Cup Experience

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Why No Team Launched Their Race Boat Yet

Teams were allowed to launch their AC Class race boats almost two weeks ago, but no one did. Why not? It’s not only the holiday schedule. The rules changed. Again. All teams must pick 28 consecutive days when they do not sail their AC Class yachts. If they take their blackout days after launching, they may not work on their boat during the blackout period. So the only logical thing to do is to take your blackout period before launching. A quick look at a calendar lets us figure that the four teams already in Bermuda – Oracle, Japan, Artemis and BAR – should launch on Monday 6 February. This will leave them 109 days to develop and learn to sail their race boat before the first day of racing on Friday 26 May.
Why the rule change? It is probably part of making amends to Team New Zealand for ACEA pulling the round robin AC Qualifiers out of Auckland back in March 2015. Read about that dispute here. Confidentiality rules prevent the teams from confirming that the Arbitration Panel awarded damages to ETNZ. ETNZ will use the blackout period to ship their boat to Bermuda. Groupama Team France will do the same. Rules geeks who want all the details can download the most recent Protocol here and read Article 35.5.

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Pro Sailors Sink While Racing Bahamian Sloop

The Star Sailors League in Nassau last week had probably the most decorated field of sailors ever seen on a starting line – 16 Olympic medalists with 10 gold, 10 silver and 12 bronze medals, joined by two Volvo Ocean Race winners and other notables. After the championship racing, some of them joined the locals to race Bahamian sloops – over canvassed, low freeboard wooden boats with pry boards for hiking. I got drafted to sail with two world champions, an Olympic silver medalist and a European champion. We sank.

I’m at the end of the aft pry board while Jonas Høgh Christensen (Finn Silver medalist in London) and Taylor Canfield (blue shirt, Match Racing world champion) on the forward pry board listen to our Bahamian tactician Warren Adderley. Star world champion George Szabo was on the helm and European champion Johannes Polgar was trimming the main. Click the photos to see the video.

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2017 Racing in Bermuda – Three Phases

The America’s Cup Match is the final and most important phase, between defender Oracle Team USA and the winner of the “Challenger Playoffs” (formerly known as the Louis Vuitton Cup). Racing begins on 26 May 2017 with the double round robin “America’s Cup Qualifiers.” All six teams, including defender Oracle, race in the round robin. One challenger is then eliminated. The four remaining challengers go into the “Challenger Playoffs” for first-to-five-points semi-finals and and finals. The America’s Cup Match is first-to-seven-points. If either team in the America’s Cup Match won the Qualifiers, their opponent starts with a score of minus one (-1). This is for the TV schedule, to increase the likelihood of the AC Match being completed on the second Sunday, 25 June.

The America’s Cup World Series finished last month. Winner Land Rover BAR earned two points in the AC Qualifiers; runner-up Oracle earned one. Leaderboard for the round robin AC Qualifiers that begin 26 May 2017 in Bermuda:

Land Rover BAR and Oracle earned the bonus points from the AC World Series. At the end of the Qualifiers, ties will be broken according to the final results of the AC World Series.

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Penalties – Don’t Tack or Gybe

Groupama Team France and Emirates Team New Zealand both got penalties in Race 5 in Fukuoka after tangling with Land Rover BAR. Team France completed a gybe before the penalty was assigned. Inexplicably, the Kiwis tacked while carrying the penalty, earning a second penalty (per Rule 44.4(c) for you rules mavens. Download the Racing Rules of Sailing – America’s Cup Edition here). Click the photos to see the video. Interestingly, ETNZ made the same mistake in the Naples AC World Series in 2013, after getting a penalty for crashing into Luna Rossa. Read about that incident here.

Remember: the blue light means a boat has a penalty; the green light means they are near a course boundary or a rounding mark.

Here we see how Team France picked up a penalty for not keeping clear and making contact with BAR near the leeward gate in Race 5.

Team New Zealand had a double penalty in Race 5.

 

 

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Rules Change – Spare Daggerboards

Is this for rules geeks only? Or will it be important when the racing starts?

Teams are only allowed four daggerboards total for their race yacht. As the article above says, they are likely to build a pair for light wind and a pair for medium to heavy conditions. Realizing that damaging even one board could mean losing the competition, in October the competitors introduced a Protocol amendment to allow “replacement daggerboards.” Any of a team’s AC45X daggerboards could be used as replacements, which should cover any situation. Only two replacement boards are allowed to be used, but that seems likely to be enough.

If you want more details you can download the latest Protocol here and read Article 35.10 (f) for more info.