America’s Cup Sailing Starts in Earnest Thursday, August 29
Forget all the preliminary regatta hype. Now the real racing begins. The chase for the oldest trophy in sports will begin for real on August 29 as the America’s Cup defender Emirates Team New Zealand will compete with five challengers in the first phase of the Louis Vuitton Cup, the Challenger Series.
This series is a double round-robin format in which each of the teams will race against one another twice. The defending champion Team New Zealand races in this phase although it will not compete in the semi-final round slated to begin on September 14.
In this first series of races, the team having amassed the most points in the round robin phase will select its opening opponent in the semi-final knockout round. In this round consisting of four teams, the first two teams to score five points will advance to the Louis Vuitton Finals which will determine the ultimate challenger for the coveted 37th America’s Cup Match. In the Finals, the first team to score seven points is the winner.
In total, a successful challenger could sail from 22 to 32 races before emerging victorious and earning the right to fight it out with the defender in the Cup Finale with the first to seven victories being declared the victor of the 37th America’s Cup. The Cup finals are slated to begin October 12.
The racing thus far through three preliminary regattas has been fast and furious. In a repeat of the 36th America’s Cup Finals in Auckland, Emirates Team New Zealand out dueled Luna Rossa Prada Pirelli to capture bragging rights in the Preliminary Regatta.
Both Emirates Team New Zealand and Luna Rossa Prada Pirelli suffered one loss in the Round Robin Round, with the New York Yacht Club’s American Magic entry, Patriot, scoring a decisive wire to wire victory against Team New Zealand in the last race of that series.
“We had it going our way,” said American Magic Helmsman Tom Slingsby. “We fought through adversity with a rudder problem on Day 3 and had to withdraw… but the team worked hard through the night to get us up and running for that match against the Kiwis.” The US boat finished third in the Round Robins with a record of 3-2.
American Magic skipper and president of sailing operations Terry Hutchinson was pleased with the team’s performance in the Preliminary Regatta. In a previous interview with SpinSheet, Hutchinson repeated his team’s mantra of “it’s all about the winning. As they say in America’s Cup racing, there is no second place.”
After the race, Hutchinson continued: “The way the guys sailed today was really consistent, and it was everything that we've been talking about; so we have an almost vertical learning curve of improvement in front of us which is really encouraging because you can see the potential of Patriot, and you can see the potential of our team. We’ve just got to keep chipping along and getting it all together. It’s hard not to be happy, but we still got third, so if you win a couple of battles but don't win the war, you’ve got to keep the bigger picture in mind. I think that's what we will do.”
Some US racing fans have been disappointed in the lack of viewing options for live action. As it turns out, the only way for a US viewer to catch live action is to subscribe to ESPN+. One-month memberships to the streaming service can be purchased for $10.99. (https://plus.espn.com/). Other feeds on the America’s Cup web site and Facebook pages will result in after the fact video and reports from Barcelona. YouTube is also carrying delayed broadcasting of the racing. The ESPN+ live coverage will begin at 8 a.m. eastern time on race days.
For up-to-the-minute news and race timing, go to: americascup.com.
By Craig Ligibel
