… The opening salvos in what promises to be a tense tactical battle to the finish of Leg 6 were fired this morning in the North Atlantic. Telefonica Blue was first to blink, going into StealthPlay at the 07:00 GMT Position Report.
The gap between Telefonica Blue and Ericsson 4 had closed to six miles at the time. Under the amended sailing instructions for Stealth this leg, Bouwe Bekking and his men will come out of hiding at 19:00 GMT.
Bekking hinted yesterday that there would be a flurry of Stealth cards before Boston Harbour comes into view, and he was right. Ericsson 4 followed suit at 10:00 GMT…Â Details
What else could Telefónica Blue do? At 0700 GMT this morning, Ericsson had inched to within six miles of the blue boat and skipper Bouwe Bekking was faced with an important tactical decision.
Now running hard downwind, the wind direction had called for a gybe, and Bekking’s dilemma was when, exactly, should he carry out the manoeuvre? He took the only decision he could and played his Stealth card, keeping secret, at least for 12 hours, the moment he made his move. Telefónica Blue’s position will be revealed on the 1900 GMT position report tonight.
‘A very tricky call has to be made. You gybe too early and you run out of pressure, you gybe too late and you end up with a bad angle to the whale exclusion box, as the breeze will come rapidly forward until we are hard on the wind. That will be the race call,’ Bouwe explained yesterday…Â Details
The America’s Cup seems to be destined to return to Court as a result of the action of Defender, Societe Nautique de Geneve rejecting the offer of a Multi Challenger event sailed in yachts to the AC33 rule, made by the Challenger of Record, Golden Gate Yacht Club.
At a meeting in Geneva, on Thursday, SNG/Alinghi did not accept the Multi Challenger proposal, instead they opted for a Match in 90ft or 115ft LWL multihulls, the maximum sized yacht allowed in the Deed of Gift.
SNG/Alinghi also announced that they would Defend in May 2010, and apparent contravention of a New York Supreme Court order requiring a match to be sailed on 8 February 2010…Â Details & PicturesÂ
[ad#cor1]
Societe Nautique de Geneve and the new Challenger of Record,Golden Gate Yacht Club met for the first time in Geneva overnight NZT.
The outcomes of the meeting were that the offer of a Multi Challenger event in AC33 class yachts was rejected by the Defender along with other proposals made two days ago by Golden Gate YC.
Instead the Defender opted for a Multihull Match, and set a date two months later than that stipulated by the New York Supreme Court.
Following the meeting the following statements were issued…Â DetailsÂ