Covering all the Bases

Nice post today on the Valencia Sailing site about the continuing development of the team bases and the other construction in and around the Port America's Cup, and nice ink for the Cup and all the Challengers.

新年快乐

Best wishes for a happy, healthy and prosperous New Year to our China Team friends, and to those everywhere celebrating the Lunar New Year.

Chinese mythology holds that that Nian ("Nyehn") was a reptilian predator that could infiltrate houses silently like the infamous man-eating leopards of India. The early Chinese believed that Nian was sensitive to loud noises, and they scared it away on the first day of each new year with explosions and fireworks. (Source: Wikipedia.)

With many teams about to launch the first of their two new ACC yachts for the 32nd America's Cup, we'll see just how auspicious it turns out to be for taking delivery of such yachts in the "Year of the Dog."



Auckland's Sky Tower, Saturday night, celebrating Lunar New Year's Eve.

More Show Boat

Another in a series of ACC yachts on recent display around the world as what we like to call "show boats." This is UITG's GER-52 at this week's Düsseldorf Boat Show. 52 was built for the 2000 Cup in Auckland by the Japanese syndicate, Nippon Challenge, and served as a training boat of the British syndicate, GBR Challenge, in the last Cup. UITG's new ACC yacht, GER-89, is now under construction in Kiel. Skipper Jesper Bank (DEN) appears to be both on the TV screen and live (foreground, center). Good for the Cup, and UITG! Photo courtesy of Nico Krauss (United Internet Team Germany).

Pending AC Jury Resignation

A press release issued by ACM today....

32nd America's Cup – Jury announcement

Valencia, 25th January 2006 – America's Cup Jury member Gabrielle Kaufmann-Kohler has been nominated as a candidate to the Board of Directors of a sponsor to one of the 12 America's Cup teams.

The nomination will be submitted to a vote of the hareholders at the general shareholders' meeting in mid-April. Hence, to avoid any conflict of interest, Gabrielle Kaufmann-Kohler has made it clear that she will withdraw from the Jury for the 32nd America's Cup if elected a member of the Board.

She adds that she would very much regret having to leave her functions as a Jury member, but that this move was required to ensure that the Jury remained a fully independent body.

Clearly this qualifies as "Good News, Bad News."

Good news for Alinghi sponsor UBS, to whose Board Ms Kaufmann-Kohler has been nominated. Her election in April to the UBS Board is said to be highly likely. Gabrielle is very well known in Swiss, indeed European, business circles and no doubt will be a strong addition to UBS board on which Alinghi head Ernesto Bertarelli also serves. UBS has been a strong AC and sailing sponsor for which the entire Cup community is grateful, and hopefully will continue as such for many years to come.

Bad news, at least in the short term, as it appears we will be losing Gabrielle's acknowledged competence on the Cup jury.

Under the Protocol, Jury members are appointed jointly by the Defender and the Challenger Commission. CC Chairman George Clyde has appointed a nominating committee to consider possible successors in concert with the Defender, and a smooth transition is expected.

Live TV for All 2006 Acts

Welcome news from ACM today on a subject near and dear to the Challengers, and on which the CC spent a considerable amount of time at its December meeting in San Francisco. Here is the ACM press release....


Live television to be broadcast of the 2006 Louis Vuitton Acts

Valencia, 20th January 2006 - Extensive live television coverage of the three 2006 Valencia Louis Vuitton Acts will be made available to rights-holding broadcasters of the 32nd America's Cup.

Following strong response to the basic television product offered in 2005, the decision has been made to offer an enhanced live broadcast to rights-holders of all of the racing this season. This brings forward the plans for enhanced live television by one year.

"This is a chance to deliver exciting America's Cup action live from the race course," said Paco Latorre, the Director of Communications for the event organising body. "It also gives our host broadcaster the opportunity to further develop its product and experiment with new technologies ahead of the Louis Vuitton Cup and America's Cup Match itself in 2007, ensuring the final product is comprehensive and innovative."

The live feed means a richer on-site experience for visitors to the Port America's Cup in Valencia as well. With multiple cameras in the air, on the race boats and on the race course, the 'Giant Screen' in the Park will feature full coverage all of the racing.

