Wednesday, August 4, 2010

Day 2 complete

Racing on Day 2 of The 1851 Cup has concluded with TEAMORIGIN holding a 4-1 lead on the scoreboard.

RACE 3
TEAMORIGIN has claimed its third consecutive win over BMW ORACLE Racing in The 1851 Cup. The two crews came off the start line of Race 3 fairly even, with BMW ORACLE Racing to windward of TEAMORIGIN. On the racecourse, BMW ORACLE Racing had to tack away to port moments after starting, while TEAMORIGIN legged out on starboard before covering. At the first crossing TEAMORIGIN had the upper hand, crossing on port and tacking to cover. TEAMORIGIN led by 46 seconds at the first windward mark. The British crew maintained a similar advantage throughout the race.

The warning signal for Race 4 is scheduled for 1745 hours.

RACE 4
The fourth race of The 1851 Cup was easily the closest of the series. It featured luffing matches, lead changes and a finish delta of just 5 seconds. Unfortunately for BMW ORACLE Racing, they were on the wrong end of the outcome.

TEAMORIGIN led up the first leg and, with both boats on port tack, rode BMW ORACLE out past the starboard layline. TEAMORIGIN led by 11 seconds at the first windward mark, but on the run to the leeward gate was duped into a jibe by BMW ORACLE. With TEAMORIGIN sailing away on starboard jibe, BMW ORACLE held port jibe and opened a one boatlength advantage approaching the leeward gate. BMW ORACLE led through the gate, but TEAMORIGIN was able to round inside BMW ORACLE in a key moment in the race.

TEAMORIGIN soon tacked away to port to the right side of the racecourse and gained the starboard tack advantage. That would prove beneficial later up the short, 1.2NM beat when the teams were in a tacking duel. TEAMORIGIN held starboard and used it to round the second windward mark with a 9-second advantage. TEAMORIGIN sailed a clean run to the finish, jibing twice to BMW ORACLE’s three jibes, and won by 5 seconds.

The warning signal for Race 5 is scheduled for 1845.

RACE 5
BMW ORACLE Racing scored its first point of The 1851 Cup when TEAMORIGIN failed to start the race. The mainsail halyard lock failed with about 1 minute to the start, causing the sail to fall. A crewmember was sent aloft in an attempt to use a spare spinnaker halyard to hoist the sail, but the crew failed to start the race within the mandated time by the rules and was disqualified.

The race committee hopes to run a fourth race today if TEAMORIGIN can fix the halyard lock.