AC33. Two amazing boats racing against themselves

I just watched the BMO press conference in Valencia, online along with 1,400 saddoes like me. It was a little under an hour of Q&A with Ellison, Coutts and Spithill.  Other than some silliness about not attending the Owners' Press Conference because Coutts is not invited, most of the comments stayed away from the bickering and focused on the sailing and the boat. Thank God! One thing is for absolute certain, no one has a clue what's going to happen. Monday is going to be full of surprises. For starters, no one has a confident handle on the weather and whether the race is going to happen at all. Coutts confirmed what we all know, that BMO is favored in heavier air and Alighi is favored in lighter air. Secondly they don't know who will be on the boat as they are still trying to make weight. Larry and Russell may be on the boat and then again maybe they won't. They weren't being cagey, they just didn't know. The most interesting points came from Spithill. Unless this was some huge ruse, it's clear that they are still learning about what the boat can and can't do. With every answer Spithill, reinforced the risks and uncertainties of sailing these boats to their limits. Simply tacking the boat requires a level of coordination and complexity that makes the older AC boats seem like sailing seem a laser. He looked almost wide-eyed about it. Coutts said it best. In older generations of AC boats, it was 50% about technology and 50% about sailing. With these boats, it's 95% about technology and 5% sailing. As a lot of it is new technology we know what that means.  As one of the questioners put it best, there is a 70% risk of gear failure. By my math that means that the odds are that neither boat could make it round the course. The most telling point was Spithill's final comments when he said that they will be mostly focused on sailing their boat versus watching the other boat. Now he could be lying through his teeth here but he made a convincing case that the biggest challenge is not outwitting Alighi on tactics but just making sure BMO gets round the course as fast as possible. Exciting yes but not much of a match race really, just two boats sailing to their individual limits. Still it will be fascinating and I will drag my ass out of bed at 4 am on Monday to watch it.