Category: america’s cup
FIRST REAL RACE
Reading this now makes me wish I was there.
Image credit: Giles Martin Raget/ACEA
America’s Cup: Kiwi pre-start magic leads to good old fashioned drubbing.
July 13, 2013
Even in terms of monohull America’s Cup matches of old, a delta of five minutes and 23 seconds would be a big victory. Factor in the 40 knots speeds of the new generation of AC72 catamarans and today’s win by Emirates Team New Zealand over Luna Rossa was nothing short of an unceremonious drubbing.
The Kiwis never looked like anything other than winners in today’s match after their helmsman Dean Barker out foxed his opposite number Chris Draper in the short pre-start.
Draper had sent the Italian boat screaming across the pre-start box at 40 knots plus but rather than risk a gybe which might have left him below the layline to the leeward end of the start on the way back Draper opted to tack around.
This gave Barker the split second chance to position the New Zealand boat perfectly in order to block him well enough to prevent Luna Rossa from bearing away behind their stern.
Having secured the leeward position he wanted Barker expertly held the Italian boat on his windward hip just long enough to ensure he could lead the pairing into the startline.
With a couple of seconds to the start gun, Barker put the bows down and pulled the trigger to launch the New Zealand AC72 towards the start line at almost 42 knots, leaving Draper no alternative but to follow in his wake.
Emirates Team New Zealand rounded the first mark eight seconds ahead. Both teams hung on starboard for around 30 seconds before ETNZ gybed onto port well before the boundary. 150 metres back Luna Rossa gybed on their line, a strategy they maintained for the rest of the leg.
With the Italians clearly unable to gybe as smoothly and consistently as the New Zealand crew the Kiwi advantage when they rounded the right mark of the leeward gate was up to 29 seconds.
Luna Rossa followed suit and up the first part of the first beat both teams worked the right hand side until they reached Alcatraz Island where they took advantage of a slight right hand wind bend to cross the worst of the flood tide on a long starboard tack towards the city.
Emirates Team New Zealand went all the way to the boundary before tacking, while further back the Italians’s opted to tack at the same time. Positioned further out of the tide ETNZ continued to protect their left hand positioning with a loose cover each time Luna Rossa made a dart towards the shore.
At the windward gate the New Zealand lead was up to two minutes and two seconds as they rounded the left hand mark and powered downwind past the still beating Italian boat before gybing on to port across Luna Rossa’s wake.
The Italian crew made life even harder for themselves when they failed to gybe before the right hand course boundary and picked up a stop and go penalty.
At the second leeward gate the delta was up to two minutes 47 seconds and well over 2500 metres.
From there on in the Kiwis continued to extend. On the final run they pulled off four text book flying gybes to round the leeward gate four minutes and five seconds in front.
The final victory was five minutes and 23 seconds as the Kiwis took the win and chalked up their third point of the Louis Vuitton Series.
An understandably dejected looking Luna Rossa crew finished the race on the water outside the five minute time limit from the winner and were scored Did Not Finish (DNF).
So what should we read into today’s first head to head between the Kiwis and the Italians. Not too much to be honest. The result was not a surprise, even if the scale of the New Zealand supremacy might have been.
ETNZ are as slick and accomplished as we expected them to be. They were the first of all the teams to foil their AC72 and they are much further along the learning curve in that department than anyone.
By their own admission, the Italians are still on the lower slopes of the curve, but they are working to a clear plan they think will get them up to speed in time for the semifinals of the Louis Vuitton Series. Today confirmed just how far they have to go before they can even think about seriously troubling the Kiwi contingent.
CHRIS DRAPER SAYS:
Chris Draper, helmsman for Luna Rossa, and olympic medalist in the 49er class.
JURY DECISION : WINNERS AND LOSERS
The international jury decisi0n leaves the class rule intact. Read: HERE. I suspect the repercussions are not done with.
Artemis Racing is disappointed that the Jury’s decision leaves uncertainty. Artemis Racing is here to compete and remains confident that a solution will be found allowing for a safe regatta that all can compete in.
Our team is working hard and we are currently in the midst of completing the structural testing of our boat. This should be completed by weeks end. Final assembly of the boat will take place next week with the goal of getting on the water in ten days time. Artemis Racing has been working intensively for two months and we are eagerly looking forward to racing.
Grant Dalton on America’s Cup jury decision July 11 from Sail Racing Magazine on Vimeo.
