33rd America's Cup - BMW ORACLE Racing wins 2-Zip

It has taken 9 court cases and over 250,000 man-hours to build two of the most technically advanced sailing yachts in history to race the 33rd America's Cup. In the end, it took little more than four and a half hours of racing for Oracle software billionaire Larry Ellison, skipper James Spittall, team boss Sir Russell Coutts, tactician John Kostecki and the rest of their BMW Oracle crew to wrest the 159 year old trophy from the Swiss hands of Ernesto Bertarelli and his Alinghi crew with a 2-0 victory. The fight, which began in 2007 with cries of foul play and demands for a level playing field by the challengers, after Bertarelli, a 2-time Cup winner, attempted to establish a Formula 1 style commercial race series, but with rules, heavily slanted in the defender's favour. Club Nautico di Roma becomes the Challenger of Record for the XXXIV America's Cup with Mascalzone Latino Audi Team expected to bring back the technical and sporting tradition that has distinguished the America's Cup in sailing. There are now some big questions that the America’s Cup community and the sport of yacht racing are asking. 1) Where will the 34th America’s Cup be sailed? 2) What will the boats be like? 3) What structural changes will take place, if any, in the management of the America’s Cup? If you blinked you may of missed it over Chinese New Year, so take a look at the Live coverage beginning with the complete AY Roundup and racing images in the AY Race 1 Photo Gallery, Race 2 & Roundup Photo Gallery If you missed out on watching either of the two races from the 33rd America's Cup, here are the links courtesy of BMW Oracle to watch the replay: AC33 Race 1 and AC 33 Race 2