The problem I see, is that there were no mangroves or mud flats in the course.
Good job anyway to BMWO!!!

Here`s what I think :
Alinghi finished first and then did the penalty to do one of several possible things :
- See what the real time difference was between them, OR
- File for redress and claim the they were not in the wrong, protest BMWO for the startline incident. By finishing before doing the penalty, they are basically saying they are not admitting guilt.
Guess which option I think they are going with, based on their "sportsmanlike" behaviour in the past.

I concur, sounds par for the course.

I thought the purpose of the on the water judges are to end the protests? If the judge says you fouled, then you fouled.

If you looked closely at A's rudder upwind it looked like their sail plan was overpowering the rudders. Poor balance or rudders too small IMHO.

Alinghi appear not to have completed their penalty properly and so the final delta is 15 minutes and 28 seconds.

The swiss guys walked around the main AC building waving their flags and sounding their bells, very cool of those guys after the loss.
I just talked to JC and we both agreed its not over yet...
Flying home in an hour, awesome to have been to Valencia.

where can I watch the replay in HD?

I noticed on the Americas Cup website:

"Sunday’s scheduled second race, around the 39 miles Deed of Gift triangle course, of three 13 miles legs"

Multihulls with a reach leg, this should be good.

Improper finish. A5 Had to go back. More ugly than my famous cartwheel finish at Roton Pt. (Finished our race with the mast crossing the line.)

My take - WHAT A DRAMATIC START! that was wild! irons on the startline...I hate that when that happens.

BMWO obviously dropped the throttle once both upwind and downwind and still made it look like a cakewalk. I truely believe they could have won that 20 mile race by more than the 2.2 miles they did - it could have easily be 5 miles, maybe even 6 on a 40 mile race. That's at least a 12 to 15% better efficiency around the course...amazing.

And this was supposed to be the wind that the boat's transitioned and should have been somewhat equal with A5 having an advantage in lighter wind. We didn't see that today at all - USA showed the ability to consistently fly both hulls all day. Alinghi spent 30% of the time with their windward hull skimming the water upwind. Downwind they had to go much higher to fly the hull than USA. I genuinely thought that USA-17 had the technical advantage but I didn't think it was going to be by this much.

Now that I've lost a bunch of worktime today, I wont' get to see the press conferences, but I can't wait to hear the reactions from both sides. I'm betting Alinghi will be saying something that implies that the wing isn't a sail and the tri isn't a sloop.

Randy was asked to comment on F16 and F-18 sailing by GJ and did so very well, naturally: Also their racing commentary was dramatically better than the 2 old fat guys on BMW/Oracle site. Much more sailorly!

Let's see...

Dial-up... check
Drama... check
Tactics... check
Unprecedented speed... check

Even the Yachties are waxing post-coital. That was pretty badass. How can you look back after this?

They'll find a way. I'm sure they said the same types of stuff in '88.

You suppose we will now have a better chance of racing on Sunday. A wanted the light stuff to supposedly show off their better performance but had trouble keeping powered up. Now maybe they will want to schedule a bunch of wind to try the opposite as they got their butt kicked in what they thought they wanted.

Reaching in "high" winds.. Where the wing really will shine (if the flaps can twist enough).. Bring it on!

I had to miss work today due to no day care, after missing work all week due to snow. Felt bad about missing work, but no more!

That was simply the coolest AC match I've ever seen. I think that may be the coolest sailing footage ever.

Overall - I think BMWO has a better knowledge of their boat. It took A too long to change modes and shift gears. A looks to be a bit more maneuverable, and showed good speed once in the groove. Either the grove is too hard to keep, or the crew doesn't have it all dialed in. Watching the mark rounding and the first part of the downwind leg pretty much summed that up.

If A gets things figured out they have a chance. A tacking duel would suit them well. If today is an indication, BMWO has the sailing and teamwork advantage regardless of the boats.

Good thing this will only last for three racing days max, I'd end up getting fired if it lasted longer!

Off to have a cigarette...

the conversation about proas... funny. smyth did a great job. Too bad there isn't much of a market for him commentating.

Guys,

I just got home. How can I see the video. ESPN coverage seems to be USA only. Sailing Anarchy is down. The official AC33 site did not seem to have any video. Has interest been so big that it is taking down sites?