JURY STILL OUT
America’s Cup ruling delayed by divided jury
Tom FitzGerald
Updated 11:37 pm, Wednesday, July 10, 2013
Regatta director Iain Murray listened to another question Tuesday July 9, 2013 about the Italian boat not participating in last Sundays opening day. In America’s Cup action on San Francisco bay, the Emirates Team New Zealand catamaran had another solo effort as the Artemis team did not race because their boat is not ready. Photo: Brant Ward, The Chronicle
The jury is still out.
A five-member jury of the International Sailing Federation said Wednesday it will announce a decision Thursday on a protest by two teams in the Louis Vuitton Cup challenger series over new rules regarding rudder wings.
The decision will be posted at 11 a.m. on the Cup’s website, americascup.com
Because the jury has been deliberating the matter since Monday morning, it’s apparent that the panel has been deeply divided. Even before formally convening, the jurors had been trying to resolve the issue in mediation last week.
The jury consists of chairman David Tillett of Australia, Graham McKenzie of New Zealand, Bryan Willis of Malaysia, John Doerr of Great Britain and Josje Hofland of the Netherlands.
The announcement is expected to come a little over an hour before Luna Rossa is expected to make its first appearance of the regatta. The Italian team has said it won’t sail until the jury rules.
Meanwhile, Sweden’s Artemis Racing, the scheduled opponent, is still trying to put its boat together after a tragic wreck in May.
After a pair of solo sails by Team New Zealand, the first genuine race of the challenger series won’t come until Saturday, when Luna Rossa meets the Kiwis.
Regatta director Iain Murray had made wider, heavier rudder wings part of the new safety rules he issued May 22, two weeks after Sweden’s Artemis Racing capsized, killing British sailor Andrew “Bart” Simpson.
Emirates Team New Zealand and Luna Rossa both protested that edict on the grounds that it was a change in the class rules that required unanimous consent by the teams. They contend the change wouldn’t make the boats safer and could give Oracle Team USA a competitive advantage because of the special design of its two boats.
Murray said last week that if the jury upheld the protests he would inform the Coast Guard he doesn’t think the racing would be safe. The Coast Guard has issued a permit for the regatta but could revoke it if the regatta director deemed the racing unsafe. The regatta could not go on without a permit.
Artemis Racing CEO Paul Cayard has said that if the jury adopted the position on rudder wings that Luna Rossa and Team New Zealand advocated, Artemis would have to drop out of the competition. It would take too long to reconfigure the boat to accommodate such a change, he said.
While the jury was deliberating, America’s Cup and Louis Vuitton officials denied a report that the French retailer, the primary sponsor of the challenger series, wants a lot of its money back.
A New Zealand newspaper reported that Louis Vuitton wants $3 million refunded because only three teams entered the competition for the chance to take on defending champion Oracle Team USA.
“We are not asking for anything back,” Louis Vuitton Cup director Christine Delangersaid. “But I’m not going to discuss our contracts.”
The New Zealand Herald reported that Bruno Trouble, whom it identified as the company’s ambassador to the America’s Cup, was “not happy” with the challenger series so far.
Trouble, a former America’s Cup sailor for France, was upset that the opening day of the regatta was overshadowed by Luna Rossa’s decision not to race until its protest of the rules change was resolved. Louis Vuitton’s initial sponsorship was for $10 million, the paper said.
The company’s contract was based on at least eight teams taking part in the Louis Vuitton Cup, according to the newspaper.
America’s Cup CEO Stephen Barclay said he wouldn’t go into detail on his organization’s contracts with sponsors but said the report was “factually incorrect.”
ONE HAND CLAPPING
Team New Zealand again added points by successfully sailing the course unopposed, while the international jury deliberates.
INTERNATIONAL JURY LISTENS
International Jury to hear Emirates Team New Zealand and Luna Rossa applications
The International Jury will hear applications from Emirates Team New Zealand and Luna Rossa Challenge beginning on Monday morning.
The two cases have been consolidated and will heard together with parties being given the opportunity to speak to their submissions.
International Jury chairman David Tillett says the hearing will last as long as is necessary to hear the evidence.
“We’d like to have a decision on Wednesday,” he said.
Both Emirates Team New Zealand and Luna Rossa are arguing Regatta Director Iain Murray exceeded his authority when some of his 37 Safety Rules effectively changed the AC72 Class Rule.
The Regatta Director argues the changes are necessary to run a safe regatta and are in line with the Rules of the event.
Full bios of the International Jury are available here.
The Transpac started today from Long Beach and the Halifax race started slowly yesterday in Marblehead.
LUNA ROSSA WILL NOT RACE
Italy’s Luna Rossa is threatening to sit out Sunday’s opening race of the America’s Cup while it awaits the ruling of an international jury on a protest. The protest hearing is not scheduled until Monday, although the regatta director Iain Murray said there was a chance the matter could be resolved before then.