The 2006 racing season opens in Valencia with a match racing regatta - Louis Vuitton Act 10 - from the 11th to 18th of May. Act 11, a fleet racing regatta, follows immediately from the 19th to 21st of May.

Racing concludes with the Valencia Louis Vuitton Act 12, a match racing series featuring a round robin, semi final and final, from the 22nd of June to the 3rd of July.


It's also the lead story on the ACM website today.

Current Challenger Rankings

Today the Regatta Director issued Regatta Notice #34, officially confirming the Louis Vuitton Ranking Points accumulated to date by each of the Challengers, and giving an overall ranking of Challengers according to those points. The Challengers are listed below in order of the acceptance of their challenge by SNG.



Click to enlarge. Or click on the link in the text above for a copy of the chart as a .pdf file.



Below is a simple graphic showing the Challengers in order of ranking.


Graphic courtesy of BMW ORACLE Racing.

Canal Channel

There is the canal, then there is the channel within the canal. The Spanish word for both canal and channel is canal, so hopefully we do not confuse anyone with this post. And perhaps someone can tell us if there is a Spanish word for "ship channel" or similar.

ACM has advised the teams that, from today until further notice, they should transit the canal in "Zone B" (dark blue in the diagram below) on the southerly side of the canal while dredging and other work continues in "Zone A" (light blue) on the north side.



The Port America's Cup canal and channel. Click to enlarge.

Updated CC Directory

The latest CC Directory is available here, passworded for CC reps only (as it contains private contact information). Reminder that there is also a link to the Directory at the bottom of the sidebar.

Evolutionary

Excerpt from a letter in today's Scuttlebutt (North America):

And at the level of the A-Cup & VOR, it should be about getting the maximum exposure for the sport, through getting sponsors who are able and willing to put money into the sport, preferably over a longer term period.... I think the equation is obvious: Money = Exposure = Sport Expansion. The A-Cup is doing it well, with evolutionary changes, rather than trying to re-make the competition in one fell swoop.... --Ben Jarashow

Not had the pleasure of meeting the writer, but no doubt his sentiments are appreciated by most involved in the current AC. And if he only knew the soul searching the Defender and COR went through during 2003 to arrive, hopefully correctly, at that "evolutionary" conclusion....

At least the current teams believe it was correct. During a media conference of the syndicate design leaders between Acts 8 and 9 in Trapani, the support from the teams for that approach was gratifyingly unanimous and strong. Full marks to Grant Simmer (Alinghi) and Ian Burns (BMW Oracle) and their bosses, who, along with ACC Technical Director Ken McAlpine, fended off others' more revolutionary -- and expensive -- ideas. Instead, the evolutionary Version 5 ACC yachts are livelier yet robust and closely competitive, and we did not obsolete the V4 yachts in one fell swoop.

Question now confronting those involved in shaping, or hoping to shape, AC 33 -- revolution, or more evolution?

Measurement Cte -- PI 15

This week the ACC Measurement Committee issued Public Interpretation 15. In accordance with ACC Rule 36.1, it grants approval for the use of SanRig 80 as standing rigging.

Sail No. 90 Allocated

[Updated 13:55 Thursday -- According to German media reports, United Internet Team Germany have now announced they were allocated sail no. 89, and had hoped to get that number in commemoration of the fall of the Berlin Wall in 1989.]


This morning the Technical Director reported that ACC sail no. 90 has now been allocated. Click here for our previous post and summary (when 89 was allotted) concerning this not-so-weighty issue, but one that gets a lot of attention in the media nonetheless.

As with 87 and 89, we are not aware that the team to which 90 has been allocated has made it public. By agreement with the teams, the TD only announces that a number has been allocated (after the first skin is layed up in or on the tool), not the name of the team. This is left to the respective teams to announce as and when they choose.

Question now comes to mind -- will we get to 100 during AC 32? By our count (based on the various media statements), there is at least one more number to be allocated in the "first round" of new ACC yachts being built for AC 32. That would bring us to 91.

Will nine more "new" yachts be built for this Cup? How many of the 12 teams will build two yachts? Any team(s) that will not build any new yachts? At this point, the editor's guess is that we will get to an even 100. Anyone for a pool?

