Cup Experience

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Portsmouth Race Course

ACWS Portsmouth race course

The race course layout for the Louis Vuitton America’s Cup World Series in Portsmouth will feature:

  • a mid-course reaching start, about 250 meters long
  • a short downwind leg – about 750 meters long
  • upwind and dowwind legs of about 1,500 meters each
  • a reach of about 250 meters, to the finish line close to shore

This will give a total length of about 4,250 meters or 2.3 nautical miles.
The course may be lengthened by adding another upwind and downwind lap, which would make the total length about 3.9 nautical miles.

The video below explains how the boats sail this course, and tactics at the roundings. Note that anchored buoys will be used for the marks rather than movable boats.

NOTE:  The diagram above shows the course for a southwesterly wind. The orientation will be different for other wind directions. The Race Committee will try to set up the finish line close to the VIP viewing area on shore.

America's Cup Marks for ACWS Portsmouth
Marks will be anchored platforms with electronics for the LiveLine system. LiveLine provides the “augmented reality” graphics for the TV images and the data that runs the umpiring system.

Video: How They Sail the Course – What Happens at Each Mark (9:06)

The course will be a variation of the layout shown in this video. The marks are likely to be soft buoys rather than boats.

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How to Watch Live: Portsmouth AC World Series Racing

ACEA will release a new app on Wednesday July 22nd.  

Download the new America’s Cup (AC) App available on iOS and Android for live race coverage (live video is restricted in some territories), race highlights, team interviews and rich content from the race village events, as well as news, features and social feeds.

Check the America’s Cup website from Wednesday onwards for a link to their new app in the iTunes Store and in Google Play.

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Team Updates and Lineups for Portsmouth

Emirates Team New Zealand has signed up Toyota again as a sponsor, joining Emirates and Omega. Peter Burling will helm with his 49er crew Blair Tuke trimming the wing. Ray Davies will be tactician. Two additional crew will be announced soon.

Artemis Racing will be helmed by Nathan Outteridge with his 49er crew Iain “Goobs” Jensen on wing trim. Chris Brittle, Freddie Lööf and team leader Iain Percy round out the Artemis crew.

Ben Ainslie Racing Ben Ainslie will helm. Other sailing team members are Paul Campbell-James, Jono Macbeth, Freddie Carr, Matt Cornwell, Nick Hutton, Giles Scott and Andy McLean.

Team France has now signed Groupama as their title sponsor for the full AC campaign. Franck Cammas will be on the helm in Portsmouth, with Arnaud Psarofaghis as tactician. Joining them on board will be bowman Devan Le Bihan, wing trimmer Thierry Foucher and headsail trimmer Arnaud Jarlegan.

Softbank Team Japan signed Jero Lomas and Derek Saward, both ex-ETNZ. They will join helmsman Dean Barker, tactician/wing trimmer Chris Draper and bowman Kazuhiko “Fuku” Sofuku.

Oracle Team USA will have Jimmy Spithill at the helm, Kyle Langford at wing trim, Tom Slingsby as tactician, Kinley Fowler trimmining and Louis Sinclair as bowman.

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Five Videos to Make You a Smarter Viewer

  1. What does each crew member do on an AC45?
  2. How do you trim the wingsail and how is trim different when they’re foiling?
  3. What course will they sail and what tactics will they use?
  4. What do those blinking lights on the boats mean and how do penalties work?
  5. Who has rights at mark roundings?

ACEA has not  published the Sailing Instructions or the Racing Rules, but looking back at the 2011-13 AC World Series we can learn a lot about what to watch for in Portsmouth. These videos will help you understand the racing.

Watching all five videos will take you about 25 minutes, so you may want to take them one at at time.

Video 1: Crew Positions on AC45F Catamarans (4:43)

One major change for the 2015-16 AC World Series: Foil controls
The deck layout is unchanged except for the addition of the pushbutton controls for the daggerboards, visible in the photo below. Rudder rake can be changed between races with an adjusting screw at the top of the rudder stock.

America's Cup pushbutton controls for the daggerboards
The helmsman has a pushbutton to control daggerboard rake. There is another set of controls just aft of the daggerboards. Batteries power the hydraulic pump for the daggerboard control system.

Video 2: How They Trim the Wingsail (4:16)

This video explains how the crew sets camber and twist and shows the controls. Since the boats are now foiling, the crews are sailing with the wing flatter – less camber, less twist – than with the displacement mode AC45.

Video 3: How They Sail the Course – What Happens at Each Mark (9:06)

The course will be a variation of the layout shown in this video. The marks are likely to be soft buoys rather than boats.

Video 4: Understanding the Penalties – What the Blinking Lights Mean (4:43)

This video explains tactics near the course boundaries and shows a penalty situation.

Video 5: For Racing Sailors – Understanding Rule 18 (2:36)

I made this video during the 2012 AC World Series when they experimented with using a mark instead of a gate for the windward end of the course. But whether there is a gate or a mark, the rule for “mark room” is the same – inside boats have rights if there was an overlap when the first boat reaches the three boat length zone.

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Portsmouth AC World Series Begins July 23

America's Cup Duchess of CambridgePrizes to be awarded by the Duke and Duchess of Cambridge on Sunday.

– Thursday:   Opening ceremony

– Friday:      Practice races

– Saturday:    Races 1 and 2

– Sunday:      Races 3 and 4
Prizegiving

–  Fleet racing in one design AC45F foiling wingsail catamarans.

– Six teams:  USA, SWE, NZL, GBR, FRA, JPN.

Results could affect the AC Match in 2017:  the winner of the round robin phase of racing in 2017, if they make it to the America’s Cup Match, carries a bonus point into the Match. Ties at the end of the round robin phase will be broken based on AC World Series standings, so these races are important!