America's Cup Replay - Emirates Team NZ on Match Point in Challenger Final

by Richard Gladwell 25 Jun 2018 10:52 BST 25 June 2018

Our apologies for getting a little behind with Sail-World.com/nz's replay coverage of the 12 month anniversary, however we will allow the catch up in time for the win on Thursday June 27, NZT) .

Following is the Sail-World coverage of Day 2 of the Challenger Final, along with the report from America's Cup Media and the same from Emirates Team New Zealand. Also included is the timeline from the Race Management team - showing wind strengths, timings and key events. This was not available to be published at the time of the Event.

Emirates Team New Zealand is just one race away from winning the Louis Vuitton Trophy and going forward as the Challenger to meet Oracle Team USA in the America's Cup Match starting on June 17.

However it was not all plain sailing for the Kiwis as rival Artemis Racing (SWE) picked the weather right and her board selection was spot on as the wind cracked in at around 17kts, when most had been expecting a lot less. Emirates Team NZ was wearing what are allegedly her lighter air daggerboards.

The start of the first race was called as even, although Artemis Racing skipper Nathan Outteridge claimed at the post-match media conference that they had won the last six starts.

Helmsman of Emirates Team New Zealand, Peter Burling's response was that their objective was to get to Mark 2 at the end of the first two legs in good shape and then start attacking on the wind.

That is basically how all three races played out.

The problem for the Kiwis being that they were unable to break through the Swede's cover in the first race and the Outteridge and his crew slowly extended all the way around the three lap course.

However the Kiwis were able to soften up Artemis Racing by engaging in tacking duels on the windward beats, with Emirates Team NZ using their cyclors power to try and engage - but Artemis was having none of it and kept a loose cover only.

In the second and third races, both boats appeared to suffer hydraulic issues, with the Swedes admitting to a button that had leaked water during the heavy rain earlier in the day and it kept engaging at all the wrong moments.

Emirates Team NZ had support crew aboard between the first two races working in the wingsail trimmer's cockpit.

In Races 2 and 3 Emirates Team, New Zealand looked set for easy wins after getting control in the first beat, on Leg 3.

Artemis Racing gave up in Race 2 preferring to resolve their electrical issues for the final race.

In Race 3, Emirates Team New Zealand looked to have a comfortable lead but claimed they misjudged a gybe angle, going around the final Mark 6, letting Artemis Racing have a sniff of victory. But the Kiwis recovered to hold a fast finishing Artemis out by just 1.3secs and went 4-2 in the series which is first to win five races.

At the media conference, Peter Burling explained this away as getting the layline angle wrong.

The wind direction today was from the SE - a first time for this regatta and the course orientation was different and angles to the finish line different than from the more common directions of wind.

Today for the first time in the regatta, Emirates Team New Zealand seemed to have a game plan and stuck to it.

Regardless of what commentators in New Zealand think of Emirates Team NZ's starts, getting time and distance right is a very fine judgement call, and a second late is way less expensive than a second early. The penalties for early start have dropped right off - while they were common in the earlier Round Robins.

The violent boat on boat aggression which were a feature of some team's starting style are gone from this phase of the regatta - and the starts are fast and close.

As Peter Burling explained at tonight's media conference the team strategy is to be in contact at Mark 2, and then begin to attack on the beat, and using the speed advantage Emirates Team New Zealand seems to enjoy.

It is now apparent that while the brain might be willing, the arm-grinders on the other boats are not physically able to match a close tacking duel with the cyclors.

Emirates Team New Zealand's are really to get in front and hope they can stay there. Occasionally this strategy will win a race - but it is becoming increasingly difficult as the Kiwis can just tack away with minimal speed loss, and keep throwing in foiling tacks until the cover has been broken.

Today, for the second time in this regatta, Artemis Racing let Emirates Team New Zealand off the hook and given slightly different circumstances it could well have been the Kiwis on two wins and Artemis on four. But there is luck in sailing, and Peter Burling seems to be a lucky sailor. Artemis, on the other hand, have a string of 'if only' situations where the game has just not gone their way - including an umpire call that was reversed two hours after being made.

