Cup Experience

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America’s Cup World Series Chicago – Results

Artemis Wins America's Cup World Series Chicago
Artemis Wins America’s Cup World Series Chicago

[Update 30 June 2016 by Jack Griffin Specially edited videos here, here and here. Enjoy!]

Artemis Racing won the America’s Cup World Series in Chicago with Land Rover BAR second and SoftBank Team Japan third. It was the first time for Dean Barker and Team Japan to be on the podium and the first time that Oracle Team USA and Emirates Team New Zealand were not. Artemis, New Zealand and BAR have each won two events. Oracle has yet to win. But…  read on.

Now, it’s fine to celebrate and spray some champagne around. And, I like Artemis Racing. I was their expert commentator in their VIP lounge during the racing in San Francisco. I know this team and genuinely like them. But this is the America’s Cup World SERIES. The bonus points for the “America’s Cup Qualifiers” go for the best score in the SERIES not for the number of podiums.

Look at this table:

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Artemis won in Bermuda and Chicago. But they are 33 points behind New Zealand. Do a little arithmetic and you will see that even if they finished three places better than the Kiwis in every race in Portsmouth – highly unlikely – they would still be six points behind. Consistency rather than flashes of brilliance wins a series. In 22 races, Artemis has finished last seven times; only Team France has more – 10 last place finishes. Japan has two last place finishes and the three teams atop the leaderboard – New Zealand, BAR and Oracle have one apiece, although Oracle needed a capsize to do it.

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The match racing in Bermuda in America’s Cup Class yachts will bear almost no resemblance to the fleet racing in one design AC45’s in the America’s Cup World Series. And, Artemis has been training for months with their two AC45X experimental boats while Team New Zealand has yet to launch a comparable test boat. Yes, the Kiwis have been using one of Luna Rossa’s modified AC45’s but that is a far cry from testing systems and developing a crew choreography playbook for the racing in 2017.

And yet… Imagine that the America’s Cup World Series ended with the current standings. The Kiwis would start the round robin America’s Cup Qualifiers with two bonus points; Artemis would have none. Imagine further that Artemis’s superior technology helped them go undefeated in the round robin, scoring 10 points. And that the Kiwis lost only their two races with Artemis, winning eight races. With their two bonus points the Kiwis would be tied for first with Artemis. Since ties in the Qualifiers are broken by America’s Cup World Series standings, New Zealand would win the Qualifiers. If Artemis made it through the Challenger Semi-finals and Finals, they would start even with defender Oracle instead of with the one point lead they would have had, if they had won the Qualifiers.

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America’s Cup World Series Leaderboard – June 2016

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Video: Capsize in Race 1 – First Time for Oracle to Finish Last

In the substitute race run on Friday Oracle came in last for the first time in the America’s Cup World Series. They were well behind, still on the downwind leg, and did not see Artemis coming upwind with right of way. A crash tack avoided a collision but not a capsize. Oracle bowman, American Matt Cassidy explains.

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America’s Cup World Series Standings Going into Chicago

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America’s Cup World Series Confirmed for Fukuoka, Japan

The final America’s Cup World Series event in 2016 will be held November 18-20 in Japan’s fifth largest city, Fukuoka.

The schedule for the rest of the year is:

  • June 10-12    Chicago
  • July 22-24      Portsmouth
  • Sep 8-10        Toulon
  • Nov 18-20      Fukuoka

ACEA has discussed a possible event in Q1 2017 but nothing has been confirmed.

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America’s Cup World Series Standings After New York

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It Could Happen

Imagine two teams – let’s call them Purple and Orange. Purple wins the America’s Cup World Series – fleet racing in identical-except-for-the-paint-job, one design AC45F catamarans. Remember, all the points are totaled for all the America’s Cup World Series events. Orange finishes middle of the pack in the AC World Series, since they focused on testing the design for their America’s Cup Class yacht, and on the crew work for the one-on-one match racing in Bermuda. Their strategy pays off. At the end of the double round robin “America’s Cup Qualifiers” in May-June 2017, Orange has a perfect, undefeated record, with 10 points, having won all 10 of their races. Purple did well, too, and finishes 8-2, having lost only their two matches with undefeated Orange.

But guess what?

Purple wins the AC Qualifiers and will start the America’s Cup Match on June 17 with a one point lead. How can that be?  Well, as winner of the AC World Series, Purple carried two bonus points into the AC Qualifiers, so they finish the Qualifiers equal on points with Orange, tied at 10 each. How do you break ties? By looking at the AC World Series final standings, where Purple finished ahead of Orange. So Purple wins the AC Qualifiers and will start the America’s Cup Match with a one point lead. It could happen.

You can download a copy of this diagram with the competition overview here.

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Lessons from 2013: Learning to Sail a Complex Boat Takes Time

The systems for daggerboard control on the AC Class race boats will be extremely sophisticated. All the teams will need time to master the complexity. In 2013, Oracle Team USA won Race 4, their first victory, in spite of a crew error with the daggerboard controls. Eliminating errors like this will be a key to success in Bermuda in 2017. In this video, listen as Artemis helmsman Nathan Outeridge explains what happened.

America’s Cup Race 4 Gate 2 US board error