Edition 2003 #3

The America's Cup is unquestionably the foremost of sailing events. The PERFECT HORIZON has been in the thick of the action for years.

In the summer of 2002, John Sweeney, a member of the Oracle/BMW America's Cup Yacht Racing Team, made good on his passion for America's Cup yachts of past fame.  Founding the IACC, John brought together 5 of the famous yachts for a summer regatta. It was a great day on the San Francisco bay.  Larry Ellison came out to skipper the Oracle-BMW yacht which won the day, but great sailing was exhibited by all the teams. BMW, having recently joined the Oracle syndicate, hired Motion Picture Marine with our PERFECT HORIZON to film the races  for their website and dealership displays.

The day was no joy ride. San Francisco is known for strong currents and nasty wave conditions. The race was thrilling as we chased the Oracle/BMW yacht upwind at close to 18 knots! Our 30' camera boat  pounded unmercifully in the rough chop with everyone holding on just to remain aboard. The PERFECT HORIZON took it all in stride, smoothed out the chop and allowed the production team from Germany to film beautiful images.  Especially spectacular was Oracle/BMW tacking  towards the Golden Gate Bridge. Agency Producer Rolf Kutzera was thrilled with the footage. The U.S. producers were; Commercials While You Wait.

The real America's Cup action started in October of 2002 with the Louis Vuitton challenger series.  Nine syndicates representing six countries battled it out on Auckland's Hauraki Gulf.  The final round robin saw USA's Oracle/BMW take on Alinghi for the Swiss.  The PERFECT HORIZON was used by Producer Bruce Hamady and cameraman Paul Marbury to capture magnificent footage of the Oracle/BMW training sessions. In the finals, Alinghi prevailed, winning the Louis Vuitton trophy and the right to challenge Team New Zealand for the America's Cup.

The showdown started February 15, 2003 in a best of 9 series. There was thrill of victory for Alinghi as they sailed near perfect races. Team New Zealand put up an admirable battle, but was plagued by equipment failures. The PERFECT HORIZON was  on the race course sporting the new Sony HDW-F900 High Definition Camera.  DP and cameraman Ben Allen from Australia had never before used the PERFECT HORIZON.  Nonetheless, it took only a few moments to love the stabilized images, and only a few minutes before the rig was a natural extension of his normal shooting stance.

 

DP/Cameraman Ben Allen records the tragedy of Team New Zealand's shattered mast on race 4.

Alinghi, taking line honors is escorted back to Auckland by jubilant fans and police cruisers. Sony's HDW-F900 Hi-Def camera mounted atop the PERFECT HORIZON captures the moment.

Visit San Francisco this summer and watch the IACC races. Alinghi, Oracle/BMW, and a host of other America's Cup Yachts, both past and present, will bring the bay alive with some of the best sailing in the world. For info: http://www.iaccsf.com/ (International America's Cup Class - San Francisco.)

During the America's Cup racing, I had a wonderful opportunity to get airborne and direct some aerial sequences with Heletranz and their new Sony HDW-F950 Hi Def camera.  Owner and pilot Tony Monk has housed the camera in the new Cineflex stabilization head.  Cameraman Peter Thompson did a brilliant job on the camera controls. We were able to shoot fantastic straight look-down shots of the boats under spinnaker, all while staying above the 2,000' no fly zone.