Lighter winds are forecast for the final day tomorrow.

America's Cup Media: Burling brings Kiwis to match point with one-second win

Peter Burling’s Emirates Team New Zealand started the day with a 2-1 lead in the Louis Vuitton America’s Cup Challenger Playoff Final over Nathan Outteridge and Artemis Racing.

Two hours later, Burling was sitting on match point, holding a 4-2 lead and taking a stranglehold on the series. But it was far from easy, with the winning delta on the final race of the day of just one-second. “We were really happy to walk away from the day 4-2 up,” Burling, the young Kiwi helmsman said. “To get our boat around the track in the way we did and to take those couple of wins, is full credit to the whole team, and what they’re willing to give to get the job done here. We probably gave everyone a heart attack at that last mark there… but the way the boys ground the board down it’s full credit to the bikes and the design we have to get the power to get it down and hold on to the lead.” The first team to earn five points will advance to the America’s Cup Match presented by Louis Vuitton against two-time defending champion ORACLE TEAM USA.

In the Louis Vuitton America's Cup Challenger Playoffs Semi-finals, Artemis Racing won three consecutive races to defeat SoftBank Team Japan and Outteridge and his team will have to repeat that performance to advance to the match. “We saw in the semi finals that anything is possible,” Outteridge noted. “We’ll keep chipping away. We won’t change how we tackle the starts or the first mark approaches. We’re six for six there. It’s more what we do in the upwind legs to help keep them behind us… “The boat’s going just fine,” Outteridge said. “I think if we can keep attacking the races the way we have been, and (keep) trying to control Team New Zealand as much as we can that’s the important thing for us to focus on.” Sunday dawned with dark clouds and stormy skies in Bermuda and an ominous forecast – rain showers and thunderstorms crossed the Great Sound race area throughout the early afternoon and racing took place in winds that peaked near 15 knots and dropped as low 8 knots.

Race Reports

Race four:
An even start saw Nathan Outteridge’s Artemis Racing gap off to the windward side of Burling’s Emirates Team New Zealand to take the high-speed option and lead into mark one for the fourth consecutive time in the series. At the bottom gate, the Swedish lead was just 5-seconds, with Burling keeping the pressure on, following Outteridge through the gate. On the first upwind, the Kiwis were able to get a couple of short splits, but Outteridge and tactician Iain Percy never allowed them to wander too far away, offering up a loose covering position, staying between Burling and the top gate. While Team New Zealand earned a split on the run, it wasn’t to the favored side, and Percy and Outteridge sped away to a big gain. Burling again took a split at the bottom, rolling the dice on the final upwind leg. With a lead of xlose to 200-metres, Outteridge was content to sail his own race but a very poor tack near the top gate allowed Burling to close the deficit right up. The Artemis Racing boat reared up into the air coming out of a tack and crashed hard into the water. Burling and his Kiwis almost made the pass, but this time, Artemis Racing recovered - just in time - and protected through to the finish. The 15-second win sees the series tied at 2-2. Race five:
For the fifth time in five races, Nathan Outteridge and Artemis Racing led across the starting line and past mark one. There wasn’t a lot of engagement in the pre-start and Burling and Emirates Team New Zealand have yet to find an answer to get across the starting line with a lead. Burling elected to take a split at the bottom gate and when the boats converged, Outteridge tried to slam a tight covering tack on the Kiwis, but Burling took the high road, pinching up to a safe and strong position approaching the boundary. When the boats tacked again, the Kiwis were in a powerful leeward position and with rights, Burling luffed hard, forcing Outteridge to tack. The extra maneuver gave the lead to the Kiwis who soon crossed ahead to round the windward gate with a 13-second lead. From there, it was straight-forward to the finish. Burling and the Kiwis extended to take the win and a 3-2 series lead, with Sweden retiring from the race as the Kiwis crossed the line. Race six: Both boats crossed the starting line at speed in a neutral start, but with better pace and the leeward position on the reach to mark one, Artemis Racing’s Nathan Outteridge was able to push Burling well to windward of the target before turning downwind with a 3-second lead around mark one and then a 7-second lead through the bottom gate. The Swedish team is now 6 for 6 in terms of leading at mark one. New Zealand followed through the gate but an early tack on the first upwind leg allowed the Kiwis a bit of separation and a slight gain on a left hand windshift. Halfway up the leg, Artemis Racing put a tight covering tack on the New Zealand boat, forcing them back to the right side of the course, and into a big split. Artemis Racing held a narrow lead and crossed ahead when the boats met at the top gate, but New Zealand took the favored gate mark and sailed into the lead on the first half of the run. At the bottom gate, Outteridge was less than 2-seconds behind and as the boats turned upwind the Swedish bows were just meters from the stern of the Kiwi boat. But in disturbed air, Artemis Racing was forced to tack away. When the boats next converged, Burling had again extended to a more comfortable lead, always sailing a closer angle to the top gate where he held a 16-second lead. Just when the race appeared to be in hand for the Kiwis, the team appeared to lose control on the final gybe and the boat settled into the water, very slow. This set up a dramatic sprint to the finish, but Burling had the faster angle, crossing the line just over one-second ahead of the fast charging Swedish boat. Despite trailing at the first mark in all six races, Emirates Team New Zealand has earned four points. Burling says the team has confidence in its speed around the race course to help overcome any early deficits. “Today was all about getting to that bottom gate in good shape and then trying to generate opportunities upwind, where we’re fast. We’re learning a lot about how to come from behind… We have the confidence we can run them down.” The first weekend of the final match in the Louis Vuitton America’s Cup Challenger Playoffs ends with Emirates Team New Zealand sitting on match point with a 4-2 lead. Racing is scheduled to continue in lighter conditions on Monday afternoon.