Luna Rossa and Emirates Team New Zealand have protested Murray’s authority to change rules as part of safety recommendations he made after the British sailor Andrew Simpson was killed May 9 when Artemis Racing’s 72-foot catamaran capsized during a training run in San Francisco Bay. They have also said that the change gives an advantage to the defending champion Oracle Team USA, which does not have to race until the start of the 34th America’s Cup on Sept. 7.
Why should either Team New Zealand or Luna Rossa race and risk damaging their boats and gear when Team Artemis gets an automatic bye to the finals? There is absolutely nothing to be gained for these teams.
SIZZLE OR FIZZLE?
Will S.F.’s America’s Cup sizzle or fizzle?
By Bill Center2:16 p.m.July 5, 2013Updated2:28 p.m.
There is a lot of sizzle to the 34th America’s Cup this summer on San Francisco Bay.
For the first time in America’s Cup history, the event will be sailed inshore rather than far offshore with the San Francisco Bay venue guaranteed to be the best ever when it comes to spectator viewing.
And the 72-foot catamarans add elements and speed and excitement never before seen in the 162-year-old event.
But is there any substance to this America’s Cup, which is so drastically different from the traditional America’s Cup that it almost seems like a totally different event?
The total fleet for the event is four boats. Only two of the three challengers are ready to race this weekend with the beginning of the challenger trials. There will be no defender trials.
But there is controversy. There is always controversy in the America’s Cup. But this one takes the tradition a giant step beyond where we’ve been before.
On the eve of the July 4 Opening Ceremonies – which drew large crowds to San Francisco’s Pier 27/29 America’s Cup Park – race director Iain Murray threatened to ask the U.S. Coast Guard to pull the racing permit for San Francisco Bay if two challengers didn’t agree to 37 safety requirements.
The requirements were unilaterally imposed by the organizing committee after the May death of crewman Andrew “Bart” Simpson in an accident on San Francisco Bay that destroyed the entry of Sweden’s Artemis team.
If the Coast Guard pulled the permit, the event would be scuttled because the catamarans can’t race on San Francisco Bay without Coast Guard approval.
Meantime, the New Zealand and Italian challengers, who are scheduled to race Sunday in the first race of the Louis Vuitton Cup challenger trials, are going ahead with their protest of the changes — claiming they give the defending Oracle team an advantage.
The main dispute focuses on changes required to the rudder elevators – hydrofoils at the bottom of the rudders that allow both hulls to raise out of the water while on high-speed runs off the wind.
Emirates Team New Zealand and Italy’s Luna Rossa challengers are taking the issue to the international jury as soon as Monday and threatening court action. The Italians, meanwhile, say they might not race Sunday – further reducing an already limited schedule since the Swedes aren’t expected to be race-ready with their new boat until next month.
The spectacle of 72-foot catamarans flying around San Diego Bay could be reduced to a weaiting game.
Certainly, this is not what San Francisco expected when it signed on to back the 34th America’s Cup.
The defending Oracle syndicate led by Larry Ellison, team boss Russell Coutts and on-the-water skipper James Spithill hoped the entries would reach double figures when the rule was first established for the 72-foot catamarans for the 2013 America’s Cup.
Indeed, the America’s Cup World Series contested in 45-foot catamarans, which included a 2011 stop on San Diego Bay, drew nine boats representing eight teams.
But only four teams reached San Francisco. In contrast, the 1995 America’s Cup, the last of three raced out of San Diego, drew seven challengers and three defenders. The 1992 America’s Cup in San Diego, drew eight challengers and two defenders.
And whereas the last two America’s Cups sailed in San Diego included defense trials, the Oracle defenders won’t be sailing until the best nine-of-17 actual America’s Cup starts on Sept. 7.
There is no question that the 72-foot catamarans are spectacular – although many in sailing believe the risk of major accident goes beyond the reward. At a true wind speed of 18 knots, the AC-72 catamaran is capable of reaching speed of 40 mph – essentially flying on the tiny hydrofoils in question.
“What’s so amazing about this boat is that it’s suspended on these tiny pieces of engineered carbon-fiber,” said Spithill. “that’s why these boats are so cutting-edge technologically. We’re pushing them right to the limit.”
A lot of sizzle.
But any substance?
© Copyright 2013 The San Diego Union-Tribune, LLC. An MLIM LLC Company. All rights reserved.
