After two good appearances at Acts 6 and 7 in Malmö, BMW Oracle Racing made up two places in the 2005 challenger standings. Alinghi remains the measure of all things. The Swiss continue to lead in the overall standings.
Before the regattas in Sweden, BMW Oracle Racing was third in the 2005 Louis Vuitton Rankings with 19 points behind LunRossChallenge (20 points) and Emirates Team New Zealand (21). After BMW Oracle Racing won both Malmö Acts 6 and 7 as the best As the challenger and finished second in the overall standings, the team is now ahead of Emirates Team New Zealand and LunRossChallenge in the annual standings.
At 1:00 p.m. local time on the dot, the race committee canceled the last race of the regatt before Malmö on Sunday. A fog bank had settled over the regatta field, and unsteady light winds made a regular race impossible. The decision was generally accepted as the correct one in the circumstances. The eagerly awaited duel for overall victory between teams BMW Oracle Racing and Team Alinghi with the same number of points did not materialize. Alinghi won the Fleetrace anyway, and if there was a tie, the better placed in the last race sailed against each other had priority. BMW Oracle Racing takes second place
After both regattas as the best challenger and second overall, BMW Oracle helmsman Chris Dickson said the result shows that the team is still waiting to catch up with Alinghi. In two of three fleet races, however, BMW Oracle Racing finished ahead of Alinghi, and both teams scored the same number of points. "That shows that the gap is not too big," said Dickson.
Alinghi won Act 4 (match race) in Valencibe this year, took second place in Act 5 (Fleetrace) and won Acts 6 (match race) - with 11-0 wins - and 7 in Malmö.
Brad Butterworth, Alinghi vice-president and tactician, saw the end of Malmö with a laughing and a crying eye: "We're a little disappointed that we couldn't sail. We'd rather win on the water. But even if we did before a race has been abandoned, we are convinced that we have done enough to win. It is nice to win two regattas in the same place. And now we are looking forward to Trapani."
On the still open helmsman question (in Valenciwar Peter Holmberg on the bike, in Malmö Jochen Schümann), Germany's exceptional sailor Schümann said: "Ed Baird is at the helm and we will change a few positions, just like we did here. So people will see a different Alinghi crew at work. I myself will be in the back of the boat in my normal role as a strategist."
After a turbulent week, United Internet Team Germany set a sporty exclamation mark. Willy Kuhweide, commodore of the German Challenger Yacht Club, put it this way: "The seventh place achieved in this class is a significant increase compared to Valencia, which I would not have expected." Seventh place in the Fleetrace was the best final result in the four qualifying regattas in 2005.
For the upcoming acts in Trapani from September 29th to October 9th, the German crew will be reinforced by three more German sailors. Syndicate boss Uwe Sasse: "With Markus Koy, Jan Schoepe and Gunnar Bahr we have been able to sign experienced German sailors. In addition, with Lutz Patrunki, we are joined by a competent sailing trainer who will support us during the training days in Kiel."
Looking at the last act of 2005, but especially looking back at the events at the beginning of the week, when sports director Andreas John was on leave due to internal quarrels (YACHT online reported), Sasse said: "Seventh place and the one due to the events The strengthened team spirit gave us confidence so that we might be able to provide a surprise or two in Sicily."