Cup Experience

Many America's Cup fans say this is their best source of information.

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Confusion Reigned at Last Rounding in Race 1

confusion 1

Blue light means Artemis has a penalty. How did that happen? Green light means they are in the three boat length zone at the gate. (Explanation of lights here.)

confusion 2

As they approach the three boat length zone at the mark, you can see Artemis’s bow, just about to enter the zone. Team Japan is overlapped with New Zealand, who are overlapped with Artemis. Rule 18 gives both NZL and JPN rights to round the mark inside Artemis.

confusion 3

JPN has gybed and gone behind NZL, and they still have rights to round inside SWE.

confusion 4

NZL escaped the mess at the mark. SWE has been penalized for not giving JPN room. Meanwhile Land Rover BAR has stayed out of the fray and now has enough speed to round outside. Artemis was in third place as they approached the mark but finished the race last. Ouch!

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Land Rover BAR Wins in Portsmouth and Takes Series Lead

America’s Cup World Series Leaderboard After 7 Events

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America’s Cup competition format and scoring explained here.

Ben Ainslie and his all British crew had three firsts, two seconds and a fifth place to win the Portsmouth America’s Cup World Series. Again. They also won the event here in 2015. The win puts them at the top of the overall series leaderboard. Oracle Team USA got back on the podium, one point behind the Brits for the Portsmouth event.

Oracle takes over second place overall, pushing the Kiwis into third. New Zealand had big gaps on board in the two most important positions: Ray Davies handled wing trim for the first time since wing trimmer Glenn Ashby was on the helm replacing Peter Burling, off in Rio to prepare for the Olympics. Like Team New Zealand, Artemis was without their regular helmsman. Nathan Outteridge is also in Rio, hoping to defend his 2012 gold medal against silver medalist Burling. Francesco Bruni stepped in as helmsman – his first time ever to sail an AC45F. The rules prevent sailing the AC45F’s between events. The conditions were different each day, so there was no chance for Bruni to learn the boat. Artemis finished last in Portsmouth – a frustrating result after their win in Chicago last month.

Dean Barker and his men on SoftBank Team Japan confirmed their performance in Chicago with their second podium finish. Groupama Team France shared the lead after the first day of racing but fared less well in the stronger conditions on Sunday.

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(c)Ricardo PintolAll rights reserved

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Race Schedule and Courses

Three races are scheduled each day, Saturday and Sunday. Provisional races will will be sailed on Friday. Remember that in Chicago Team Japan’s win in the provisional race was counted when no races could be sailed in Saturday’s light winds. Sunday’s racing counts double points, meaning that last place on Sunday is as valuable as first place on Saturday.

The courses can be anywhere from four to ten legs long, always with a reaching start following by a series of windward-leeward legs and then a reach or short downwind leg to the finish, from either a mid-course rounding mark or the last gate. The diagram is a bit confusing, since it shows virtually all the options for the final leg to the finish.

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Here’s a video that explains the course and some of the tactics. A few things have changed since I made this video but the basics are all the same.

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Crew Lineups for Portsmouth

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Crew lineups have been shaken up with some of the top sailors off in Rio preparing for the Olympics. Skipper Glenn Ashby will be on the helm for series leader Emirates Team New Zealand replacing Peter Burling. Francesco Bruni will steer Artemis Racing since Nathan Outteridge is in South America getting ready to battle Burling for the 49er gold. More on that next week. Ben Ainslie will once again be without tactician Giles Scott, the favorite in the Finn class. Giles already missed the last AC World Series event, but the Brits showed the depth of their bench, taking second in the Chicago event.

The only opportunity to train in the one design AC45F’s is at the AC World Series events – sailing on Thursday and practice racing on Friday. Francesco Bruni has never raced an AC45F and Glenn Ashby has not helmed in previous racing. Both are top sailors but will have their work cut out for them. Ed Powys will once again handle tactics in place of Giles Scott on Land Rover BAR.

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Key Moment for Grabbing the Bonus Points for the 2017 AC Qualifiers

With six of the nine AC World Series events completed, the teams go into Portsmouth with three teams fighting at the top of the leaderboard. One of them will end the series empty handed when it wraps up in Fukuoka, Japan in November. Emirates Team New Zealand continues to lead the series, with Land Rover BAR and Oracle Team USA tied on points.

America’s Cup competition format and scoring explained here.

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Dean Barker and his men on SoftBank Team Japan hope to build on their good showing in Chicago, where they were on the podium for the first time. Franck Cammas’s Groupama Team France won races in Oman and New York and will try to bounce back from their poor results in Chicago.