Louis Vuitton America’s Cup Challenger Playoffs – Final
Race 1 - Emirates Team New Zealand beat Artemis Racing – 47 seconds
Race 2 - Artemis Racing beat Emirates Team New Zealand – 15 seconds
Race 3 - Emirates Team New Zealand win – Artemis Racing do not finish
Race 4 - Artemis Racing beat Emirates Team New Zealand – 15 seconds
Race 5 - Emirates Team New Zealand win – Artemis Racing do not finish
Race 6 - Emirates Team New Zealand beat Artemis Racing – 1 second

Emirates Team New Zealand Media: Emirates Team New Zealand has moved to match point against Artemis in the Louis Vuitton Challenger Final, but not without apologising to their fans for stressing them out with a dramatic climax to Day 2.

Holding a big lead coming into the last leg of the third race, a mistake by helmsman Peter Burling almost let the Swedish boat through, before the Kiwis recovered to squeeze over the line just one second ahead.

“It was the end of what had been a really tough day for us, we ended up on the wrong foils and really battled away, and we battled right to the end of that race,” said foil trimmer Blair Tuke. “We did a really average gybe and struggled to get the starboard dagger board down. And then we finally got going and only beat them by half a length. Sorry for giving you a heart attack. We were trying our hardest!”

Burling reckoned he owed the supporters a few beers after his slip up but said it showed how tight the racing is.

The day had begun with Emirates Team New Zealand opting to go with a light air set-up based on the weather forecast. Artemis chose a heavier air configuration which paid dividends in the first race when the predicted 8 to 10-knot breeze failed to materialise. Instead, a 15-16 knot wind saw Artemis enjoying supremacy right around the track with a convincing 15” start-to-finish win which took them to 2-2.

For Race 2, though, the breeze dropped to around 10 knots, and the Emirates Team New Zealand set up came into its own. The Kiwis made the most of their better manoeuvrability and extra pace to haul the Swedes back and go to 3-2.

“We have shown all the way through that we have had to fight from behind a bit, and today we were no different,” said Tuke.

“We were really doing it tough not having the speed on the reach and on the downwind legs, but we were going really quick upwind and just kept our cool and tried to wait for our opportunities to pass when we knew we had the speed. Really awesome effort by the boys. It could very easily have gone the other way today to be 4-2 up is pretty solid.”

