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Oracle's Early April Fool's Joke?
We already reported that Oracle briefly launched their “new” boat for dockside testing and tweaking on Monday. Reliable sources confirm that the boat then sailed for the first time on Tuesday, and that it has a bowsprit. Several knowledgeable sources say the bowsprit looks like a toy. Maybe fake. Is a bowsprit even legal? Remember Cayard vs. the Kiwis in ‘92? We are told bowsprits are now legal but only under certain circumstances. So far the only pictures we have seen are on www.valenciasailing.com. The team is making no attempt to conceal it. Another source tells us that the class rules require that bowsprits be “bolt on” and not part of the boat’s structure. Meaning Oracle could christen their “new” boat Monday with or without a bowsprit, and afterwards one could easily be bolted on or taken off. It will be interesting to see if the boat they christen has a bowsprit, and if it does whether they make a big deal out of it, or try to slough it off as some minor development. If we are right, and they are trying to bait the opposition with a red herring, they would make a big deal out of it. Two of our informants said that for Tuesday’s sailing Oracle tried in vain to disguise their “new” boat by using a mainsail with 71. And that their “old” boat, which was also out sailing, had 87 on her mainsail. Tricky huh? The sail-number switcheroo was lame-ass, our informats say, because the bowsprit easily distinguishes the new boat from the old. But does it? Today, we heard from a veteran AC friend who is with another top team. A former Cup winner, he says that Oracle may be trying to pull the Kiwi wool over everyone’s eyes. The AC vet says they have studied photos taken Tuesday of the Oracle boats towing out and sailing, and that the boat with the bowsprit and carrying sail number 71 could actually be Oracle’s old but significantly modified USA 71. Reverse psychology? He says they are sure that yesterday’s boat with the sail number 87 - and no bowsprit - was actually 76. If so, he says, Oracle’s new boat has not yet seen the Valencian light of day, and probably won’t until next Monday’s ceremony – if then. What? He says that no one, outside of a core group within the team, will even know which boat Oracle actually christens on Monday, and that they could just as easily be “christening” 71 as 87. Regardless, there is little doubt it will be heavily skirted. Does anyone also doubt that after the christening you will see the “new” boat with 87 on its sails? But SA may have uncovered the smoking gun. Overnight we heard this from a friend in Team Alingi:- last month, after Oracle’s boat was unloaded from the plane at Valencia Airport and was being trucked to the AC harbor from Valencia Airport, the truck and boat mysteriously detoured into the Valencia yacht club where Oracle had a temporary team base until January this year. The boat was backed into their old compound and two hours later an ACC boat with different covers reappeared behind the same truck and continued to their new base at the AC harbor. Rumor then out of the Oracle camp was that the YC detour was because they were waiting for a police escort to arrive for the last few kilometers. Huh? The AC Harbor and Port is the one area in Valencia that is swarming with police. Alinghi’s people say they have pictures of Oracle’s little side-trip into the yacht club that night. Could this have been the big switch? Anyone with more 411 on this? Pictures? Developing… 03/24/06 |
