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What ACTV Didn’t Show Us in Chicago Race 4

Last week I shared my video analysis of highlights from Race 4, based on what we could see in the ACTV footage. What we could NOT see in that footage was that Artemis Racing protested Groupama Team France at the course boundary and Team France was penalized.

What the Umpires Saw

The umpires’ system showed SWE in the five boat length zone at the boundary, with right to sail their proper course. The boundary is the purple line; the zone is light gray. Artemis protested, and France was penalized.

Click here to see the original video from last week’s newsletter.

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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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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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America’s Cup Teams Racing in Foiling GC32’s on Lake Garda

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Nine foiling GC32’s sailed 19 races over four days on Italy’s Lake Garda.

Three America’s Cup teams went racing this past weekend on Italy’s Lake Garda in a fleet of nine boats in the GC32 Series. Not surprisingly, Franck Cammas and his Groupama Team France crew won the event, sailing under the banner of their America’s Cup sponsor Norauto. Cammas and Groupama Team France have been using the GC32 as their training and test boat in preparation for the America’s Cup. Artemis Racing had Nathan Outteridge, Iain Percy, Luke Parkinson and Christian Kamp sailing with young Swedish helmsman Gustav Petersson under team owner Torbjörn Törnqvist’s Gunvor label. Emirates Team New Zealand supports Switzerland’s Team Tilt, which will have an entry in the 2017 Red Bull Youth America’s Cup, and ETNZ skipper Glenn Ashby was on board trimming the wing and handling tactics. Team Tilt set the new speed record for the GC32 at 39.7 knots. And, like the America’s Cup, the GC32 series has its own connections European nobility – Pierre Casiraghi, skipper of “Malizia” from the Yacht Club de Monaco is the son of Monaco’s  Princess Caroline.

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Groupama Team Base

Lorient, France is the the home of Groupama Team France. Skipper Franck Cammas prepared here for his winning Volvo Ocean Race campaign and for his successful 2010 record-setting non-stop circumnavigation to take the Jules Verne Trophy. By the way, the navigator on board Groupama 3 for that record-setting run was Stan Honey, who led the development of the LiveLine augmented reality graphics for the the ACTV broadcasts. And, Cammas’s record was broken in 2012 by Banque Populaire, skippered by Artemis Racing’s Loïck Peyron.

Even with the smallest budget in this America’s Cup cycle, Franck Cammas and Team France are a force to be reckoned with. Cammas is just as ferocious a competitor as the other skippers in this America’s Cup cycle. Don’t be surprised to see Team France in the semi-finals of the Challenger Playoffs in June 2017.

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Big Enthusiastic Crowds in Spite of Gray Skies and No Wind on Saturday

Light and shifty winds combined with the Hudson River’s current to challenge both the Race Committee and the teams. On Saturday only a provisional race was held, after the TV window had passed. It was the third time in five regattas that a full day of racing was lost. The crowds in the AC Village and lining the river edge were excited just to see the AC45F’s even if they had to be towed to show off their foiling.

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The crowd loved seeing the race boats foiling, even when they had to be towed on Saturday in order to put on a show.

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Video: Race 2 Start and Leg 1

Oracle got caught in the current and were swept over the line early in Race 2. They fought back to finish the race in second.

Artemis won Race 1 but came in last in Race 2. France did the opposite – last in Race 1 but first in Race 2. With a 4th in the third race, Groupama Team France got on the podium for the first time in the ACWS.

 

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Nationality and the America’s Cup – Always Good for a Debate

The debate about nationality rules always stirs passions. Having a strict nationality requirement for the crew would probably boost audience interest, like for the Olympics and the football (soccer) World Cup. But it would also reduce participation and make it hard or impossible for new countries to compete.abd1f9d1-86ee-4d7d-83e1-0c2fd9e8a494

What few people realize is that crew nationality rules were introduced only in 1980 and were dropped 10 years ago. In 1895 and 1899 when American fishermen from Deer Isle, Maine were the crews on “Defender” and “Columbia,” they made news, since crews on US defenders before and after were often Scandinavians.

