AMERICA'S CUP 34 — T
here is a new gold standard at the highest level of yacht racing. It's AC72s on San Francisco Bay. Like the America's Cup itself, there is no second place. The transformation brought about by the creation of the AC72s has been no less than that of biplanes to passenger jets, Model Ts to F1 cars, or snail mail to high-speed Internet. Since this sailing show of a lifetime happened on our home waters, we hope you didn't miss it.
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GILLES MARTIN-RAGET./ ACEA
ABNER KINGMAN / ACEA
aving already made an improbdidn't come as a complete shock. After ably spectacular comeback from an falling behind by seven races, OTUSA 8-to-1 deficit in the improbably exciting was on a roll, having roared back to an 34th America's Cup on San Francisco 8-to-8 tie. Bay, Oracle Team USA came from behind But there was more to it than that. in the 19th and final Kiwi head Grant race to defeat EmirDalton said he'd ates Team New Zea"slept the best I have land and retain the in a week" because oldest trophy — 162 he was confident years — in sport. that he knew what The thrilling the outcome was gocomeback was one ing to be — although for the ages, and not it wasn't going to be just in yacht racing. good. As a result, the Cup received unprecedented mainhe final victory stream media covwas not a case of erage and made the Kiwis faltering, converts of many but rather of Oracle who had previously having continued to been indifferent if "When you're staring down the barrel of a hone some combinanot outright hostile gun, you can either get wobbly in the knees tion of the various to yacht racing. So or smile." So says Oracle helmsman Jimmy aspects of their efSpithill who smiled when behind 1 to 8. He's many enthusiastic fort. First, having 'Latitude's MVP of America's Cup 34. new fans — most of been taught how to them non-sailors — rushed down to the tack and jibe by the Kiwis in the early Cup Village to watch the final race that races, Oracle had gotten up to par. Secthe Fire Marshall had to turn thousands ond, Oracle's replacement tactical team away. — a triumvirate of Ben Ainslie, Tom The last race was a stomach-churning Slingsby and helmsman Jimmy Spithill nail-biter for 2¼ legs, but the final result — were making nearly flawless decisions, even when they took gambles. They were Crosses and curves, nobody realized what helped by no longer having the slower great match racing boats the AC72s could be boat. — but only with superb crews. But most of all, the victory was due to what Larry Ellison said was the Oracle team engineers "breaking the code." The AC72s are formula boats, which means they could be modified throughout the regatta. Oracle had made more than a dozen modifications. Ellison refused to specify what modifications he meant by "breaking the code," and later hedged the importance of the modifications by saying, "Our VMG was faster with the bow down," indicating that improved sailing technique had also helped. Kiwi commentators speculated about an automatic stability augmentation system that supposedly helped balance Oracle when foiling upwind. The Kiwi boat had a similar system, but it was manually operated.
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hile the changes made are un-
clear, the result was not. "The obvious difference was Oracle's ability to foil upwind," said Kiwi helmsman Dean Barker. "Oracle's boat systems or [sailing] technique were better suited for foiling upwind for sustained periods." Dalton said that by the end of the Cup, Oracle had made a 90-second improvement between the two boats on the weather legs. "A huge difference." Having achieved effective upwind foiling capability in time for the last two races was like the U.S. getting the atomic