By the way, anyone know how many 12's were built during 1958-87 while it was the AC Class? More than 90? A quick guess-timate says no, making the ACC the largest AC Class in the history of the event? Who would have thought when we were first putting this class rule down on paper back in 1988-89.

Regardless, a raft a new boats are coming online not too far down the highway, and some of them will be making their debut in Act 10 -- now just around the corner.

The Canal is Open

[Updated 11:00 Friday -- We note that ACM's webcam is showing live shots of the new canal. The webcam is atop the building on the west side of the Port America's Cup that will become the International Broadcast and Media Center. It looks easterly toward the Mediterranean, showing the end of the Super Yacht Dock in the foreground and the canal in the background.]

[Updated 21:45 Thursday -- As we have come to expect, sooner or later additional good pictures of developments in and around the Port America's Cup appear on the excellent Valencia Sailing site.]

This announcement from ACM's teams liaison, Tamara Martyn, today:

We are starting the year with some news of the Darsena. Works for the opening of the canal are on time and the canal should be opened as planned on the 15th of January. Even if right now works are still going on, it is already possible to sail [one assumes this means "tow"] out of the harbour via the canal respecting the buoyed channel.

As usual, click on the photos below to enlarge.



This is a satellite shot of la Darsena ("Port America's Cup") before the canal was dug, indeed before construction had begun on the team bases. Obviously the blue line represents the approximate location of the new canal. Photo courtesy Google Earth.



This is the most recent (early December) aerial or satellite photo we can find, courtesy of the http://skyscraperpage.com/ forums. The new canal is in the upper right corner. When this was taken the canal was already nearing completion save some work at each end, especially seaward.



This photo is from yesterday morning, and appeared later Wednesday on the ACM website with a nice story about UITG "christening" the canal. An excerpt: On Wednesday morning, the German America's Cup challenger became the first team to transit the new canal linking the Port America's Cup to the sea. The canal was opened over the Christmas holiday, allowing direct access to the north race course area. The result of a massive construction project in the Port of Valencia, the new canal runs approximately 1,500 metres.

Rules Compliance

From this morning's Valencia Life:

GANDIA MAN DETAINED
A 39-year-old man from Gandia, only identified by the initials M.E.C. was briefly detained yesterday by the Navarre Police in the town of Castejon. According to a statement from the Navarran Government, he was in a restaurant close to the A-68 road, when local police noticed that he was smoking in a non-smoking area. The police entered the establishment and asked him to either go to the area for smokers or extinguish his cigarette. Since he refused to do either, he was arrested and taken before a judge in Tudela, who fined him 240 Euros for failing to obey a police order. This is believed to be the first ever case of someone going against the new anti-smoking laws that came into effect on January 1.

Obviously, the gentleman needs a better Rules Advisor.

When Must Teams Use "New" Boats?

Following our post earlier today about sail number 89 having been allocated by the Technical Director, we have received a number of emails asking when teams are required to race in AC 32 using "new" ACC yachts. By a "new" yacht, we mean one built since the end of the 31st America's Cup in March, 2003.

The answer lies in Article 13 of the Protocol, specifically:

13.1 Eligible yachts:

(a) For the Fleet Race Regatta and the Regatta, ACC Yachts shall comply with the Protocol and version 5.0 of the ACC Rules.

(b) For the Pre-regattas held prior to the Fleet Race Regatta, ACC Yachts shall comply with:

(i) the Protocol, except Article 7(f)(i) shall not apply; and
(ii) version 5.0 of the ACC Rules, except for Pre-regattas held prior to 31 December 2004 version 4.0 of the ACC Rules shall apply.

In plain English, this means there is no requirement that an AC 32 team ever race a "new" yacht. However, two caveats.

First, from 1 January 2005 and through the end of AC 32 all teams must race yachts that comply with Version 5 of the AC Class Rule. This can be achieved by building a new yacht or modifying an old one. As most of our readers will know, for the 2005 Acts only Shosholoza had a new yacht (RSA-83); all others used old yachts that had been modified to V5.

