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America's Cup - Four splashed, one sailing

Oracle Team USA AC 72 capsizes during training in San Francisco Bay and is pushed out of the bay by the tide current Guilain Grenier Oracle Team USA©

Welcome to Sail-World.com's third America's Cup Newsletter for the 34th America's Cup.

There have been developments and incidents aplenty over the past six weeks as the 34th America's Cup takes shape.

To date four teams have splashed boats, with Luna Rossa being the latest on Friday evening in Auckland. She is expected to sail mid-week.

Artemis Racing is not expected to be too far behind, with the Swedish team suffering another setback when their boat cracked under tow - an operator error.

Emirates Team NZ has had a relatively untroubled run, now almost halfway through her allocated 30 days days of sailing to January 31, 2013, and is foiling beautifully and steadily on Auckland's Hauraki Gulf.

Emirates Team New Zealand. AC72 testing on Day 14 Chris Cameron/ETNZ©

But it was Oracle Team USA who turned the 34th America's Cup on its ear with a spectacular capsize on October 16. History will tell if that date marks the end of the beginning or the beginning of the end for the Defender, with just ten months left until the start of the Match. On current projections they will not have a boat sailing for another three months or so, and will not have a two-boat campaign for some time after that.

In this edition of Sail-World's America's Cup newsletter we look at the issues facing Oracle. We're pretty confident they can get back on track, but the capsize happened at probably the worst possible time for them, and the question will be as to how much jump the other teams will have - if any.

Every team is well aware that they are just seconds away from being in Oracle's situation, and caution will be the catch-cry for a few months yet.

Launch of the new Luna Rossa AC72 wingsailed catamaran on Friday, Oct. 26, 2012, in Auckland, New Zealand. Luna Rossa/Studio Borlenghi ©

We're also carrying all the video and still images of what is the most spectacular capsize in sailing history, and certainly the most expensive.

The incident bought a close to the sailing stare-down from positions at opposite corners of the Pacific.

In San Francisco Oracle Racing, was playing catchup to Emirates Team NZ, with the US entry being on sailing Day 8 and the New Zealanders on Day 12. Had Oracle survived those conditions that afternoon, most would have reckoned she had caught up, but a rising breeze and King tide created a sea state that was probably unsurvivable as they finished their final run of the day and headed for home.

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Artemis Racing AC72 Launch, 18 October 2012, Alameda, USA Sander van der Borch / Artemis Racing ©

We also have images from the Luna Rossa launch - with the chrome hulled AC72 setting a new standard in elegance. But what would you expect from the Glamour Boys of the Class of 2013?

Plus, in this edition, Luna Rossa's Patron, Patrizio Bertelli and skipper Max Sirena give their take on the issues of the day in the 34th America's Cup.

We will be publishing further America's Cup newsletters, when there is sufficient content and/or on milestone occasions - we expect this to be once a month, until the start of the Louis Vuitton Cup.

Good sailing!

Richard Gladwell
Sail-World's America's Cup News Editor