenders of the America's Cup, have yet to launch their multihull, although in an interview with the International Herald Tribune back in December, team President Ernesto Bertarelli said, "We have done enough to be ready within the time that we would have in case Larry was to win in court".

Valencia Hosts AC Pre-Regattas

The 33rd America's Cup event authority, AC Management, today signed a Host Venue agreement with the Valencian Municipality and Regional Government for the Spanish city of Valencia to hold two America's Cup pre-regattas, the first from the 10-19 July and the second in October.
Should the pending litigation concerning the future of the 33rd America's Cup be resolved in favour of the multi-challenger event as proposed by the Defender, Alinghi and the Challenger of Record, Club Náutico Español de Vela, these two regattas will be part of the 33rd America's Cup, with the Match scheduled for 2010.

The Defender and the Challengers will meet off Malvarrosa Beach with the ACC Version 5.0 yachts in just three months time for a combination of fleet and match racing much like the highly successful Acts held in the lead up to the 32nd America's Cup.

Alinghi and Club Náutico Español de Vela held the sixth Competitor Meeting yesterday in Valencia with the entered teams and discussions centered on base allocation and plans for Version 5.0 yacht allocation during the two 33rd America's Cup pre-regattas, the first of which begins on 10 July in Valencia. The group of teams, having worked on the document for the past months, decided to publish the Competition Regulations for the 33rd America's Cup this week.
The next 33rd America's Cup Competitor Meeting is on 28 April.