Many America's Cup fans say this is their best source of information.
On Friday 14 October, the eye of Force 4 Hurricane Nicole passed directly over Bermuda. Winds hit 114 mph before and after the eye. Ninety percent of Bermudian households lost electric power but only seven minor injuries were reported.
All three America’s Cup teams were well prepared and came through the storm unscathed. Oracle Team USA posted this video showing the storm at its peak, with before and after images from their base. Click the image to watch the video.
The final stop for the AC World Series is Fukuoka, Japan. Fifty containers are on their way from Toulon.
Image: ACEA Video
Racing is scheduled for 19-20 November. From the leaderboard below, you can see that Land Rover BAR’s 14 point lead will make them hard to catch. Winning the AC World Series would give them two bonus points in next year’s round robin America’s Cup Qualifiers. Oracle Team USA and Emirates Team New Zealand will be fighting for the bonus point that goes to the runner up. Oracle has yet to win a World Series regatta; this is their last chance. SoftBank Team Japan and Artemis Racing will be battling for fourth place. Since the AC World Series results will be used to break ties in the Qualifiers, every place counts, and these teams will be fighting hard. Groupama Team France looks unlikely to escape the cellar – they will have to count on a good performance in the Qualifiers to avoid elimination.
The America’s Cup Class yacht that Oracle will race in the America’s Cup Match next year has arrived in Bermuda. The team will now assemble the hulls, crossbeams and pod, which were built in New Zealand. Electronics, hydraulics, winch systems and other equipment will be installed. The boat may not be launched before 27 December, 150 days before the first race of the America’s Cup Qualifiers. Click the photo to see the boat being constructed and to hear General Manager Grant Simmer talk about the process.
Image: OTUSA Video
Click image to play video.
Head Athletic Trainer Craig “Oscar” McFarlane explains in this video how he manages individualized training programs for Oracle’s grinders. When the athlete goes into his anaerobic zone or when his core temperature rises above a certain level, his power output goes down.
| % of Max Heart Rate |
|||
| Zone 1 | Recovery | Very Low | 60-70% |
| Zone 2 | Endurance | Moderate | 71-75% |
| Zone 3 | Intensive Endurance | Moderate Plus | 76-80% |
| Zone 4 | Anaerobic Threshold | Race / Pace | 81-90% |
| Zone 5 | Threshold Endurance | Super Threshold | 91-93% |
| Zone 5a | Anaerobic Endurance | Speed/End Power | 94-100% |
Oracle uses a system called Zephyr from Medtronic to monitor and track each athlete’s performance both in the gym and on the boat.
Midway through the America’s Cup Match, Oracle changed the way they set up and trimmed the wing. They changed the twist profile, opening the wing more at the top while closing the leech at the quarter-span and half-span of the wing. They also opened the slot between the tab on the leading element and the flap segments of the trailing element. This reduced lee helm and allowed them to foil upwind. These changes increased the load on the wing winch by 170%, far above initial limits. This increased load might have added enough stress in the wing to break the bracket.
Oracle wing technician Jeff Causey with glue gun 40 minutes before Race 19 of the 2013 America’s Cup. Click photo to watch video.
Less than an hour before the start of the deciding race, a bracket broke inside Oracle’s AC72 wing. Oracle and Team New Zealand were tied 8-8. This race would decide the 2013 America’s Cup. The breakage needed to be stabilized or else the control arm for the wing’s flap would be jammed and Oracle would be unable to race. This video shows what happened.
There are still lots of questions about the bonus points… The winner of the America’s Cup World Series carries two bonus points into the round robin match racing “Qualifiers,” which begin 26 May in Bermuda. The runner up gets one bonus point. With six teams (remember that defender Oracle Team USA races in the Qualifiers), in this double round robin, a perfect score would be 10 points. The winner of the Qualifiers will start the America’s Cup Match with a one point lead. If Oracle wins the Qualifiers their opponent in the Match starts with a score of minus one (-1). If a challenger wins the Qualifiers and they make it through the “Challenger Playoffs to the Match, Oracle starts at minus one.
So, those bonus points could be very valuable. Remember, too, that the final AC World Series ranking will be used to break ties at the end of the Qualifiers. If two challengers are tied for fourth, the AC World Series results will determine which challenger is eliminated and which one goes on to the semi-finals of the challenger selection.
Series Leaderboard
Going into the final regatta in Fukuoka, Japan in November, Land Rover BAR has a comfortable lead to grab the two bonus points. Oracle Team USA and Emirates Team New Zealand will be battling for the final bonus point.
