For a long time now, I have been intentionally tuning out much of the news surrounding the 33rd challenge for the America's Cup. If you have been following the saga at all, you'll know that for the past year the two teams set to compete in the Cup, BMW/Oracle and Alinghi, have been in and out of court on a weekly basis fighting over the terms of the race. For more info on the courtroom battles and propaganda coming out of each camp, go to another website.

While I have turned a deaf ear to the off-the-water drama of this Cup, I can no longer ignore the drama of the race. On Monday, Feb 8 at 4am Boston time, the two most technologically advanced racing sailboats ever built will take to the water and race each other. And at that moment, though I will likely be asleep, I will allow myself to forget about the battles over who, what, when and where that have plagued the New York State Court of Appeals over the past year and simply marvel at the idea of these two magnificent creatures finally facing each other head to head in a match race.

Millions of dollars and hundreds of thousands of man hours have gone into the design, construction and testing of each boat and each is a modern wonder. The technological innovations that have been created for this Cup will likely define the sport of high performance sailing for the next decade. Articles, documentaries, books, maybe college courses, will explain the science behind each feature onboard both machines. Sea lawyers will debate the details of this Cup, and Alinghi and BMW/Oracle may be back in court themselves. But for one week in Valencia, next week to be precise, the only things that will matter are the two boats sailing on the horizon, which one crosses the line first, and which team will lay claim to the most prestigious trophy in all of sailing, the America's Cup.

Live coverage will be shown on Americascup.com and Sailgroove will be sure to point you to the recap.

Chris Love
Sailgroove.org