America’s Cup, BMW Oracle Racing promette una Coppa convenzionale
America's CupOracle Team USAVela 16 Maggio 2009 Zerogradinord 0
[singlepic=2470,300,204,,left]America’s Cup – Alicante – Russell Coutts non sarà al timone del trimarano – e forse non sarà nemmeno in barca – nel Deed of Gift contro Alinghi. Questo è quanto ha dichiarato il CEO di BMW Oracle Racing in un’intervista rilasciata al New Zealand Herald e, in merito alla 34ma edizione della Coppa, ha aggiunto: “In caso di nostra vittoria nella 33ma organizzeremo un evento multi challenger da disputare nel 2011”.
“Un oggetto come il nostro trimarano è una cosa che ti occupa il cento per cento del tempo e sono contento di poter dire che non è la mia area di competenza. James Spithill sarà lo skipper e con il suo equipaggio non ha fatto altro che lavorare all’ottimizzazione e alla conduzione”.
Coutts, che non si è detto affatto sorpreso di quanto accaduto in tribunale lo scorso giovedì, ha poi aggiunto che le accuse di spionaggio mosse da Alinghi erano a dir poco ridicole: “E’ una cosa comune in America’s Cup: anche i ragazzi di Alinghi sono venuti a fare lo stesso dalle nostre parti. Una volta ho addirittura offerto una cena a Peter Evans e Warwick Fleury, che gironzolavano dalle parti di San Diego. Loro, invece, se la sono presa con i nostri ragazzi, tentando di farli passare per criminali, quando non lo sono”.
Il CEO di BMW Oracle Racing ha detto di non sapere che mosse aspettarsi da Alinghi se dovesse perdere il Deed of Gift match e di non avere idea di dove Alinghi vorrà regatare, anche se Valencia sarebbe una località assai gradita al team statunitense.
AMERICA’S CUP, BMW ORACLE RACING PROMISE NORMAL CUP REGATTA
[Source New Zealand Herald] Russell Coutts will not skipper the trimaran in the America’s Cup battle against Alinghi – but says BMW Oracle Racing will back a ‘normal’ America’s Cup regatta in 2011 involving all challengers if they win the big multi-hull showdown.
Coutts, regarded by many as the best sailor in the world, is tactician on the Swedish boat Artemis at the Audi Med Cup regatta in Alicante.
But he has ruled himself out of trying to steer the massive trimaran with a truly scary sail area and reputedly able to garner impressive boat speed in even moderate winds.
“Something like that [the trimaran] is a 100 per cent, full-time, focus and I’m quite happy to say it’s not my area of expertise. James Spithill will skipper it and he and the crew have been doing nothing else but working out on it and getting to grips with it.”
However, Coutts, as CEO of BMW Oracle Racing, said an Oracle win would more than likely lead to a conventional, multi-challenger America’s Cup regatta in 2011.
Coutts was withering about the Alinghi court challenge that ended abruptly last week when the New York Supreme Court ruled the big multi-hulls contest would take place in February – Alinghi wanted May.
Coutts said Alinghi’s allegations of espionage were “ridiculous” and sought to make “something out of nothing”.
“It is an accepted part of what goes on in the America’s Cup,” he said. “We all do it – that’s why Alinghi have had people like Peter Evans and Warwick Flury hanging round in San Diego. Last time I was there, I took them all out to dinner – that’s how normal it is.”
“But they were quite vicious about our guy – they tried to make out he’d trespassed when it was quite clear he hadn’t and they tried to make out it was a criminal thing when it wasn’t.”
Asked if he thought Alinghi might resort to court action again if they did not win the multi-hull challenge, Coutts said he didn’t know. He also did not know if Alinghi would choose Valencia or a Southern Hemisphere venue.
Team NZ boss Grant Dalton, however, wasn’t so shy: “I’d say it would be a disadvantage to Alinghi if they tried the Southern Hemisphere. Logistically, I think it would just end up being a distraction to them and they could end up shooting themselves in the foot.”
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