MAX SAYS
from sailing anarchy:
If anyone deserves pity in the massive ‘ruddergate’ controversy, it’s Iain Murray. We always suspected the salt-of-the-Earth boat builder and designer didn’t have what it took to navigate the minefield of modern America’s Cup politics, and sure enough (and regardless of the outcome of ETNZ and Luna Rossa’s protests) he’ll forever be known throughout the sailing world as the guy who tried to help Oracle change the design rules a week before the Louis Vuitton Cup. It doesn’t matter whether he did or he didn’t, and frankly the guy’s reputation says he is honest and straight, but his lack of transparency combined with the timing of the rudder elevator issue makes him look to the world like he’s on the take.
We’re not going into the debate again – not yet, anyway – because it’s all here in the big Jury Notice thread. We’ll just let Max Sirena tell it how he sees – from thisRepubblica.IT story.
“Profiteering! That’s what it is. Nothing else. Sorry to say because sailing is my life, my world, my sport. But we cannot continue to pretend that this is the America’s Cup of gentlemen, of fair play. It is not true at all. Oracle and Artemis are doing something illegal, shameful, and they are doing it by exploiting the death of ‘Bart’ Simpson, a sailor, a friend. And I am fed up of accepting everything in silence .”
Luna Rossa’s skipper, Max Sirena, is beside himself. Under the cloak of the usual silence that preceds the battle, incredible things are happening in offices that overlook the bay of San Francisco. And the man most representative of the Italian expedition in the Coppa America has decided not to remain silent anymore. To name names and surnames. Here they are: Paul Cayard, Russell Coutts, Artemis, Oracle: They are the jackals. The question is simple. On the eve of the America’s Cup Cup, Luna Rossa and Team New Zealand – the only two credible challengers to the Cup held by the Americans Oracle – have succeeded in three years of work to make fly their catamarans (called foiling, the boat is five feet from the water “supported” only by the centerboard, and it is much faster).
Oracle and the swedes Artemis instead had judged it impossible to do from the beginning. So when they realized to be left behind, they began a frantic recovery. Now Oracle is able to “fly” but not in a stable manner, needing to change the rudders in order to stabilize. The only problem is that you can not do that. To modify rudders as they want them, you have to change measurements rules. As if we were made to build a car with engine capacity 2000 and now a week before the race they want to run with a 2200. But the worst thing is that they want to pass this regulatory modification as a decision for reasons of safety. “
They are not for safety? “No there are not. They continue to use the term safety for changes that are only needed by them, and only for the performance.”
They are Oracle and Artemis?
“Well, there are four teams. We and Team New Zealand protested…. “
The rule amending the rudders is contained in the notice of race issued by the Director Ian Murray and on the basis of which the U.S. Coast Guard has given the go ahead.
” It ‘s clear that no one has evidence that behind this is the hand of Oracle. But Murray has no authority to change the rules of tonnage. For those it takes unanimity. Which there is not. “
The truth is that Oracle is in trouble …
“I am sure that in the end they will be very competitive. Now yes, they are a little back.”
The charge of profiteering is a serious charge .
“I know, I’m sorry. But it is so. They tell us that we are unsporting, a myth of sailing, Iain Percy (skipper of Artemis) has told that and it hurt me a lot. Actually it is them who are exploiting the incident of Artemis (the one in which on May 9 the sailor champion Olympic Andrew “Bart” Simpson lost his life, ed) to obtain advantages in water. By the way, Simpson died because he was unlucky, not because the class is wrong. The catamaran rolled over, anything can happen and will happen again. “
This does not cancel that there is a safety issue.
“And you say it to me? Of course it exists. I have been saying that since long before the accident. It was more than a year that I insisted with Murrey, with Coutts, Paul Cayard and they laughed in my face. Reduce wind limits – I said – enhance helmets, oxygen tanks, put straps on the hulls to held to in the event of capsize, prohibit the guest on board. They insisted, deaf. “
Until someone ended up dead.
“That, again, it was an accident. Anyway, it was right to intervene. They proposed 37 points to improve security: 35 were shared, while two were only needed to help Oracle and Artemis to regain lost ground . With New Zealand we have proposed: let’s pass now the 35 and we think about the other two. Cayard said, no, all or nothing. So I threatened to publish the response in the media. So you could tell who was trying to work for the safety and who for themselves. And we managed to have the 35 points passed. “
Then came the notice of Murray.
“Against which we did protest.”
It will be discussed on the eight of July. If they rule against you, up to what point are you willing to go?
“We may refuse to get in the water. It is a decision which may be taken only with the consent of Patrizio Bertelli, of course. But it is a matter of principle. Coppa America is a great game but also in games there are values to be respected.”