Am Cup Replay: Kiwis blitz delayed Challenger Final

by Richard Gladwell 26 Jun 2018 00:35 BST 26 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 3 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.

To the surprise of few and the relief of many - particularly in the Kiwi nation, Emirates Team New Zealand put away Artemis Racing in the final of the Louis Vuitton Trophy to become the Challenger for the 35th America's Cup.

The Kiwis showed their light weather pace with racing getting away at the second attempt in a southerly breeze of around 8kts.

This was the lightest breeze of the series, and in fact the whole Louis Vuitton regatta, and the question was at last going to be answered as to whether the Kiwis really did have their much vaunted speed edge in the conditions which are predicted for the America's Cup Match.

The short answer is 'Yes'.

But that was not the case in the first attempt at getting a race underway on the Great Sound on the scheduled start time of 2.12pm and in a breeze that had been pipping up to 15kts in the build up to the start.

For a time it looked as if the Kiwis would be in difficulty with the wrong set of boards on again.

However the winds eased back to a more accommodating 8kts as the starting gun fired.

Emirates Team New Zealand's Peter Burling won the start and was first to Mark 1 and led at Mark 2 by 16 seconds.

But on the third beat it all started to fall apart for the New Zealanders as the wind died, and they were unable to foil, suddenly looking very sticky.

Artemis Racing was able to keep foiling and the big disparity in speed enabled Nathan Outteridge to close the gap on his long time 49er competitor and training partner.

An altercation as they approached the windward mark, resulted in the Swedes being handed another penalty, and although they were sailing noticeably faster than the New Zealanders had to drop back on their line to clear the penalty.

Then the wind dropped further and we saw Race Director Iain Murray's comment played out - the AC50 is a dog that won't hunt in winds below 6kts. It is impossible for them to generate enough speed to sail directly downwind. Fortunately there is a 10 minute time limit on a downwind leg, and once this had been exceeded, the race was abandoned and the wind dropped completely.

After a wait of 90 minutes, Race 7 got underway again in similar conditions to the first attempt, and right on the time limit for racing - which has to finish by 5.00pm.

Emirates Team New Zealand won the start, their second of the day, and again led at Mark 1.

There was no catching the Kiwis and the margin steadily increased up hill and down dale with the winning margin being recorded at 56 secs.

That result gave Emirates Team New Zealand their fifth win in the best of nine series and they go forward to be the Challenger for the 35th America's Cup - the third time in the 30 year history of New Zealand's America's Cup competition that they have been the Challenger in the Match, which begins on Saturday June 17 on the Great Sound in Bermuda.

America's Cup Media: Burling punches Kiwis' ticket to America’s Cup against Oracle Team USA

Peter Burling’s Emirates Team New Zealand squad has earned a rematch against Oracle Team USA for the 35th America’s Cup with a convincing victory over Artemis Racing in the final match of the Louis Vuitton America’s Cup Challenger Playoffs.

It was a nerve-wracking afternoon for the New Zealand team and its fans. With their team on match point, the first attempt at sailing race seven was abandoned after the wind died with Emirates Team New Zealand holding the lead.

But in the second attempt at racing, Burling won the start over his counterpart on Artemis Racing, Nathan Outteridge, and led into mark one for the first time in the series.

From there, the Kiwis showed blazing speed, extending around the race course for what appeared to be an easy race win, a 5-2 victory in the series, and a date in the America’s Cup against Oracle Team USA.

In 2013, in San Francisco, Oracle Team USA skipper Jimmy Spithill led his team to one of the greatest comebacks in sport, racing back from a 1-8 deficit to win 9-8 over Emirates Team New Zealand.

But Peter Burling wasn’t on that team. In fact, the only holdover on the Kiwi starting crew is wing trimmer and skipper Glenn Ashby. The 2017 Emirates Team New Zealand doesn’t appear to be scarred from that experience.

