The 35th Americas Cup finally got underway, following the postponement of racing on the scheduled day 1 due to high winds. The pictures from the Bermuda’s Great Sound looked stunning with the new AC45 catamarans skimming the water at speeds up to three times the wind speed.
Photo: Courtesy of Emirates Team NZ
The six teams competing in this event are Team Oracle (USA), Artemis Racing (Sweden), Ben Ainslie Racing (UK), Team Japan, Groupama France & Team New Zealand. The holder is Team Oracle, and in a break from tradition will compete in some of the challenger series racing.
There was plenty of action to kill off the doubters that this will be an absorbing & spectacular sporting event. Racing was close, passing was numerous, some umpire calls and a dramatic collision between BAR (Ben Ainslie Racing) & Team Japan.
The current holders, Oracle USA, got off to the prefect start with a comfortable win over Groupama France. Contrary to previous Americas Cup’s, the holder is allowed to participate in some of the Challenger series, this is because the holder writes the rules, some might say in their favour and participating in the Challenger series gives Oracle the ideal platform to test their boat under match racing conditions.
The second race saw Artemis Racing (Sweden) account for Team Japan in a tight race. The third race saw TNZ (Team NZ) take a comfortable win over Groupama France.
The fourth race of the day threw up a surprise when BAR took out Artemis Racing. BAR had looked one of the slower boats in the lead up to this event while Artemis are one of the favoured challengers. This race may point to how close racing may be in this event with no team taking anything for granted.
The fifth race was between the two heavyweights, Team Oracle and Team NZ. The two teams fought out the previous Americas Cup off San Francisco where Team Oracle overcame a 1-8 deficit to win 9-8. On this occasion, start honours went to Team NZ though Team Oracle held a slight lead into the 1st mark. An accurate rounding of the 2nd mark by Team NZ saw them take the lead and build a substantial advantage of several hundred metres by the 4th mark. The fifth leg saw team Oracle claw back that lead and using all his match racing experience., eam Oracle skipper Jimmy Spithill put Team NZ under pressure coming into the 5th mark, almost creating a collision & forcing Team NZ to pull away. Team Oracle took the lead and held on for the close win.
The final race of the day was the most dramatic. In a jostle for position in the start box, Team Japan got the jump on BAR who reacted late and caused one of their hulls to land on top of Team Japan, brushing the latter’s crew. It happened quickly and highlights the potential danger these boats possess. Both boats suffered damage in the collision with BAR seemingly worse off. Team Japan took a comfortable victory.
It’s early days in this regatta with all boats but Groupama France showing excellent boat speed, Team NZ with its “cycling grinders” looked most stable on its foils in both straight line racing & manoeuvres.
Of all teams, one would think Team NZ have the most to gain should they master the sometimes flukey conditions of the Great Sound. They arrived last into Bermuda of all the teams, so potentially have the most to learn & thus gain. The key for Team NZ is can they learn quick enough.
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