Second, and more significantly, starting with the April 2007 Fleet Race Regatta and continuing through the Louis Vuiton Cup and the AC Match, teams must use yachts that meet the nationality rules of the Deed as interpreted by the Protocol -- meaning all yachts must have been constructed in the country of the yacht club the team represents.

Some current teams have yachts (new or old) which meet that requirement. Some do not; for example, China Team, which has the Le Defi yachts from AC 31 that were constructed in France. Such yachts can, however, still be raced in the 2006 Acts.

(Disclaimer -- while, hopefully, we know something of which we write, all are reminded that the foregoing is for general background only and not to be taken as the official view of, or advice from, the Challenger Commission or the editor.)

Sail No. 89 Allocated

This morning the Technical Director reports that 89 has now been allocated. To summarize from press reports concerning the presumed allocation of previous numbers (and in follow up to our previous post):

83 -- Shosholoza (RSA), raced in 2005.

84 -- Emirates Team New Zealand (NZL), sailed in Auckland before Christmas.

85 -- +39 (ITA), under construction.

86 -- Luna Rossa (ITA), under construction.

87 -- undisclosed.

88 -- Desafio Espanol (ESP), under construction.

89 -- undisclosed.

Reported to have a new boat soon if not already under construction are Alinghi (SUI), BMW ORACLE Racing (USA), Mascalzone Latino (ITA) and United Internet Team Germany (GER).

China Team (CHN), K-Challenge (FRA), and Victory Challenge (SWE) have not announced plans to build new boats for 2006.

In summary, including RSA-83 it appears there will be at least nine "new" (built since the end of AC 31 in March 2003) ACC yachts sailing, if not racing, in Valencia at some point in 2006.

For Some in Spain, New Year's Brings Pain

For others, it couldn't have come soon enough. Two new laws take effect today in Spain. One affects la siesta, the other bans smoking in public buildings.

First, an excerpt from an article that appears in today's IHT, by Renwick McLean:

For Many, the Siesta Ends in Spain

MADRID When Spain's government employees report to work Monday, they will be forced to abandon a tradition that has typified Spanish life for decades. Instead of taking the customary two or three hours for lunch, they will be allowed only one.

Under new rules that took effect on Sunday, employees of the central government will adopt the new schedule, eliminating the long break at midday that pushes the close of the typical Spanish workday as far back as 8 p.m., sometimes later.

The change, announced by the government in early December, is intended to align the Spanish work schedule with the rest of Europe's, and to reduce the time that employees, particularly working parents, spend away from home.

Before the days of long commutes and heavy traffic, most Spaniards returned home for lunch and a siesta at midday. Now a trip home is often impractical, particularly in the large cities, but the traditional work schedule with the long afternoon break has largely remained.

"Workdays in Spain are extremely long, with people leaving home early in the morning and not returning until 9 or 9:30 at night," said Ignacio Buqueras y Bach, president of Fundación Independiente, a research organization in Madrid that has led the campaign for shorter workdays. "People are realizing that we have got to change."

Then there is this from Reuter's, by Emma Ross-Thomas:

Spain's New Law Sends Shivering Smokers Onto Street

MADRID (Reuters) - Spaniards working on New Year's Day were driven onto the chilly streets to smoke as a new ban on smoking in public places came into effect on Sunday, but in Madrid's typical smoky bars the law was widely ignored.

Spain is Europe's second biggest per capita consumer of tobacco after Greece, according to market researchers Euromonitor, and until now many Spaniards still smoked at work.

From January 1 it is illegal to smoke in offices, hospitals, schools and shopping centers. Bars and restaurants of more than 100 sq.-meters (1,076 sq. feet) must have no-smoking sections. But bars smaller than that can choose whether to ban or allow smoking throughout, making the law much softer than similar legislation in other European countries.

And small cramped bars -- most typically with hams hanging from the ceiling and a layer of butts on the floor -- dominate Spain's famously hectic nightlife.

"I'm not going to give up because they impose it on me," said an administrator at Madrid's Hospital Clinico, who declined to be named. "When they forbid something it makes you want to do it even more," she told Reuters.

The law, aimed at cutting the number of smokers from a current one-third of the population, also bans tobacco advertising and raises the minimum age for buying cigarettes to 18 from 16.

Click here for the full text of the first article; here for the second.