AMERICA'S CUP 34 SAN FRANCISCO BAY • AMERICA'S CUP 34 SAN FRANCISCO BAY • AMERICA'S CUP 34 SAN FRANCISCO BAY • AMERICA'S CUP 34 SAN FRANCISCO BAY •
AMERICA'S CUP 34 A
fter all the build-up for the America's Cup so far, it's hard to believe the America's Cup World Series finally got underway. Eight teams and nine boats raced in Cascais, Portugal, August 6-14. Hyped as a watershed week for the polarizing new format for the Cup, the venue unfortunately largely produced "it's never like this here" conditions. Rather than the more Bay-like conditions Cascais known for, the first day of racing had light air in the 3- to 5-knot range, and even rain! Thankfully day 2 produced the goods and Emirates Team New Zealand carried the opening weekend with a win in both the Preliminaries fleet racing and the 500-meter time trial. In the latter, they averaged 23 knots, setting a tone for what would prove to be a show of force nearly all week long from the Kiwis. ETNZ picked up right where they left off in the match racing seeding series later in the week, using superior boathandling to win just about everything throughout the week. After winning nearly all of the mini events throughout the week, the Kiwis were ultimately pipped for the match racing honors on the penultimate day of the regatta by Oracle's Jimmy Spithill. But ETNZ skipper Dean Barker and his mates rebounded in the final fleet racing championship, successfully navigating a tricky race course strewn with holes. The holes left many opportunities for passing, and on the second lap of the race, Barker found enough of a breeze advantage to slingshot around the initial leader — none other than Spithill. “For us it was fantastic,” Barker said. “It was always going to be a very difficult race, as the breeze never really established. There were big holes in the race course, so it was about being at the right place at the right time.” Terry Hutchinson's Artemis Racing was also able to work its way up in the pack to a second place finish, after being deep
early. Spithill had to settle for third. “The guys did an awesome job to battle us up into the race,” Hutchinson said, after climbing back from mid-fleet. “It’s probably the best we’ve gone in the entire regatta. It's a very good finish for Artemis.” If anything, the event reinforced that there are three main contenders — and no, one of them is not Ron Paul — Oracle, Artemis and ETNZ. This fact was pretty much universally agreed upon going into the event. But it also showed that among the dark horses, British skipper Chris Draper and Team Korea looked a hell of a lot better than anyone expected. They ultimately proved to be close to the level of Loïck Peyron's Energy Team. Time will tell if this translates to an interesting Louis Vuitton Cup, but the Asian Teams' presence is vital to the success of AC 34, given San Francisco's location on the Pacific Rim. Producing credible results early will no doubt help boost the chances of the Asian teams sticking around.
to fruition. Although it wasn't as dazzling as expected, given that it was the first iteration, it indicated more good things to come from America's Cup Television (ACTV). As there was no TV coverage of the event here in the U.S., or apparently in much of rest of the world, it was probably a very good thing that the organizers entered into a partnership with YouTube to provide a new twist on live video footage that came from the event, allowing both overlay views and also the option for viewers to get sailing-specific commentary or more generalized sports prattle. In Cascais, the latter seemed in many cases to resemble the former a little too much, but that will likely evolve in the future. The fact that ACTV is both employing these possibilities and forging partnerships with a company owned by the Bay Area-based Google would seem like a positive sign for
The Takeaway Boats — The AC 45 proved to be everything it was promised to be – quick and responsive, meting out punishment for errors as readily as it rewarded total concentration and output. The differences in acceleration, and demands on the crew, produced numerous lead changes — a welcome relief from Cups of years past and a real challenge for some of the world's best sailors, just as it was billed to be. Coverage — One of the central tenets of the new-look America's Cup is breaking new ground in the way the racing can be covered by television. And while it took a few days to get going at Cascais, the option of either a split-view of graphic and live images or the combination of the two overlayed on each other did finally come
From left — Team Korea's Chris Draper showed that skiff sailors — he's a 49er ace — aren't far behind the multihull curve; China Team's Mitch Booth, a two-time Olympic medallist put China Team on the map in Cascais before leaving the team; Artemis' Terry Hutchinson had his guys in the top-three at the end.
AMERICA'S CUP 34 SAN FRANCISCO BAY • AMERICA'S CUP 34 SAN FRANCISCO BAY • AMERICA'S CUP 34 SAN FRANCISCO BAY • AMERICA'S CUP 34 SAN FRANCISCO BAY • Page 88 •
Latitude 38
• September, 2011