“I think the lessons we learned out of San Francisco has made us stronger going forwards,” Ashby said at the post-race press conference. “The team has been re-built from the ground up and what has been created is a stronger unit than we’ve ever seen before. The motivation going forwards is certainly there.”

“We feel like we’re in great shape to take on Oracle Team USA now,” Burling said from on board just after crossing the finishing line. “Artemis Racing has been an amazing opponent. They’ve pushed us incredibly hard… they've put us in good shape for the America's Cup.”

After racing, the inaugural Louis Vuitton America’s Cup Challenger Playoffs Trophy was presented to Emirates Team New Zealand by Grant Gibbons, Bermuda’s Minister of Economic Development, at a prize-giving ceremony in the America’s Cup Village.

The America’s Cup Match, presented by Louis Vuitton, starts on June 17.

Race Report - Race Seven:

The re-sail of race seven started in a 6 to 8 knot southerly, and the pre-start featured both boats heading to the line on timed runs. Peter Burling’s Emirates Team New Zealand had a strong leeward position off the starting line and held Nathan Outteridge up above the line to mark one, to lead around for the first time in the series. With the Kiwis extending on the short run to the bottom gate, Artemis Racing was soon 19-seconds back, early in the race, facing a New Zealand team that always appeared to be sailing faster.

By the windward gate, the wind had shifted to the right, making passing lanes hard to find. But by that stage, Artemis Racing was a full 35-seconds behind. At the end, the delta was nearly a minute.

Race Report - Race Seven - ABANDONED – to be re-sailed:

The first attempt at sailing race seven was abandoned on the second run, when the time limit expired due to a dying breeze.

Quotes of the day:

Iain Percy, Artemis Racing Team Manager and Tactician, on who is going to win the America’s Cup: “We don’t know. That’s the beauty of this competition. Honestly, when we started today we didn’t know who was going to win it. It’s blown me away, the racing, doing it. And part of that excitement is because you never know who is going to win, even in the race. Anything can happen. And because of that we can’t tell you who is going to win this thing. But I can tell you it will be the most entertaining sporting contest of 2017.”

Iain Percy, on what advice he would give to Oracle Team USA and Emirates Team New Zealand: “You can’t assume anything. Anything can happen on the day. It will come down to sailing. There won’t be enough speed difference for one team to win without sailing well. Each individual’s performance on the water will define the result ultimately. It’s so complex it’s about detail and attention to detail.”

Nathan Outteridge, skipper and helmsman, Artemis Racing, reflecting on having sailed his last race in the 35th America's Cup: “We can be really proud of the way we raced. We’ve had some really close matches and we left everything out there on the water, we pushed hard in every race. We thoroughly enjoyed the competition. I’m very proud of the team – they’ve put in so much effort over the years and it was nice to reward them by getting to the final.'

Peter Burling, helmsman, Emirates Team New Zealand, on handling the pressure as the youngest helmsman in the fleet: “I think it is full credit to our team. We have a great bunch of guys, around, from management throughout to the coaches, who can guide us through. We’re just really excited about the challenge ahead. We’ve been pushed really hard in the past couple of weeks and we’ll take it easy for a day but we’re a lot stronger for it heading into the Match.”

Glenn Ashby, skipper, Emirates Team New Zealand, on being battle-hardened through the competition against Artemis Racing: “Having not done a lot of racing against any other ACCs, the battle we had against Artemis Racing the past few days has certainly been very, very valuable for us. Hats off to those guys for how they sailed. They put together an amazing campaign and whoever made it through this was going to be stronger because of that. They gave us a couple of good sailing lessons and there’s no doubt we’re a stronger team because of it.”

Louis Vuitton America’s Cup Challenger Playoffs Finals

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
Race 7 Race abandoned for exceeding the time limit (to be re-sailed)
Race 7 Emirates Team New Zealand beat Artemis Racing: 56 seconds

Emirates Team New Zealand: Champagne celebrations for Emirates Team New Zealand…the Kiwis winning the Louis Vuitton challenger series for the fourth time and doing it in some style.

