Both America’s Cup teams held press conferences on Friday evening in Valencia, three days ahead of Race One. Here are the “highlights.”


On who does what:


Bertarelli_Feb_5_2010Ernesto Bertarelli at the Alinghi base


Alinghi owner Ernesto Bertarelli announced that he intends to share the helm(s) of his catamaran with the great Loick Peyron.


Ellison_Spithill_Feb_5_2010Ellison, left, and helmsman Jimmy Spithill


BMW Oracle Racing owner Larry Ellison announced that he will not sail Race One (which threatens to have light winds), “Because there’s a weight limit. I’m disappointed, but I’m not going to do anything that jeopardizes our chances of winning the race.”


BOR_pressconferencePress conference at the BOR base


Ellison on the character of America’s Cup 33:


“It’s like a heavyweight championship fight where the fighters don’t like each other. People can be fascinated by things like that.”


Bertarelli on further court hearings:


“As far as I’m concerned it’s over on the water.”


Written by: Kimball Livingston
Kimball Livingston is a former senior editor, and now editor-at-large, for SAIL. His work also has appeared in Sailing World, Cruising World, Soundings, and more. Over three years, Kimball sailed the Centennial Transpacific, Centennial Newport-Bermuda, and 100th Chicago-Mac. His blog posts appear courtesy of his website www.KimballLivingston.com.