America’s Cup: It’s not over, but is it?

Published on October 14th, 2024

Barcelona, Spain (October 14, 2024) – On a day with one race on the schedule, the truth is becoming apparent at the 37th America’s Cup. Following a convincing win by Team New Zealand to go 4-0 on the British challenger, it appears the defender has the full package: fast boat, fast team.

Of course, memories of the 2013 America’s Cup are never far when the Kiwi challenge was up 6-1 over the defender, and USA skipper Jimmy Spithill was asked how he and his team could stay motivated in the face of defeat.

“I think the question is, imagine if these guys lost from here,” he said. “What an upset that would be. They have almost got it in the bag. So that’s my motivation. That would be one hell of a story, that would be one hell of a comeback and that’s the kind of thing that I’d like to be part of.”

In that best of 17 series, Spithill led the comeback to win 9-8, a victory that had INEOS Britannia skipper Ben Ainslie as part of the crew. Can Ainslie now rally his team for a similar comeback in this best of 13 series? To do so, his team will need to solve their tacking issue.

In today’s race, the British came out with a very different pre-start game-plan, electing to disengage from any potential penalty-inducing close calls and instead trusting in the outright speed of their yacht ‘Britannia’ to try to outmuscle the Kiwis in a straight line. It was a tactic that initially appeared to work, until it didn’t.

INEOS Britannia came off the start line to windward and then matched Team New Zealand’s pace to the boundary, where they were able to first execute a leebow tack on the Kiwis to force them to quickly tack back to the left. But rather than the Brits also tacking to control their lead and crush the Kiwis on the boundary, they continued on port. Lack of confidence in tacking?

With the leverage needed, Team New Zealand spilt tacks up the first windward leg, getting their way back level with the British boat as the windward gate approached, and squeezed in a tack in front to block the Challenger’s route to the right hand mark. The British tacked away and the two teams rounded opposite windward marks at precisely the same time.

On the downwind, when Team New Zealand gybed before reaching the left boundary and came back across on the right-of-way starboard gybe, the British made the slenderest of crosses. A seemingly desperate protest from INEOS Britannia that they had been hunted by the Kiwis was quickly dismissed, and it was from there that the Kiwis started to build a lead they would never relinquish.

On this six-lap course, with the wind hovering around 10 knots and a dull cloud cover, the Kiwis put on a masterclass of front-running, tacking on the British to maintain control, taking advantage of the  maneuverability advantage they appear to hold over their opponent.

There was little the British could do other than play the middle and left of the course upwind and by the final windward gate, after some textbook covering, the Kiwis rounded with a 24-second lead before sailing an assured downwind leg, going boundary to boundary and executing their gybes with pace and poise to cross the line at speed to record a 23-second victory.

With tomorrow designated a Reserve Day, these two teams will return to racing action on Wednesday October 16 for two more scheduled races.

“We’ve got a few things to do to the boat in the shed overnight and we’re not going to sail tomorrow but it’s about just keeping the pressure on,” noted New Zealand skipper Peter Burling. “We feel like we haven’t really got to our best yet, we’ve still got plenty to come and we are excited by the challenge.”

Burling looks forward to the windier conditions anticipated when racing resumes. “It’s been just this light bumpy conditions the whole time so I’d love to see a bit more variety. It’s obviously a completely different wind range to what they got in the Louis Vuitton Cup Final, but yes, we’re ready to go across the board.”

Dylan Fletcher, port helm on INEOS Britannia, reflected on the defeat: “We just focused on getting a good start. It was really nice, we squeezed them off and got the first proper cross, but couldn’t quite keep them behind – which was frustrating.”

Asked about the mood in the team, Fletcher was upbeat and determined: “I think that people have been doubting us from the start, but we’ve proved people wrong all along the way and we feel like we can take this to them, and we’ll just see how it goes on Wednesday (Oct. 16). It’s disappointing but there’s a lot of belief and it’s not over yet.”

In this best of 13 series, the scoreline doesn’t lie and 4-0 to Team New Zealand means the mountain INEOS Britannia have to climb is a steep one, but the recent history of the America’s Cup shows that no series lead is big enough until the job is fully done.

Editor’s note: Until 1995, four wins were enough to take the America’s Cup.

 

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Following the publication of the AC37 Protocol and AC75 Class Rule on November 17, 2021, the AC75 Class Rule and AC Technical Regulations were finalized on March 17, 2022. The entry period was from December 1, 2021 until July 31, 2022, but late entries for the 37th America’s Cup could be accepted until May 31, 2023. The Defender was to announce the Match Venue on September 17, 2021 but postponed the reveal, finally confirming Barcelona on March 30, 2022. The 37th America’s Cup begins October 12, 2024.

Teams revealed to challenge defender Emirates Team New Zealand (NZL):
INEOS Britannia (GBR)
Alinghi Red Bull Racing (SUI)
Luna Rossa Prada Pirelli Team (ITA)
NYYC American Magic (USA)
Orient Express Racing Team (FRA)

2023-24 Preliminary Regattas
September 14-17, 2023 (AC40): Vilanova i la Geltrú, Spain
November 30-December 2 (AC40): Jeddah, Saudi Arabia
August 22-25, 2024 (AC75): Barcelona, Spain

2024 Louis Vuitton Cup Challenger Selection Series*
August 29-September 9: Double Round Robin
September 14-19: Semi Finals (Best of 9)
September 26-October 7: Finals (Best of 13)

*Team New Zealand competes in the round robin stage only, but the results of their races were not included in the challenger leaderboard.

2024 America’s Cup
October 12-27: 37th Match (Best of 13)

For competition details, click here.

Additionally, 12 teams will compete in the Youth America’s Cup and Women’s America’s Cup.

Noticeboard: https://ac37noticeboard.acofficials.org/
Event details: www.americascup.com/en/home

Source: ACE, SSN

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