America's Cup - Day 1 - Dodgems continue on the Great Sound

by Richard Gladwell/Sail-World.com/nz on 28 May 2017 The pre-start collision in Race 6 of the Qualifiers captured the click-bait attention but were otherwise a distraction to the real take-outs of the Opening day of the 35th America's Cup.

First of these were the outcome of the rematch of the 2013 America's Cup protagonists - Oracle Team USA and Emirates Team New Zealand, in Race 5.

The Kiwi crew showed their form in Race 3, crushing the hapless Groupama Team France by almost the length of the final run. Aotearoa New Zealand was on the short leg to the finish while Groupama Team France was completing her rounding of the windward mark for the final time. That was a thrashing.

There are no immediate or obvious answers to the French performance, other than it is a new team that started late, and have always had a real uphill battle to get up to speed with the established teams. Good experience for next time.

Yes, their foiling performance is not good, with more than the average number of splashdowns, but they just lack the pace of the other five teams. That will no doubt be fixed in time, but not for this regatta, and they are unlikely to make the cut for the play-offs.

The Kiwis got away to a good start in Race 5 - bang on the line with speed, but with Oracle Team USA just stacked to windward and skipper Jimmy Spithill was able to drove over and get to the first mark with a handy lead which he should have extended and maintained to the end.

However that was not to be, and the largely Cup rookie crew aboard Emirates Team New Zealand slipped through and crossed ahead on the gybe.

Then it was the turn of the young New Zealand crew to give the America's Cup Champions a sailing lesson, which they did right until the final mark, but their moderate lead was always going to be difficult to defend if the trailing crew elected to try and get an alternate phase in the breeze. The Australian afterguard of Jimmy Spithill, Tom Slingsby and Kyle Langford performed outstandingly and were able to dig deep and get a sniff of a useful shift and were once again indulge in their favourite game of turning around the Kiwis.

Having got in front, the red-headed, firey Aussie skipper wasn't going to let the Kiwis off the hook. And despite a valiant charge by Emirates Team New Zealand, it was a near impossible lead to peg back.

Using the formula of Potential minus Mistakes equals Performance, we can say that both boats have near similar speed, with maybe the edge going to the Kiwis in the foiling tack phase. For a team that has largely trained alone Emirates Team New Zealand are more than on pace. Their mistakes decided the outcome today.

Oracle Team USA have close to the speed of the Kiwis. The US team also made mistakes, but not to the same degree as the New Zealand team, and once Spithill got the advantage back he kept it.

What Emirates Team NZ do lack is serious match racing practice - which was always going to be an issue given their decision to remain in Auckland for the New Zealand summer; the shortened Practice Sessions; and the decision of two teams not to compete against the self-styled 'Lone Wolves' left Emirates Team New Zealand well short of a gallop going into the Qualifiers.

Putting Groupama Team France to one side the skippers in the other five teams in this regatta fall into two groups.

The three elder statesmen - Spithill, Barker and Ainslie are all from monohull and match racing backgrounds who have adapted to the multihull era of the America's Cup.

The other two young pretenders, Burling and Outteridge come from the younger generation of apparent wind sailors. Both have Olympic Gold and Silver medals in the 49er class and multiple world championships in the same.

They offset the match racing expertise of the other three by opting for a time on distance with hot pace approach at the race start, and from there drive hard, fast and intuitively bringing to the AC50 the same aplomb with which they handled their 49ers in Olympic regattas. They both know how to 'send it' - in skiffie-speak.

The older three, who are possibly all in their last America's Cup as sailors, can use their match racing background to grind out a win - even though well behind - as Jimmy Spithill did today in Race 5.

He made mention of their ability to dig deep - as was seen in the 2013 America's Cup - and it was there today on the Great Sound. The ability to dig deep is also part of the Australian sailing culture - bred into them after Australia II's comeback in 1983. No hole is too deep for an Aussie to climb out - and their self belief saves them time and time again.

The other reminder of San Francisco came at the finish of Race 5, with Oracle Team USA finishing at high speed and an impressive rooster-tail in front of the cheering fans.

On the water, it was clear to hear the commentator winding up the roar of the home crowd - and that would not have gone unheard aboard Oracle Team USA.

There is no doubt now that this America's Cup Regatta is a home game for Oracle Team USA, and expect to see them respond to their fans many times in this series.

The test for the Challengers will be to lift their game above Oracle Team USA and maintaining that momentum.

The other matches did produce some surprises - or outcomes that ran against the form guide.

Land Rover BAR performed outstandingly against Artemis Racing, who from the Practice Sessions was expected to be the benchmark for the fleet, Defender included.

Ainslie looked like had grown another leg and looked extremely comfortable to be showing Artemis Racing around the 17 minute long course.

Yes, Ainslie blotted his copybook again with the pre-start incident in the final race of the day. And had Land Rover BAR been able to deal with Softbank Team Japan in the same way as they had with the Swedes - then with their two points from the America's Cup World Series - the Brits would have been top of the table with four points.

Now Ainslie is in the hands of his shore crew. He can get no relief from the newly altered Redress Rules as he was judged to be at fault. If the Brits can't sail on the morrow, they will be back in the pack on the points table, and Oracle will be on the way to take a point going into the America's Cup Match in just over two weeks time on June 17.

Of course, the issue for the Defender is that they have just seven races left in the Qualifiers to sharpen their claws ahead of the Match - and one of those is against the French - which on current form should be just starting practice. So that leaves just six.

The four Challengers that make the Playoff cut will have at least double the number of serious races as the Defender, and maybe more.

The chief beneficiary from that exercise will be Emirates Team New Zealand who should improve with every race.

What remains to be tested is their basic speed in the light and heavy breezes. Today the Kiwis showed they are on the pace in moderate and are the serious threat they promised to be.