Cup Experience

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America’s Cup World Series Oman, 27-28 February 2016

America's Cup World Series Oman 27-28 Feb'15
The America’s Cup World Series Oman takes place on 27-28 Feb’15.  Oman has already hosted the Extreme Sailing Series.
Credit – Lloyd Images

Update 18 February 2016: Event details here.

Muscat will be the site of the America’s Cup World Series Oman on 27-28 February 2016. Emirates Team New Zealand currently leads the America’s Cup World Series. The first event of the series in 2016 will see the teams trying to improve their position on the leaderboard. America’s Cup defender Oracle will be looking for their first win in the series. They currently sit in third place.

Ben Ainslie of Land Rover BAR and Dean Barker of SoftBank Team Japan have raced high performance catamarans at this venue before, in the Extreme Sailing Series. Groupama Team France’s Franck Cammas has raced here as well, but he is still doubtful for February as he recovers from serious injuries sustained while training in late November.

 

https://youtu.be/mlI3uFgaJj8

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F1 Engineer Richard Hopkirk Joins Land Rover BAR to Head Systems & Analysis

Richared Hopkirk ex McLaren engineer heads Systems & Analysis for BAR
Richared Hopkirk ex McLaren engineer heads Systems & Analysis for BAR                Photo: BAR

Ex McLaren engineer Richard Hopkirk has joined Ben Ainslie’s America’s Cup challenger Land Rover BAR as Head of Systems & Analysis.

After earning an MEng at Cambridge, he picked up another master’s at Harvard, then joined McLaren. At McLaren Hopkirk spent five years working on simulations, then in 2007 he joined the pitwall team as tactician, working with Lewis Hamilton. Hamilton won the world driving title at McLaren in 2008, his second season in F1. At Land Rover BAR, Hopkirk will work with Sailing Team Coach Rob Wilson as well as with on board tactician Giles Scott. He is also responsible for crucial design systems.

On board control systems for the wing, daggerboards and rudders are one of the few areas where design teams have flexibility under the America’s Cup Class Rule. Simulators and performance analysis systems will also play a big role in this America’s Cup cycle. Richard Hopkirk has a big job!

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America’s Cup World Series Event in France – September 2016?

America's Cup World Series Bermuda. Fleet of all 6 AC45F catamarans
America’s Cup World Series Bermuda

The French America’s Cup news site CupLegend has published a report that an unnamed French city will host an AC World Series event in September 2016. Their “unofficial” schedule does not include either the Middle East or Gothenburg, both of which had been announced by ACEA in September.

Only Chicago and Portsmouth Confirmed AC World Series Venues in 2016

America’s Cup Event Authority officials announced in September 2015 that the 2016 schedule for the America’s Cup World Series would include regattas in the Middle East (at first rumored to be Abu Dhabi, then Oman) in February, New York in May, Chicago in June, Portsmouth in July, Gothenburg in August and Tokyo to end the series. Watch the announcement:

Video courtesy of Bernews.com. See their complete coverage of the town hall meeting on 17 September 2015.

The current version of the Protocol required first quarter 2016 events to be announced by 30 September 2015 and the rest of the ACWS schedule to be announced by 1 December 2015.

You can find a full overview of the America’s Cup schedule here.

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49er Worlds – Gold for Burling/Tuke, Silver for Outteridge/Jensen

Burling and Tuke won the 2015 49er Worlds - San Isidro, Argentine. © Matias Capizzano
Burling and Tuke won the 2015 49er Worlds – San Isidro, Argentina.
© Matias Capizzano

America’s Cup helmsmen and crew faced off again at the 2015 49er World Championships in Argentina. Emirates Team New Zealand’s helmsman Pete Burling and crew Blair Tuke won their 23rd 49er regatta in a row. The last time Burling and Tuke have “lost” a regatta, they picked up the silver medal at London’s 2012 Olympics. At the Olympics the gold medal went to Artemis Racing’s Nathan Outteridge and Iain Jensen, who took silver at the recent world championships.

What does this mean for the 49er competition at the 2016 Olympics in Rio? Burling and Tuke look like the heavy favorites, with their string of wins. Burling also won the 2015 Moth Worlds, taking that title from Outteridge who had won the previous two Moth Worlds. But a closer look at the scoreline from Argentina shows that the battle could be very close. In the eight qualifying races, Burling and Tuke were dominant, taking first four times but they fared much worse in the Gold Fleet racing. After the first six races races Outteridge and Jensen were in danger of not qualifying and Iain Jensen was battling a stomach flu. They then posted two second place finishes to qualify for the Gold Fleet and had the best scoreline in the second half of the regatta. That said, Burling and Tuke had the gold medal sewn up before the medal race, thanks to their dominance early in the regatta.

Download the complete score sheet here.

Here’s a short report from the event:

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Burling and Tuke Named ISAF Sailors of the Year

America's Cup helsman for ETNZ, Pete Burling with Blair Tuke 2015 ISAF World Sailors of the Year
Burling & Tuke 2015 ISAF World Sailors of the Year

Peter Burling and Blair Tuke have been named ISAF World Sailors of the Year. They have won 22 49er regattas in a row since taking the silver medal at the London Olympics – their last “loss.  Tuke said, “It is a really big honour for us to win this award. We don’t sail and race to win these awards, but it is really nice to get these accolades for all the hard work we put in. We are really proud to have won.

“All the nominees have achieved some awesome things this year in our sport, especially Ian Walker for winning the Volvo Ocean Race. We’ve been working hard all year and the results have come our way, not only in the 49er, but also in the other boats we sail. So we are looking ahead and keeping the hammer down towards the Olympics and then towards bringing the Cup back to New Zealand.”