Charlie Barr, skipper of “Columbia” and later of “Reliance,” was Scottish born. Even “America” had a British pilot on board to navigate around the Isle of Wight in 1851. Barr was a pure professional. He didn’t hesitate to go back to Scandinavian crews for the 1901 and 1903 defenses. Barr would certainly agree with the current philosophy of hiring the best sailors, regardless of nationality.

For the 2017 America’s Cup we have three mostly national teams – Land Rover BAR, Groupama Team France and Emirates Team New Zealand – and three mostly international teams – Oracle Team USA, Artemis Racing and SoftBank Team Japan.

What do you think about nationality requirements? Send me your comments and in a few weeks I’ll report back on what I hear from you.

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Franck Cammas to Helm Groupama Team France in NYC

Groupama Team France - 35th America's Cup
Franck Cammas training for New York. Notice the carbon fiber custom leg brace on his right leg. Image: Groupama Team France

Only five months after almost losing his right foot in a training accident, Franck Cammas will be back on the helm of the French boat for the America’s Cup World Series in New York on May 7-8. Rehab has been fast but painful: “Racing in New York will punctuate five extremely intense months and a rehabilitation programme, which I’ve tried my best to control. I focused on the positives the minute I learnt that my foot had been saved. From that point, I gave my all to my rehabilitation and the other team-related activities. I think this approach got me into a virtuous circle, which favoured my recuperation. However, it’s important not to lose sight of the tough times where the pain really called for me to grit my teeth. I put myself in the red in a bid to recover as quickly as possible. When you’re aware that the group is in training and progressing and you can’t be part of all that it’s frustrating and inevitably led to tension at times. I had to get back to the top of my game, which took a great deal of effort and self-sacrifice. Today, I’m still cautious when it comes to jumping on the trampoline, but I’m more motivated than ever and I’m happy to be in a position to face up to the competition with a talented crew. I’ve missed the competition environment. I’d also like to take this opportunity to thank Adam Minoprio, who fulfilled his role as replacement to perfection in Oman. It was a very positive experience for the whole team.”

As for the conditions in New York, Cammas said, “In New York, in May, there can be a little thermal breeze, but above all there will be a lot of current off the Statue of Liberty. The East River and the Hudson River converge here so there can be as much as three knots of current. We’ll have to know how to play that to our advantage.”

The crew of Groupama Team France in New York from 5 to 8 May 2016
Helmsman / skipper : Franck Cammas
Wing trimmer : Thierry Fouchier
Tactics : Thomas Le Breton
Headsail trimmer : Hervé Cunningham
Bowman : Devan Le Bihan
Replacement : Olivier Herledant

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Franck Cammas Back on the Water

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Thanks to gritty determination, extensive physical therapy and a custom carbon fiber ankle brace, Franck Cammas got back on his AC45F in Oman in the week after the America’s Cup World Series. The gentle conditions were perfect for Franck’s first days on the water in three months. He still cannot jump around the boat, but it’s great to see him making a strong recovery after almost losing his foot when he went overboard while training in late November and was hit by the rudder wing. Read about the accident here.

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See the Groupama Team France video report from Oman here.

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Groupama Team France denies Oracle the win

28/02/16 - Muscat (OMN) - 35th America's Cup Bermuda 2017 - Louis Vuitton America's Cup World Series Oman - Racing Day 2 - Racing Day 2

Watch the video of incidents between Oracle and Team France at the windward gate in Races 4 and 6 in Oman. In each case they lost one place.

Oracle Team USA finished two points behind Land Rover BAR. Did this incident at the windward mark in Race 4 cost them the regatta? If they had come in fourth instead of fifth in Race 4, they would have had equal points to BAR and would have won on the count back.

In Race 6 Team France passed Oracle to take the lead at Gate 3. France went on to win – their first race win in the ACWS.

