Cup Experience

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Series Leaderboard Arithmetic

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Land Rover BAR leads the series, 14 points ahead of Oracle Team USA and 17 ahead of Emirates Team New Zealand. These three teams have traded places at the top of the leaderboard all through the America’s Cup World Series. Remember that that top two teams in the series carry bonus points into next year’s round robin AC Qualifiers in Bermuda – two points for the series winner and one for the runner up. With one event left, in Fukuoka, Japan in November, the arithmetic says any of the three could win still win the series, but past performance says it’s unlikely either Oracle or the Kiwis can close the gap on BAR, who are likely to finish on top. With only three points separating them, Oracle and Team New Zealand will be battling for the remaining bonus point.

Chances for the other three teams are between slim and none. Team France is out of contention. Artemis cannot beat BAR and would need something close to a sweep of the regatta in Japan combined with a collapse by Oracle to grab second place. Unlikely. Team Japan has a mathematical chance, but the odds are very long. That said, all six teams need to fight for every remaining point – series standings will be used to break ties at the end of the round robin, when one challenger will be eliminated.

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Artemis Wins in Toulon, Oracle Struggles

(c)Ricardo PintolAll rights reserved

The Côte d’Azur lived up to its name with warm sunshine for the racing just off Toulon’s beaches.

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All teams had their Olympians back for the America’s Cup World Series in Toulon. 2016 Finn gold medalist Giles Scott, tactician on Land Rover BAR, got a podium finish after coming last in the first two races. Rio 49er gold medalist Peter Burling was back on the helm at Emirates Team New Zealand but finished the event next to last, their worst finish in the series. The Kiwis were outdone by Oracle, who finished dead last, with Tom Slingsby on the helm, replacing injured Jimmy Spithill. Not exactly the result Slingsby, the London 2012 Laser gold medalist, was hoping for. London gold and Rio silver 49er medalist Nathan Outteridge came out on top in Toulon, winning the light air regatta, thanks in large part to tactician Iain Percy finding pressure up and down the flukey course on both days. Percy has two Olympic golds and a silver in the Finn and Star. The fates were not kind to the home team. Franck Cammas and Groupama Team France were in second place for the regatta at the end of the first day and at the beginning of the final downwind leg of the regatta. The patchy conditions did them in as the Kiwis slipped past and bumped the French off the podium.

(c)Ricardo PintolAll rights reserved

Bowmen? On an AC45?? Team Japan’s tactician Chris Draper, standing on the bowsprit in the light conditions, looked like the bowman on a big monohull. Artemis Racing’s Iain Percy spent most of the regatta straddling the bowsprit and looking for patches of pressure in the light conditions.

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Team Lineups for Toulon – Spithill not Racing

It looks like my report two weeks ago about Jimmy Spithill re-injuring his recently operated elbow was correct – he is not in the lineup; Tom Slingsby will be on the helm. Olympic sailors have rejoined their teams and will be in Toulon. Peter Burling and Nathan Outteridge will be back helming Team New Zealand and Artemis, respectively. Giles Scott is in the team list for Land Rover BAR. Teams are allowed to name 11 sailors and shore crew for each AC World Series. Here are the lists for Toulon. For Artemis we can assume that the last five names are the sailing crew; all the other teams list their sailors first.

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Groupama Team France Happy with Testing

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Team France christened their AC45X test boat on July 11 and began sailing two weeks later. They were happy to be foiling on their first day of sailing and happy that the boat performed very close to the predictions from their simulation programs. The performance numbers from the VPP (velocity prediction program) are based on the full aerodynamic optimisation of the final race boat, which is different from this test boat. Head of design Martin Fischer notes that this boat is about 90% of the race boat – everything except the hulls will be used in the race boat – wing, foils, rudders, crossbeams and longitudinal pod.

In the photos, notice the bulbous bow shape and the splash rail on the bow, just under “Groupama.” Neither is allowed on the race boat, but they add stability to the four foot shorter test boat. Note, too, the aft fairing that extends beyond the stern of the hulls. This will be flush with the stern of the race boat’s hulls.

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Team France AC45X test boat, bow on. It looks like they are testing straight daggerboards with dihedral (upward sloped) winglets. You can clearly see the spray rails on the bows.

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Getting Ready for Toulon

America’s Cup World Series racing resumes in just over two weeks on 10-11 September in Toulon, France. With just this regatta and the one in Fukuoka, Japan in November, all the teams will be fighting for every point. The top two teams carry bonus points into the round robin Qualifiers – the match racing that begins in May 2017. And every team has something at stake: the AC World Series results will be used to break ties at the end of the Qualifiers. If two challengers finish the Qualifiers tied for fourth, their AC World Series results will determine which one is eliminated.

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We had thought that all the teams would be back at full strength after the Olympics, but that may not be the case… Reports out of Bermuda say that Oracle’s skipper Jimmy Spithill has re-injured his recently operated elbow and has returned to California for more surgery. Backup helm Tom Slingsby recently had back surgery, so the Oracle lineup for Toulon may have a different look than what we expected.

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