BMW ORACLE Racing completed the Louis Vuitton Act 5 fleet regatta in
Valencia in 4th place overall after three days of primarily light-air racing.

USA-76 skipper and tactician John Kostecki said the team had learned
valuable lessons in the Acts 4 and 5 regattas and would apply them in testing in the months ahead as the team continues design work towards the America’s Cup in 2007. The team will also continue in-house training in July in preparation for this season’s four additional regattas starting with Louis Vuitton Act 6 in Malmo, Sweden, 25th August.

In the final race today, a broken gennaker on the first downwind run cost BMW ORACLE Racing dearly and undid the steady progress USA-76 had made through the fleet in the open stages of the race.

After a bold and unconventional port-tack start behind the fleet, USA-76 worked its way into contention, rounding the first mark in 5th place and then attacking down the leeward run to claim 3rd place at one point.

However, the light-wind gennaker ripped during a gybe and, by the time a replacement gennaker was hoisted, USA-76 had slid back down the fleet. Going into the final race, BMW ORACLE Racing was still in contention for the overall win, but the final race result destroyed any chance of a top placing.

After a Race Committee protest against Victory Challenge for a breach of the class rules, the Swedish team was disqualified from Race 4, which cost the team overall victory in Act 5.
FINAL RACE SUMMARY — BMW ORACLE Racing elected to make a bold move at the start, crossing behind the fleet on port tack and then shooting out for the right hand side of the course. The tactic paid off and, after playing the shifts well up the first windward leg, USA-76 rounded the mark in 5th place.

Down the first leeward run, USA-76 continued to press the attack, moving up to 3rd place at one stage. However, as the team gybed from starboard onto port to move into the middle of the course, their light-wind gennaker split across, a third of the way from the top.

In the light fickle breeze, the loss of momentum was punishing and, by the time a replacement gennaker was set, USA-76 had slid back in the fleet.

The team rounded the leeward mark 11th, picked up a place on the next upwind leg, but were unable to make any further inroads and finished in 10th place.

The Spanish Desafio Espanol 2007 team won the race, closely followed by Mascalzone Latino Capitalia and Victory Challenge.

QUOTES:
John Kostecki, BMW ORACLE Racing skipper/tactician on the port tack start: “At first we wanted to go left, but it looked like way too much of a fight down at the pin end of the line. We didn’t want to tack and get mixed up in the bunch, so we kept going on port, dipped the fleet and started on the right. It was a smart move.

“We worked the shifts well up the beat and got ourselves in a good
position.”

On the broken gennaker during the downwind run: “We had worked ourselves into 3rd place when we gybed onto port. The gennaker caught on the jumper struts in the gybe and ripped.

“There was a delay in getting a replacement up, because our spare halyard was up the mast with the wind spotter. We had to get the broken gennaker down and use that halyard for the replacement. At this point we were close to other boats and, in the light air, they took our wind. It was a big disappointment.”

Overall comments on Acts 4 and 5 in Valencia: “We have learned a lot. It was good to check in and see the other teams all in Version Five. We didn’t win these regattas, but we are definitely not far off the pace.

“The fleet regatta was all in light airs and we were configured for a bit more wind. Little things like that worked against us. Our boat has good speed — probably not the fastest in light air, but we are not far off. We need to keep our heads up and keep working. We have a big testing program coming up and we will keep moving forward.”

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