Cara a cara. Face to face. Face to face. This is what sailors and fans had been longing for after two and a half years of gruelling court battles. And that's what it says on many posters in the Cup harbour in Valencia. Now it may have arrived, the day of judgement.
Match point for BMW Oracle Racing. Defender Alinghi is trailing 0:1 ahead of the second duel in the 33rd Americas Cup and has its back to the wall. The next victory will give the Americans "their" Americas Cup back after 15 years. Perhaps as early as today. The only hope in the Swiss camp: the predicted very light winds. The question of the day that unleashes so many emotions: Can Ernesto Bertarelli and his team still equalise their deficit? After last Friday's crushing defeat, do they still have an ace up their sleeve that no-one is expecting?
The weather at least seems to be in Switzerland's favour ahead of what could be the final showdown between the Cup giants on Sunday. Calm winds of around four knots could spur on the catamaran "Alinghi 5", which looked like a lame duck two days ago in the unequal duel against the winged trimaran "USA". "Today gives us hope, the forecast is rather on the light side," said Alinghi's Spanish navigator Juan Vila shortly before setting off from the Swiss base camp. "We'll see if we can do better than on Friday. In any case, the mood in the team is good," said strategist Murray Jones.
Larry Ellison's 138-metre luxury yacht "Rising Sun" also set sail at 10.30 am on Sunday morning. The start had already been postponed until 12 noon at the earliest. Observers eagerly searched the American spectator boats with their binoculars for any "suspicious" guests on board. Although the duel had not yet started, the question of the future "Challenger of Record" of the potentially victorious Americans was already the central topic in the Cup harbour that weekend.
In the modern Cup era, the winner chooses this Challenger of Record himself after preliminary negotiations. Usually, the lawyers and team representatives of the winner and the future first challenger sit on the same boat during the potentially final race, well protected from interference by third parties, and sign the necessary papers as they cross the finish line in the decisive race.
An Italian colleague from the Gazzetta dello Sport took the closest look and made a ground-breaking discovery: he spotted Alessandra Pandarese, the lawyer for the Italian team Mascalzone Latino. And this despite the fact that Signora Pandarese had sensibly "disguised" herself with a BMW Oracle Racing cap, jacket and trousers so as not to attract attention too soon. That went wrong and now at least it seems clear who will be BMW Oracle Racing's negotiating partner on the challengers' side in the 34th Cup cycle if the US team can actually win.
The Americans set off in the morning with very special wishes: "Mr Americas Cup" Dennis Conner had sent Larry Ellison's team the huge 100-metre-long US banner that flew in the US base camp in San Diego when he won his own race in 1988 with the catamaran "Stars & Stripes".
Tatjana Pokorny
Sports reporter