Emirates Team New Zealand are now one win away from the America’s Cup Match.

Race Management Timeline of Events and Timings - Challenger Final Day 2:

Liveline Chatter Feed
12:25:52 TIM Louis Vuitton Challenger Playoff Finals, Bermuda
13:45:00 WND Wind 142 at 13.3 kn, 14.8 kn peak
13:48:00 WND Wind 140 at 14.4 kn, 16.4 kn peak
13:51:17 UMP NZL Penalty
13:51:17 NZL sailed outside the boundary
13:51:19 UMP NZL Penalty Complete
13:52:00 WND Wind 148 at 15.8 kn, 17.4 kn peak
13:52:34 TIM LVAC Finals race 4 starts 14:12, NZL port v SWE stbd entry
13:53:02 PRO NZL port
13:53:06 PRO SWE stbd
13:53:11 PRO Course 6-F
14:02:00 WND Wind 152 at 15.2 kn, 17.2 kn peak
14:03:25 PRO Axis 143
14:03:30 PRO Length 1.45
14:04:22 PRO M1-boundary 475m
14:06:17 PRO Axis 146
14:09:00 Race 4 (SWE,NZL): Warning, 3:00 until start
14:09:54 NZL Began Entry
14:09:57 NZL Completed Entry
14:10:03 SWE Began Entry
14:10:05 SWE Completed Entry
14:11:30 WND Wind 151 at 15.2 kn, 16.7 kn peak
14:12:00 Race 4 (SWE,NZL): Started
14:12:01 NZL Crossed Start Line
14:12:01 SWE Crossed Start Line
14:12:35 SWE Rounded Mark 1, 0:35.2 after start
14:12:38 NZL Rounded Mark 1, 0:03.5 behind leader
14:13:53 SWE Rounded Mark 2, 1:53.4 after start
14:13:58 NZL Rounded Mark 2, 0:05.3 behind leader
14:15:54 PRO Axis 153
14:18:53 SWE Rounded Mark 3, 6:53.2 after start
14:19:03 NZL Rounded Mark 3, 0:09.8 behind leader
14:21:52 SWE Rounded Mark 4, 9:52.8 after start
14:22:00 WND Wind 146 at 13.6 kn, 15.6 kn peak
14:22:20 NZL Rounded Mark 4, 0:27.1 behind leader
14:25:30 NZL Yankee Flag
14:25:39 UMP NZL No Penalty
14:26:02 NZL Yankee Flag
14:26:08 UMP NZL No Penalty
14:26:53 SWE Rounded Mark 5, 14:53.0 after start
14:27:02 NZL Rounded Mark 5, 0:09.4 behind leader
14:29:52 SWE Rounded Mark 6, 17:52.5 after start
14:29:59 NZL Rounded Mark 6, 0:07.1 behind leader
14:30:19 SWE Crossed Finish Line
14:30:19 PRO SWE Finished: time 14:30:19.300, 18:19.300 after start
14:30:34 NZL Crossed Finish Line, 0:15.0 behind leader
14:30:36 PRO NZL Finished: time 14:30:34.341, 18:34.341 after start
14:30:39 PRO Race 4 Terminated

