The 33rd America's Cup is set to begin in Spain today with a multi-hull duel pitting US side Oracle against Swiss defenders Alinghi which will feature the largest and fastest boats ever used in the 159-year history of the sailing race.
Oracle is looking to bring the Cup back to the United States for the first time in 15 years in their best-of-three face-off against Alinghi, which in 2003 became the first European winner of sailing's oldest and most prestigious trophy at its first attempt.
The race has traditionally been run in monohulls but this year for the first time both sides will sail multi-hulls which can sail at three times the speed of the wind.
Alinghi's catamaran, the Alinghi 5, features a mast that is as tall as a 17-storey building and a beam the equivalent of two tennis courts side by side.
It was so large that it had to be flown from Switzerland where it was built to Italy for initial sea trials under a helicopter.
Oracle's trimaran, the USA, has a solid vertical wingspan of 68 metres, more than twice the length of the wing of a Boeing 747 which is thought to give it an edge over Alinghi during strong winds.
"On paper, it's a clear advantage over a soft sale. It's on such a different scale to what has been done before," said Joseph Ozanne, an aeronautical specialist with Oracle's design team.
"You need massive tension to trim the soft sale. With a wing sail, you can get the shape you want much more easily."
The USA was sent from its base in San Diego to the Spanish port of Valencia, where the 33rd America's Cup, will take place on the deck of a cargo ship.
The first race is scheduled to begin at 10 a.m. (Malta time) today with subsequent races set for Wednesday and Friday.
The first and third races will be sailed over a 40-nautical-mile windward-leeward course. The second race is a 39-mile triangle.
"Every time you go to battle, you have to feel nervous. Anytime I have gone casually into anything I have ever done, I was not my best," Alinghi boss Ernesto Bertarelli said yesterday when asked how he felt before the first race.
The 44-year-old Swiss biotech mogul and the boss of Oracle, Larry Ellison, the 65-year-old head of software giant Oracle Cop., have been embroiled in a bitter legal conflict since Alinghi won the last Cup in Valencia in 2007. The two sides have sparred over the rules, dates and location of the event.
Regardless of which team wins, the 33rd America's Cup will likely be tied up in court long after it ends, just as in 1988 when the United States beat New Zealand in a similar one-on-one grudge match off the coast of San Diego, US.
In December Oracle accused Alinghi of infringing nationality rules by allegedly using US-made sails for its catamaran, something the Swiss side denies.
The New York court is due to consider that case on February 25.
That allows the contest in Valencia to go ahead today but it also means that an Alinghi victory could be overturned.