Team Base Revelry

Last evening at the BMW ORACLE Racing base, Leslie and Meg standing by as we feted our old AC friend, Bob "The Fish" Fisher (GBR, journalist/ historian), on the occasion of his 72nd birthday. Full story on the team blog.

AC Vets

TFE with old long-time Cup friends and veterans Bruno Trouble (FRA), Dyer Jones (USA) and Christine Belanger (FRA) at a recent informal reception in the Port America's Cup. Bruno founded the Louis Vuitton Cup in Newport for the '83 Cup. Dyer, who was for years our next-door neighbor in Newport, is the overall Regatta Director for AC 32 and ran the last two LVC's in Auckland. Christine is LV's sponsorship director for AC 32. Yikes, between among* the four of us we have done something like 40 America's Cups. Nice photo courtesy of LV's Monica Savini (FRA/USA).

*grammar corrected thanks to Grandma Jan

AC TV

The America's Cup will be carried on the Versus network (formerly OLN) in and around the USA. I just posted a story about ACTV and Versus on the Challenger Commission Blog.

For those of you in and near Ann Arbor, Versus says this is where you can find them on your TV dial:

Comcast - Ann Arbor		Channel number 71
Comcast - Ann Arbor (Digital)		Channel number 71
DIRECTV Detroit - Detroit		Channel number 608
DISH Detroit - Detroit		Channel number 151
DIRECTV - USA		Channel number 608
DISH Network - USA		Channel number 151

Others of you in North America can find your Versus channel here.

Marketing Minds

Two of TFE's good Cup friends, who are themselves close friends -- Mirko Groeschner (GER) and Lars Boecking (GER), respectively the marketing directors for BMW ORACLE Racing and Shosholoza, and two of the top marketing minds in the sport. TFE photo.

For Grandma Jan and Sister Ruth

Saturday evening "deener" at Casa Ehman. Nice Argentine beef marinated by Leslie and grilled to near perfektion on the barbecue.



Meg and Rachel in front of USA-61, the 2000-era Cup boat now used as a "show boat", outside of the BMW ORACLE Team Base in the Port America's Cup in Valencia on Sunday.



To think that TFE Sr and Jan are only 20 years older than Jr, yet Jr is 40 years older than Meg. Yikes, Meg, you got old-fart parents! Photo by Rachel.

Ann Arbor's AC Team?

If for some odd reason our family and friends in A2 do not want to get behind and cheer for the "home" America's Cup team, the USA's BMW ORACLE Racing, then maybe you will find reason to back Sweden's Victory Challenge. From this morning's issue of the popular sailing newsletter Scuttlebutt....

* The Victory Challenge’s new America’s Cup boat, SWE 96, has been named Järv, or wolverine in English. The wolverine is one of the least known predators which is remarkably strong for its size and often described as cunning. By naming SWE 96 Järv, Victory Challenge continues its tradition of giving their America’s Cup boats names from nature. The two boats built in Auckland, SWE 63 and SWE 73 were called Örn, eagle, and Orm , snake. -- http://www.victorychallenge.com



Järv, training off Valencia against one of Victory's 2003 Cup boats in recent days. Photo: Victory Challenge.



Järv (upper right corner) was christened last night at a raging party, sponsored by title partner Red Bull, at their team base in Valencia. Photo: TFE.



You Univ of Mich fans will even appreciate the colors of the Swedish
national flag.

YP

Peter Huston (pronounced liked the Americans say "Houston", as in the city) is often referenced here on the EFB, and is a frequent contributor to the widely-read Scuttlebutt (North America) sailing newsletter.

A bit of a gadfly, but one of the keenest observers of the passing sailing scene, Peter has been a good friend since our USYRU days in the 80s. He is a native of cold, snowy Buffalo where he once again resides, though when we met years ago he was running the sailing program at Balboa Yacht Club in Newport Beach, CA. Thanks to Peter, we once raced together from Newport to Ensenada with America's Most Trusted Man.

When I gave a talk at Portage YC a few weeks back on the America's Cup, "YP" (as in "Young Peter," since he was among the youngest, to say nothing of one of the most outspoken, delegates to USYRU in those days) drove over to Ann Arbor for the night, getting the long distance award. He wrote this nice piece on the talk for a Great Lakes sailing newsletter....


America's Cup News, by Peter Huston: "Don, Thought you might like this report for the newsletter on the BMW Oracle Racing presentation I attended this weekend. Peter

BMW Oracle Racing Yacht Club presentation: This past weekend, I was the guest of Tom Ehman, who is the Chairman of the Executive Committee for the BMW Oracle Racing Team, the Golden Gate YC's entry into the coming America's Cup, at special presentation of the plans for the Cup next spring in Valencia, Spain. Tom spoke at the Portage Yacht Club, located on Portage Lake which is just west of Ann Arbor, MI.

