..aBOUT B/O

*** courtesy of sailinganarchy.com***

I've Lost My Spectulaticals

The press centre is full of it. The blogs are full of it. And the Internet forums worldwide are more than full of it. What are they full of? Bullshit mostly, in my opinion.

The big subject is why BMW/O got well and truly kicked up the ass in these AC semis. There are many theories and many truths yet we can’t leave behind the obvious which tends to be forgotten amidst the fun and games of bullshit rendering.

Why did BMW/O fall short of its expectations?

The boat was beaten by a faster boat and although BMW/O showed good downwind speed at times, she was not up to scratch on all points of sail. The designers got their sums wrong.

Why were they beaten on the start line so easily?

The boat was beaten by a more maneouverable boat and although the BMW/O spiel machine informed us all about how advanced they were, it all came down to nothing. It was spiel and wishful thinking combined with some “Cool Equipment”, as explained in Peter Islers press conference.

Why did the Skipper have so much power over the whole campaign?

Chris Dickson asked for that power and was given it by Larry Ellison who is overall head of the campaign. Obviously there was trust between both parties and a plan to move forwards towards winning the cup itself.

Isn’t Chris Dickson a top class sailor?

Yes. Chris Dickson is a top class sailor, but, in my opinion he took on too much responsibility and lost the thread of what his goals were. He should have concentrated on what he is good at. Sailing.

I heard that Larry Ellison is just as capable a helmsman as Dicko, Is that true?

No. That is completely false. Uncle Larry is a very capable company director who suffers from a very large ego and an extremely fat wallet. These two attributes do not make him a world class sailor at this high level by any means. At most, Larry Ellison is a reasonable weekend helmsman who wishes to be recognised as a world class AC cup winning sailor. He thought that he could probably achieve that by riding on Dickson's back but failed. Watch out for the next contracted donkey who will probably fail in the same manner and hit the hard pavement in the same manner as Dickson. AC owners and sponsors pay and watch. AC teams get paid and sail, without uninformed opinions from wannabe cup buyers to guide them.

What was the main drawback to the BMW/O campaign in these semi finals of the LV?

James Spithill. He watched, waited, and struck at the perfect moment every time. The BMW/O crew had no answer to his tactics and didn’t have a boat capable of supporting the tactical failings.

What are the conclusions of this failure of BMW/O?

BMW/O came into this edition with money, hype, and a good record. They failed on four counts.

1: The boat was initially fast but got slower as RR2 progressed.

2: Chris Dickson was given too much responsibility and as such could not give 100% to any single part of his responsibilities.

3: The owner wished to win the cup personally but without the sailing ability to do so off of his own back. He should have kept control of the campaign while staying away from the boat. At this level of competition the teams are comprised of professional sailors. There is no space for egoists and rich amateurs.

4: They came up against a much superior team and boat and I suspect that any of the other two boats would have soundly beaten them as well.

They, the team, and they, the designers, got it all wrong yet no single factor is to blame. The combination of many small failures were enough to cook up a disaster which will not be forgotten for a long, long, time.

WcW

PS. Have you heard that Alinghi have sold SUI 75 to a British team called Origin? Not very Original for something to practice with, and,coupled with the fact that the boat wasn’t considered good enough for sailing and was planted on a grass patch as an AC exhibit makes it difficult to believe that this team is actually serious. Still, it keeps the interest up, and, with the purported 18,000 man hours it supposedly took to build it, I can only wonder at who is going to pay the 18,000 man hours it’ll need to make it mildly competitive. Alinghi must be laughing all the way to the bank. OOPS. I forgot. They own the bank.

05/22/07

*** courtesy of sailinganarchy.com***