Race Results Archives - Page 2 of 11

11 September 2016 By Jack Griffin Leave a Comment

Artemis Wins in Toulon, Oracle Struggles

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.

25 July 2016 By Jack Griffin Leave a Comment

Land Rover BAR Wins in Portsmouth and Takes Series Lead

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.

13 June 2016 By Jack Griffin 2 Comments

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:

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.

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.

America’s Cup World Series Leaderboard – June 2016

30 May 2016 By Jack Griffin Leave a Comment

America’s Cup World Series Standings After New York

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.

16 May 2016 By Jack Griffin Leave a Comment

How Emirates Team New Zealand Won in New York

Glenn Ashby explains in this video that the team never gave up, even after they got caught on the starting mark anchor line.

ETNZ: Winning in the nick of time

I caught up with tactician Ray Davies in Bermuda last week and asked him if they positioned themselves to catch that puff on the last leg that launched them to win the race and the regatta. He laughed and said modestly, “Complete luck. That puff found us.”

Ray was in Bermuda to scout logistical details to plan the team’s move here when the time comes to launch their AC Class race boat.