14:31:38 PRO Race 5 Start: 14:51
14:41:00 WND Wind 148 at 10.6 kn, 15.9 kn peak
14:41:09 PRO SWE port
14:41:10 PRO NZL stbd
14:41:11 PRO Course 6-F
14:41:16 PRO Axis 145
14:43:40 PRO Length 1.2nm
14:44:08 PRO M1-boundary 475m
14:48:00 Race 5 (SWE,NZL): Warning, 3:00 until start
14:48:54 SWE Began Entry
14:48:57 SWE Completed Entry
14:49:04 NZL Began Entry
14:49:06 NZL Completed Entry
14:50:30 WND Wind 132 at 11.1 kn, 12.7 kn peak
14:51:00 Race 5 (SWE,NZL): Started
14:51:00 SWE Crossed Start Line
14:51:01 NZL Crossed Start Line
14:51:42 SWE Rounded Mark 1, 0:42.6 after start
14:51:46 NZL Rounded Mark 1, 0:03.7 behind leader
14:52:13 PRO WG 137
14:54:04 NZL Rounded Mark 2, 3:04.2 after start
14:54:15 SWE Rounded Mark 2, 0:11.6 behind leader
14:55:41 NZL Yankee Flag
14:55:54 UMP NZL No Penalty
14:56:52 WND Wind 138 at 13.1 kn, 14.8 kn peak
14:57:19 NZL Rounded Mark 3, 6:19.5 after start
14:57:32 SWE Rounded Mark 3, 0:13.2 behind leader
14:58:53 PRO WG +
14:59:58 NZL Rounded Mark 4, 8:58.0 after start
15:00:15 SWE Rounded Mark 4, 0:17.5 behind leader
15:00:56 WND Wind 144 at 11.1 kn, 13.9 kn peak
15:05:03 NZL Rounded Mark 5, 14:03.9 after start
15:05:43 SWE Rounded Mark 5, 0:39.4 behind leader
15:08:07 UMP SWE Penalty
15:08:07 SWE sailed outside the boundary
15:08:17 NZL Rounded Mark 6, 17:17.0 after start
15:08:49 NZL Crossed Finish Line
15:08:51 PRO NZL Finished: time 15:08:49.080, 17:49.080 after start
15:08:58 PRO SWE DNF
15:09:01 PRO Race 5 Terminated



15:10:14 UMP SWE OCS/Prestart Penalty Complete
15:10:16 UMP SWE OCS/Prestart Penalty Complete
15:11:00 WND Wind 148 at 10.3 kn, 12.0 kn peak
15:12:34 PRO Race 6 Start: 15:30
15:19:53 PRO NZL port
15:19:54 PRO SWE stbd
15:19:55 PRO Course 6-F
15:20:00 WND Wind 150 at 12.0 kn, 13.6 kn peak
15:27:00 Race 6 (SWE,NZL): Warning, 3:00 until start
15:27:54 NZL Began Entry
15:27:58 NZL Completed Entry
15:28:02 SWE Began Entry
15:28:04 SWE Completed Entry
15:29:22 NZL Yankee Flag
15:29:28 UMP NZL No Penalty
15:29:30 WND Wind 160 at 12.9 kn, 14.1 kn peak
15:30:00 Race 6 (SWE,NZL): Started
15:30:00 NZL Crossed Start Line
15:30:00 SWE Crossed Start Line
15:31:07 SWE Rounded Mark 1, 1:07.4 after start
15:31:10 NZL Rounded Mark 1, 0:03.0 behind leader
15:32:20 NZL Rounded Mark 2, 2:20.7 after start
15:32:14 SWE Rounded Mark 2, 2:14.1 after start
15:33:29 PRO Axis 156
15:36:50 SWE Rounded Mark 3, 6:50.2 after start
15:36:52 NZL Rounded Mark 3, 0:02.4 behind leader
15:39:24 PRO WG 161
15:39:38 NZL Rounded Mark 4, 9:38.6 after start
15:39:40 SWE Rounded Mark 4, 0:01.8 behind leader
15:40:00 WND Wind 168 at 13.1 kn, 14.8 kn peak
15:44:10 NZL Rounded Mark 5, 14:10.6 after start
15:44:26 SWE Rounded Mark 5, 0:15.8 behind leader
15:46:58 NZL Rounded Mark 6, 16:58.3 after start
15:47:11 SWE Rounded Mark 6, 0:13.3 behind leader
15:47:37 NZL Crossed Finish Line
15:47:38 SWE Yankee Flag
15:47:38 PRO NZL Finished: time 15:47:37.631, 17:37.631 after start
15:47:39 SWE Crossed Finish Line, 0:01.3 behind leader
15:47:40 PRO SWE Finished: time 15:47:39.018, 17:39.018 after start
15:47:44 UMP SWE No Penalty
15:47:58 PRO Race 6 Terminated
15:53:16 TIM Racing finished for today. See you tomorrow.
15:53:19 TIM Chatter out