The presentation centered around "What's New for 32" - meaning the improvements in the structure of the event so that is more understandable and interesting for the audience. Most of these changes have been well reported by the general sailing press over the past few years, and particular on the BMW Oracle blog. Simply put, the earlier regattas, called "ACTS", were vastly more accessible to the general public as they traveled throughout Europe. The ACC rule has been tightened up so that the boats are going to be more even in speed, hence the racing will be closer than ever. It is likely that one of the "Big Three" - Emirates Team New Zealand, BMW Oracle, or Luna Rosa will win the Louis Vuitton Cup and hence the right to sail in the America's Cup against the defender Alinghi, but it is also likely that these teams will lose occassional races to the up and coming teams. In any event, the racing will be more interesting than ever.

While some lament the good old days of a simpler time in the Cup, the fact is that the changes in the event, which are model after Formula One auto racing, are just another example of a natural progression and growth in the sport. The America's Cup gives the sport a great deal - a large percentage of technical advancements in the sport start in the America's Cup because this is where the R&D money is available to test new technology. I remember seeing the first 3DL sails in the '92 Cup.

But more than the technology development is the global media attention the Cup gives to the sport. Many people wonder how to "grow the sport" - we need to look no further than the America's Cup, and related events. Tom spoke of his trip last weekend to Malaysia for the Monsoon Cup, which by his estimate (and he's been involved in 8 prior Cups and countless other major championships, including the Olympics) had the largest TV audience ever, with a global TV footprint of 1.6 Billion (yes, Billion) homes, which was accomplished through Sail.tv. Not all homes of course tuned in, but no sailing event has ever had that sort of reach.

The America's Cup validates the sport of sailing as a desirable sponsor opportunity. While I have no real specific information, I think it is safe to assume that BMW is not partnering with Oracle Racing because they hope to eventually sell Larry Ellison an M6. BMW and Allianz know that their significant investments in Oracle Racing pay meaningful global marketing dividends. And one must consider that it is not just the money that is at stake for these companies - their very brand reputation is at stake. They have analyzed every sport, and picked sailing for a primary association.

Now a word about Portage YC in terms similar to our geography. This lake is no bigger than Abino Bay if it were to become a closed circle around its current radius. It is located in farm country much like Silver Lake. It is full of families that have had multiple associations with locally indigenous classes like the Interlake and Flying Scot, with the occasional Sunfish and Laser thrown in for good measure, just as we have Lighting's and now J-22's. Some of the people we race against in Lighting's, like George Fisher, race at Portage YC in Interlakes. The quality and depth of competition is similar. Indeed, Tom Ehman has won the US Sailing Championships of Champions twice.

The level of commitment to bettering the sport is evident when you look around the room during Tom's presentation and see the likes of US Sailing stalwarts Clark Chapin and Past President Bill Martin. Little Portage YC, located on a lake that is probably more a wide spot in the creek than anything else, is the type of place that makes our sport what it is. The sense of family support, long and deep roots, a casual and comfortable graciousness, a common sense approach to major accomplishments - these are the values that the likes of BMW and Allianz have elected to support when they partnered with Oracle Racing. These are the same things that all clubs have to offer to their sailing communities.

There are several excellent websites that report on the America's Cup, but for my five minutes in the morning while drinking my wakeup coffee, the one that I have come to count on for interesting information - and because it is the site of the only US based team is the BMW Oracle blog, which you can access here http://bmworacleracing.twoday.net/

One team will claim the Cup around July 1 next summer. But the whole sport is going to be the big winner because of what is 'new for 32'."



650-acre (2.6 sq km) Portage Lake, between Dexter and Pinckney, Michigan, 14 miles northwest of Ann Arbor, home of the Portage Yacht Club.



TFE and YP at Portage YC after my AC talk there Saturday evening 9 December. Self-portrait on the ubiqitous Palm Treo 680. Not a great phone cam, but passable -- even in poor lighting at night.

Allianz Cup a Great Success

Last week at the Allianz Cup in San Francisco, Larry Ellison (right) tries to roll over Paolo Cian in their Flight 1 match, won by Cian. (Allianz Cup/Bob Grieser photo.)



It was a pleasure to serve as the host of the race commentary and emcee of the post-race press conferences. Details also at the BMW ORACLE Racing Blog and Sail.tv.



While in SFO, we were invited to attend the Oracle Open World concert Tuesday night featuring Elton John. I accompanied Judy Sim (above, left), a good friend and Chief Marketing Officer of Oracle Corp. As such Judy is liaison to our AC team on behalf of Oracle, to say nothing of being the overall organizer of Oracle Open World. With 40,000+ attendees, it is one of the largest annual conventions in the world.

The AC Turns 155

Yesterday was the 155th birthday of the America's Cup, the date (22 August) in 1851 on which the yacht America raced and beat 14 British vessels around the Isle of Wight -- spawning the adventure we are on in Spain and have now been involved with, in one capacity or another, for (yikes!) 26 years.

You may find interesting the story posted about the Cup's birthday on the BMW ORACLE Racing team blog. There's a few bits, too, on the Challenger Commission blog.