During the night from Saturday to Sunday, the three winning yachts of Act 1 were badly damaged in the harbour of Marseille. A 67-knot gust tipped them out of their racks on the pier.
The New Zealanders were hit the hardest. Their yacht NZL 82, which didn't exactly bring their team many moments of happiness in the America's Cup final against Alinghi, was slashed open by a container.
"The container edge is still deep in the hull," says Kiwi boss Grant Dalton. "It is questionable whether the ship can be repaired at all." What is certain is that the New Zealanders will not be taking part in Act 2 from 4 to 12 October in Valencia. Our second boat is currently being refitted in New Zealand and is 12,500 miles away. It would take six weeks to make it to Valencia."
Dalton blames no one but "that big guy up there in the sky" for the disaster. "We knew a storm was coming. That's why we took down our tent at the base. But our weather people said it wouldn't blow that hard, just rain. But it must have been a tornado. The only strange thing is that hardly anything
hardly anything was damaged. The tornado probably only touched the ground very briefly where our boats were."
Team Alinghi's Cup-winning yacht SUI 64 was also badly damaged. "We fear that there is structural damage," explains Alinghi spokesman Grant Simmer. "We will try to repair the boat for the next Act. But we may also have to use SUI 75."
For BMW Oracle, Chris Dickson says: "It was a big shock to see the keel of our boat three metres away from its frame. There's a big hole in the hull. These yachts are very
fragile and not built to stand on their keel. That's why we fear structural damage. But thank God we have a second boat in Valencia that we can have ready in ten days."
The three other America's Cup yachts were not damaged. According to an internal report, the local K-Challenge team had even dismantled the mast after the regatta.
In view of the storm damage, the results of the show regatta almost faded into the background. The eagerly awaited rematch of the America's Cup final between Alinghi and Emirates Team New Zealand was won by the Kiwis after Schümann and Co had to relinquish their secure lead due to a torn genoa.
The race of the giants between BMW Oracle and Alinghi went to the Swiss this time. After an unspectacular start, Alinghi secured the left-hand side and took the lead after a left-hand turn. Alinghi's lead at the finish was 15 seconds.
The performance of the Le-Défi crew around helmsman Philippe Presti was also remarkable. After a lacklustre performance in the fleet races, they dominated their opponents from K-Challenge and Team Shosholoza in the sailing duels and moved up to fourth place overall.
Team (Fleet Race Points), (Match Race Points), Total Points
1st BMW OracleRacing Team (22), (24), 46 Points
2nd Team Alinghi (20), (24), 44 Points
3. Emirates Team New Zealand (18), (24), 42 points
4th Le Défi (5), (12), 17 points
5th K-Challenge (11), (6), 17 points
6th Team Shosholoza (8), (0), 8 Points