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Land Rover BAR Wins in Oman

28/02/16 - Muscat (OMN) - 35th America's Cup Bermuda 2017 - Louis Vuitton America's Cup World Series Oman - Racing Day 2 - Racing Day 2

Ben Ainslie and his team showed grit and tenacity to win the Oman stop on the America’s Cup World Series. After getting a third and two firsts in Saturday’s races, they had poor starts in all three double points races on Sunday, including two OCS* penalties. On Sunday they were in last place at the first mark in each race but clawed their way back to finish those races 2-4-3 to win the regatta. With this win they become the first team to win two ACWS events.

*OCS = on course side, meaning they crossed the starting line before the starting signal. The penalty is to drop two boat lengths behind all the boats that started correctly.

AC World Series Oman

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Land Rover BAR wins America’s Cup World Series Oman

Groupama Team France Denies Oracle the Win

BAR at America's Cup World Series Oman
Land Rover BAR at America’s Cup World Series Oman

Ben Ainslie and his team showed grit and tenacity to win the Oman stop on the America’s Cup World Series. After getting a third and two firsts in Saturday’s races, they had poor starts in all three double points races on Sunday, including two OCS* penalties. On Sunday they were in last place at the first mark in each race but clawed their way back to finish those races 2-4-3 to win the regatta.

*OCS = on course side, meaning they crossed the starting line before the starting signal. The penalty is to drop two boat lengths behind all the boats that started correctly.

Groupama Team France Denies Oracle the Win

Watch the video of incidents between Oracle and Team France at the windward gate in Races 4 and 6 in Oman. In each case Oracle lost one place. Since the Sunday races score double points, finishing one place higher either in race would have given Oracle two more points, equal to BAR.

Oracle Team USA finished two points behind Land Rover BAR. Did this incident at the windward mark in Race 4 cost them the regatta? If they had come in fourth instead of fifth in Race 4, they would have had equal points to BAR and would have won on the count back.

In Race 6 France passed Oracle at the last gate, and Artemis snagged the anchor line on a mark, dropping them to last place in the race and in the regatta. Watch the action in this video.


Oracle finished only two points behind Land Rover BAR. If they had finished fourth instead of fifth in the first race on Sunday, or if they had hung on to the lead in the last race, they would have won the regatta.

America's Cup World Series Oman results
America’s Cup World Series Oman results

Emirates Team New Zealand still leads the overall America’s Cup World Series

Uncharacteristically last in one race and next to last in another, ETNZ still managed to be on the podium for the event and to maintain their overall lead in the America’s Cup World Series. Winning the first race of each day pushed them into third place in Oman. They maintain a six point lead over Oracle in the series.

America's Cup World Series Leaderboard after Oman
America’s Cup World Series Leaderboard after Oman

 

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Crew lists for Oman

The teams are allowed to bring 11 sailors and shore crew to each AC World Series event. Here are the team lists that have been announced so far for Oman. As mentioned above, Adam Minoprio replaces injured Franck Cammas at helm on Groupama Team France.

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Team France skipper Franck Cammas on the mend

Groupama Team France skipper Franck Cammas is working hard in rehab and moving around with an “iWalk” hands free leg brace that lets him keep his injured right foot off the ground and walk without traditional crutches. Backup helmsman Adam Minoprio will be onboard at the AC World Series in Oman at the end of February, but Franck hopes to be sailing on the AC45F the following week during a training session in Oman. Read about Franck’s accident here.

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Franck Cammas has been spending five to six hours per day in rehab in addition to going to the team’s offices for regular design meetings.

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Team Updates: Groupama Team France

Since his training accident at the end of November, Franck Cammas has been spending a fair amount of time at the office, working with the design team. At the same time he has a rehab program that he hopes will allow him to sail again soon, although almost certainly not for the AC World Series in Oman at the end of February.

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New color scheme

Groupama Team France now sports the traditional “bleu – blanc – rouge” of their country’s flag. While the green and orange of their old color scheme were certainly different, these colors are more to my liking.

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