By beating Artemis 5-2 they now take on Oracle Team USA in the America’s Cup match starting next weekend.

In a seventh race against the Swedes, initially delayed by light winds, Peter Burling dominated his arch rival Nathan Outteridge in the start box, heading off to round mark one in the lead for the first time in the series final.

From then on Emirates Team New Zealand were untouchable, the Swedes with no answer to the Kiwi boat’s speed.

Upwind and downwind Aoteraoa had the measure of Artemis, with an average speed almost three knots faster than the Swedish boat.

And with slick boat-handling producing a “fly-time” on the foils of 99.7 per cent the Kiwis sailed close to a perfect race.

“The boat was going seriously fast,” said Burling. “I think we are in great shape to take on Oracle.”

Dedicating the Louis Vuitton win to the Emirates Team New Zealand shore crew, Burling praised the massive effort they’d made to repair and prepare the boat.

“They gave us the tools we needed to win and this is a great way to be able to repay them today.”

Race Management Events and Statistics Timeline Liveline Chatter Feed

13:25:04 TIM Good afternoon. It's Monday 12 June 2017
13:25:16 WND Wind 245 at 6.2 kn, 10.2 kn peak
13:25:41 TIM LVAC Challenger Finals, Race 7 starts 14:12, SWE port v NZL stbd entry
13:39:38 WND Wind 216 at 8.2 kn, 10.3 kn peak
13:43:24 WND Wind 221 at 10.2 kn, 11.2 kn peak
13:47:37 WND Wind 221 at 12.2 kn, 15.4 kn peak
13:52:01 WND Wind 226 at 11.9 kn, 14.4 kn peak
13:56:47 WND Wind 224 at 9.9 kn, 11.9 kn peak
14:02:01 WND Wind 233 at 9.1 kn, 10.5 kn peak
14:02:18 PRO SWE port
14:02:20 PRO NZL stbd
14:02:22 PRO Course 6-F
14:05:45 PRO Axis 225
14:05:53 PRO Length 1.19nm

14:09:00 Race 7 (SWE,NZL): Warning, 3:00 until start
14:09:52 SWE Began Entry
14:09:56 SWE Completed Entry
14:10:08 NZL Began Entry
14:10:14 NZL Completed Entry
14:10:38 PRO Length 1nm
14:11:30 WND Wind 218 at 7.9 kn, 10.2 kn peak
14:11:59 SWE Crossed Start Line
14:12:00 Race 7 (SWE,NZL): Started
14:12:00 MDS SWE OCS/Prestart Penalty
14:12:00 NZL Crossed Start Line
14:12:21 MDS SWE OCS/Prestart Penalty Complete
14:12:21 UMP SWE OCS/Prestart Penalty Complete
14:12:53 NZL Rounded Mark 1, 0:53.9 after start
14:12:54 PRO WG -
14:12:57 PRO WG 220
14:12:58 SWE Rounded Mark 1, 0:04.9 behind leader
14:14:26 PRO WG 225
14:15:20 NZL Rounded Mark 2, 3:20.1 after start
14:15:36 SWE Rounded Mark 2, 0:16.7 behind leader
14:19:01 PRO Axis 230
14:20:16 WND Wind 246 at 5.9 kn, 8.6 kn peak
14:20:24 NZL Yankee Flag
14:20:24 SWE Yankee Flag
14:20:32 UMP NZL No Penalty
14:20:33 UMP SWE No Penalty
14:22:00 WND Wind 234 at 5.5 kn, 5.9 kn peak
14:23:55 NZL Yankee Flag
14:23:58 NZL Yankee Flag
14:24:15 NZL Rounded Mark 3, 12:15.6 after start
14:24:22 UMP SWE Penalty
14:24:27 Windward SWE fouled leeward NZL
14:24:29 SWE Rounded Mark 3, 0:13.9 behind leader
14:27:32 UMP SWE Penalty Complete
14:29:25 WND Wind 241 at 3.5 kn, 5.8 kn peak
14:30:15 PRO L4 F-LG
14:32:01 WND Wind 245 at 2.8 kn, 3.1 kn peak
14:37:08 PRO Race 7 Abandoned
14:41:33 PRO Race 7 Postponed