Andrew “Bart” Simpson was killed on 9 May 2013 in a training accident on San Francisco Bay when Artemis Racing’s AC72 capsized and broke up. His friends, led by his Star boat Olympic Gold and Silver medal teammate, Iain Percy, set up the Andrew Simpson Sailing Foundation to encourage children and young people to sail. You can contribute here.
Thousands of people at hundreds of clubs around the world race in Bart’s Bash. Artemis Racing, SoftBank Team Japan and Oracle Team USA raced their AC45x test boats in Bermuda.
Video: Watch this interview of Andrew Simpson and Iain Percy at the 2013 UK Star Championships, sailed in a snowstorm.
Video: Iain Percy tells about Andrew Simpson’s personality and spirit.
Video: Listen to Grant Simmer, Tom Slingsby and Andrew Campbell talk about Bart in Oracle Team USA’s really wonderful video.
Contribute to the Andrew Simpson Sailing Foundation here.
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.
The Côte d’Azur lived up to its name with warm sunshine for the racing just off Toulon’s beaches.
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.
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.
Ian “Fresh” Burns of Oracle Team USA explains in this Sail Racing Magazine interview how the team trades off stability for speed with their foil design.
Foils with less drag are less stable. Improvements in the control systems can partially overcome this. As the sailors learn how best to handle the boat, they are happy to make the tradeoff to get more speed.
“A big challenge is how to project/predict where your sailing crew’s abilities are going to be by the Cup. You have to be saying to yourself, well our guys can control this level of stability now, but in a year’s time they will probably be better and able to handle a less stable boat. So you have to be working on a final foil design that is something that, if we built it right now, the guys probably wouldn’t be able to sail.”
Read the full interview here.
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.
One day after Team Japan released their foiling tack video, Oracle followed suit, saying that they, too, had done a foiling tack in April, a few days after Team Japan. They claim that they have now done foiling tacks in “full manual mode” – with their electric pumps switched off. Click the image or here to watch Oracle’s video.
Back in April, SoftBank Team Japan pulled off their first foiling tack in their AC45X test boat. Last week they released a video and a news article. A day later, Oracle Team USA reported that they, too have done foiling tacks, including in complete “manual mode” meaning without electric motors pumping hydraulic oil to operate the daggerboards. Here are the videos and a detailed look at Team Japan’s choreography. To describe the action, we’ll number the crew positions 1 to 6, starting in the bow.
At 12 seconds into the video, we hear helmsman Dean Barker call, “Standing by” to start the manoeuvre. Wing trimmer Chris Draper hands Barker the wing trim line and crosses to the port hull to set up the wing trim line on that side and to steer while Barker crosses over later. The number 1 man crosses with Draper.
At 19 seconds into the video, the number 3 man leaves his cockpit to tack the wing using an inverter line. He then crosses to the port hull. Remember that in 2013, Team New Zealand almost capsized their AC72 in Race 8 when their hydraulically controlled wing did not tack. Oracle had an inverter line to tack their AC72 wing manually, and their AC Class design, used by Team Japan, also has a manual inverter line for the wing.
As they complete the tack, Barker crosses over after the number 4 man. While Barker crosses, Draper is steering from the wing trimmer position, and trimming the wing. At the end of the manoeuvre, the number 2 man is still in his cockpit in the starboard hull.
When you play the video, listen to the high pitched whine of the electric pumps for the hydraulics.The louder, groaning sound is the wing trim line as the trimmer lets it slip on the winch drum. The AC Class boats that will race next year must only use manual power – no electric pumps permitted.
Click here or any of the photos to watch the Team Japan video.
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.
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.
Oracle posted an interesting video with designer Aaron Perry explaining that they can use a 3D printer to make parts straight from digital files in their CAD system. They can “print” parts in titanium, aluminum or plastic. The drawings on Aaron’s screen in the video are the AC Class yacht. You can see the joint where the bow section unbolts and the extension or “horn” on the stern for the umpire light stack, the GPS antenna and the agile TV camera. In addition, you can see that the rudder position is very different from the AC45X “sport” boat the team is testing in Bermuda.
In Portsmouth three of the six teams were 100% nationals: Groupama Team France – 100% French, Land Rover BAR, 100% British and Oracle Team USA, 100% Australian. What’s your suggestion for a nationality rule? Join the conversation in the Cup Experience Facebook group.
America’s Cup World Series Leaderboard After 7 Events
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.
