Grant Simmer on the BMW Oracle Deed of Gift Match boat

Can you describe what your first impressions are having seen the Oracle DoG boat sailing now?
GS: We have been really impressed with the work that their design team has done and particularly their boat building team. It’s an incredibly impressive boat and the fact that they have been able to bring it on line and get it sailing – in light conditions, but with the boat quite loaded up, flying the centre hull frequently and looking at a whole range of sails – clearly shows that all the systems on the boat are working. We give them credit for what they’ve done, it’s impressive, an impressive vessel, that’s for sure.

Are there any surprises? Has the design team seen anything that jumps out?
GS: Well, obviously we were keenly waiting for a chance to look at it when they opened the tent up. Is it a surprise, no – but it looks like it’s going to be really competitive, it looks like it’s oriented towards light air and smooth water.

And now it is launched, has Alinghi received the long awaited Customs House Registry supposed to be delivered by BOR ‘as soon as possible’?
GS: No we haven’t and there is a public exchange of letters on the internet for everyone to have a look at. At the moment they haven’t issued it and they haven’t given us an indication of when they intend to, although I think they have said a few times that they would do it ‘as soon as possible’ which is long since expired, months ago in fact.

Is it your opinion that this is their DoG race boat?
GS: We believe that the boat specified in their Deed of Gift challenge is the boat that they have to race and since they argued that they were going to be ready to race this year, it is clear that the boat that we are watching sailing in Anacortes at the moment is their race boat. The team has declared it several times to the media and they know very well that when you issue a Deed of Gift challenge you describe the vessel that you are going to challenge with. It doesn’t mean that you can build a series loosely fitting some vague dimensions provided in the challenge document and then pick one of the boats at a later date. In your challenge you indentify your boat by naming it and then registering it as soon as possible. Modern America’s Cups which have all been run - except for 88 - under mutual consent conditions have all allowed teams to build more than one boat and then decide which one they are going to race. But for Deed of Gift challenges throughout history, you describe the name of the vessel you are going to challenge in and that’s it. There’s never been a substitution of vessel.