Cup Experience

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Lessons from the 2013 AC Match in San Francisco

As we build towards racing this Spring, I’ll show you some of the things we can learn from the Match in 2013, and how they apply (or don’t) to the matchups we’ll see in Bermuda beginning Friday 26 May. (Race calendar available for download here.)

This video shows five key moments from the 2013 Match.

One thing in Bermuda will be similar to San Francisco: stunning photos. The two venues are clearly very different, but both are beautiful. The island backdrop will show off Bermuda to the world during racing. And, the water is both much bluer and much warmer than the San Francisco Bay.

Photo: Ezra Shaw – Getty Images Click to go to the video page.

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FLASH: 5 Teams Announce AC 2019 and 2021

The heads of five of the six teams met in London last week to announce that their yacht clubs have signed a Framework Agreement outlining the next two editions of the America’s Cup, to be held in 2019 and 2021.

Photo: ACEA

Racing will be held in a modified version of the AC Class yachts being used in 2017 (more details below). No surrogate test boats will be allowed. AC45F’s will be raced in the AC World Series until August 2018. From September 2018 onwards the new version AC Class yachts will race in the ACWS. The ACWS will include fleet racing and match racing. The final ACWS event will be held in the venue of the America’s Cup Match and the Challenger Playoffs will start right afterwards, followed by the Match.

The AC Class rule will be modified to allow racing in a wider wind range – 4 to 26 knots. This probably means adding a gennaker for light conditions and having a smaller wing for heavy air days. Remember that the original version of the AC72 Class Rule included a heavy air wing. The smaller wing was dropped from the rule, a move later regarded as a mistake, given the number of races cancelled due to wind above the limit in San Francisco in 2013.

The yacht clubs represented by Oracle Racing, Land Rover BAR, Groupama Team France, Artemis Racing and SoftBank Team Japan have agreed that if one of them wins the America’s Cup Match in Bermuda this June, they will only accept a challenge from a yacht club that has agreed to these terms. That could be one of them, a new team, or Emirates Team New Zealand, should the Kiwis change their minds and agree to these terms. The fly in the ointment is that if the Kiwis don’t agree to these terms and then go on to win the America’s Cup, this framework goes out the window. Such is the America’s Cup.

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Video: Practice Racing in Bermuda

Update 6 February 2017    I have added more video to the end of this post. Enjoy!

As I reported last week (23 January 2017), the four Bermuda-based teams have been holding practice races. No “won-lost” results are being reported but we are getting some video to enjoy. Oracle has put out a polished and edited clip. Friends of Cup Experience in Bermuda have provided videos that are a bit raw but more interesting…

America's Cup Class catamarans test racing in Bermuda Jan'17
America’s Cup Class catamarans – Bermuda Jan’17   Image: Somers Kempe

From Somers Kempe – Facebook

From Oracle Racing

6 February 2017 I will keep adding to this page as more video becomes available. -Jack

Oracle’s coach, Philippe Presti, talks about the practice racing and Oracle’s strengths and areas to improve.

Missing in Bermuda…   ETNZ shows off foiling tack in last 10 seconds of this video.

This is not from the practice racing – in fact the foiling tack footage was shot in May 2016.