33rd America's Cup

33rd America's Cup series held at Valencia in Spain, Feb 2010.

Best of 3 race series. Two boats:

The Challenger BMW ORACLE Racing Team (USA) and Defender Swiss boat named "Alinghi 5".

The Swiss boat is called the defender since they won the race last time and have been looking after the cup since. The America team, the challengers, hope to win it back.

Both boats make extensive use of carbon fibre composites in their construction.

Race 1. Friday 11 Feb 2010

Here is YouTube video of the first race of the 33rd America's cup series:

Race 1 : America's cup 33 2010

Course: Into wind and straight back.

America got off to a bad start (1m:30s late) with some scary maneuvers in the starting area. America did rather well however on the first 20 mile windward tacking leg, rounding the windward mark some 3m30s ahead. Having obtained that lead America, helm James Spithill, held first position till the finish, ending 15m 25 sec ahead. So race 1 to USA.

Race 2: 14th Feb 2010

Race 2 : America's cup 33 2010

Course: Into wind and then back via triangle.

Alinghi, the Swiss boat, again made an error in the starting area, letting USA lead across the line by 23 seconds. Alenghi got a good course however with better wind and pulled ahead and after drawing level were ahead for a while. After 13 miles, at the windward mark however USA was ahead by 27 seconds. The second leg 13miles reaching was exciting with speeds up to 30kt. USA did well, getting ahead by a further 2 minutes at the gybe onto the final leg to the finish, crossing the line 5m 30 sec ahead.

Score: Swiss:0, USA:2. Since USA now has 2 wins, that's the end.

I don't know why they could not have had best out of 5 or 7 races to make it last longer so that we could see more of these advanced technical developments in action and compare over a longer period with more variety of weather. Just two races leaves too much to chance and exaggerates the effects of a few errors or unexpected wind changes.