14:42:01 WND Wind 246 at 1.0 kn, 3.1 kn peak
14:52:01 WND Wind 246 at 1.4 kn, 1.9 kn peak
15:02:01 WND Wind 246 at 1.8 kn, 3.0 kn peak
15:08:07 WND Wind 231 at 3.8 kn, 5.1 kn peak
15:12:01 WND Wind 230 at 5.5 kn, 6.3 kn peak
15:19:50 WND Wind 176 at 3.5 kn, 6.0 kn peak
15:22:01 WND Wind 181 at 3.0 kn, 3.5 kn peak
15:32:00 WND Wind 184 at 3.3 kn, 4.2 kn peak
15:42:01 WND Wind 176 at 3.5 kn, 4.4 kn peak
15:52:01 WND Wind 185 at 4.8 kn, 6.6 kn peak
16:02:01 WND Wind 176 at 6.7 kn, 7.8 kn peak
16:12:01 WND Wind 182 at 6.3 kn, 7.5 kn peak

16:14:58 PRO Race 7 Start: 16:25
16:17:01 PRO SWE port
16:17:03 PRO NZL stbd
16:17:03 PRO Course 6-F
16:17:24 PRO Axis 175
16:17:34 PRO M1-boundary 450m
16:18:23 PRO Length 0.95nm
16:21:31 WND Wind 175 at 7.9 kn, 8.8 kn peak
16:22:00 Race 7 (SWE,NZL): Warning, 3:00 until start
16:22:11 PRO Length 1.09nm
16:22:54 SWE Began Entry
16:22:58 SWE Completed Entry
16:23:04 NZL Began Entry
16:23:06 NZL Completed Entry
16:24:31 WND Wind 182 at 7.8 kn, 8.0 kn peak
16:25:00 Race 7 (SWE,NZL): Started
16:25:00 NZL Crossed Start Line
16:25:00 SWE Crossed Start Line
16:25:56 NZL Rounded Mark 1, 0:56.0 after start
16:26:02 SWE Rounded Mark 1, 0:06.1 behind leader
16:28:03 NZL Rounded Mark 2, 3:03.7 after start
16:28:23 SWE Rounded Mark 2, 0:19.3 behind leader
16:30:01 WND Wind 195 at 9.8 kn, 12.4 kn peak
16:32:05 NZL Rounded Mark 3, 7:05.0 after start
16:32:30 PRO Axis 205
16:32:34 PRO WG +
16:32:40 SWE Rounded Mark 3, 0:35.0 behind leader
16:35:00 WND Wind 199 at 11.4 kn, 12.7 kn peak
16:35:07 NZL Rounded Mark 4, 10:07.1 after start
16:35:09 SWE Rounded Mark 4, 0:02.8 behind leader
16:38:49 NZL Rounded Mark 5, 13:49.5 after start
16:39:47 SWE Rounded Mark 5, 0:57.5 behind leader
16:40:00 WND Wind 211 at 10.9 kn, 12.2 kn peak
16:41:40 NZL Rounded Mark 6, 16:40.5 after start
16:42:16 NZL Crossed Finish Line
16:42:17 PRO NZL Finished: time 16:42:16.515, 17:16.515 after start
16:42:36 SWE Rounded Mark 6, 0:55.9 behind leader
16:43:00 WND Wind 215 at 10.8 kn, 11.2 kn peak
16:43:12 SWE Crossed Finish Line, 0:56.1 behind leader
16:43:13 PRO SWE Finished: time 16:43:12.691, 18:12.691 after start
16:43:15 PRO Race 7 Terminated
16:46:47 PRO Race 1 Start: 17:07
16:48:37 TIM Racing data feed finished for today
16:48:42 TIM Chatter out