America's Cup - Ainslie and Burling dominate on first race day

by Richard Gladwell, Sail-World.com NZL on 26 Jul 2015 Local hero, Ben Ainslie sailing Land Rover BAR produced what the Portsmouth fans expected - a win in the opening race of the America's Cup World Series.

Emirates Team New Zealand led for the opening second and third legs of the race, however Ainslie got through the Kiwis on the second run, and scampered away to a handy lead, which he held to the finish.

Behind him the New Zealanders, helmed by Peter Burling, looked to have second in the bag going into the last mark, however some fancy footwork around the final mark by the King of Comeback, Jimmy Spithill got the America's Cup Defender into the outside berth at the final mark and with plenty of speed.

His fast approach to the mark, coupled with a big splash at very close quarters caught the Kiwis napping and Spithill had second place under control for the short lay through to the finish. Both boats protested but the Umpires ruled 'no-infringement'.

Spithill's ability to generate vital wriggle room deserted him at the start of the second race, when he got jammed on the start line by Franck Cammas (Groupama Team France), who had been a very safe sixth in the opening race.

The umpire team made the call that Oracle Team USA was at fault in the incident and Spithill incurred a two boat length penalty, which dropped him to last at the mark.

Emirates Team New Zealand did not fare that well out of the start either, which was dominated by Land Rover BAR, with Groupama Team France shedding themselves of Oracle Team USA and getting into the lead group on the first beat.

Land Rover BAR led around the first mark and looked set to deliver the local fans a second win. However Emirates Team NZ had other ideas and split tacks running into the crowds on the beach. Mid-way down the run it was obvious that the Kiwis had pulled a blinder and they had Groupama Team France up their clacker for much of the leg.

A very awkward crash gybe resulted in the Kiwis dropping off the foils in spectacular fashion, however it was clear their objective was to turn the boat quickly and it quickly accelerated out of the new gybe.

Peter Burling, was able to ease the Kiwis away in the later stages of the Leg and from there on it was just a matter of covering. They did lose the lead briefly at the top of the second beat, but by virtue of having one less tack to perform were able to jam their way around the mark and then send it down the run.

Ben Ainslie racing came through Team France to take second on the water, with the plucky French in third.

That gave Ainslie a 1pt margin after two races, over Team NZ, with Oracle Team USA.

As a first look at the AC45F in racing conditions, the boat looked awkward at times particularly at the bottom end of the wind range, and the foiling appeared to be forced flight in an effort to set the boat up for a puff. Outside of the top three, Land Rover BAR, Emirates Team New Zealand and Oracle Team USA, boat handling appeared to be very rusty, which given the three teams time in the boat (with the exception of Artemis who had sailed significant time in the AC45S) is perhaps not unexpected.

By contrast Emirates Team NZ had spent minimal time in the AC45 of the one-design, and do not have a surrogate boat as do Land Rover BAR, Oracle Team USA and Artemis Racing. The Kiwi team's boat handling and speed was very slick. Coupled with the fact that their young helmsman was making his America's Cup debut as were the majority of their crew, they had to be the most impressive crew on the day. They finished just one point behind Ainslie, and that was a half boatlength margin third place, after a bold rounding mark move by Oracle Team USA paid a magnificent dividend.

There were two incidents where Emirates Team New Zealand stopped suddenly in a sharp turn, losing vertical lift on their inside rudder, with the stern crashing into the water and stopping the boat. The first cost them a place as Jimmy Spithill slipped around the outside in a more controlled fashion. Although it is questionable as to whether he had rights at the mark - while he did keep clear, Emirates Team NZ as the inside boat did a sharp turn to avoid the hard charging Australian.

Surprise packet was Groupama Team France which trailed the fleet by a significant margin in the first race of the day, but then was able to contest the lead, or hold a comfortable second for most of the second race, until Land Rover BAR were able to slip through. Their crew were all on America's Cup debut.

Artemis will have finished the day disappointed with their performance, compounded by a Code Zero halyard that would not jam in the lock - and consequently could not be furled in the latter stages of the second race. However that aside they looked out of sorts, and clearly have some work ahead of them.

Softbank Team Japan were cut a lot of slack by commentators for their newness as a team, however four of their five crew had substantial America's Cup experience in foiling multihulls - in fact possibly the most of any boat in the fleet, but they always looked like they were going to finish in the bottom half of the fleet, even when in touch with the leaders, as happened in the early stanzas of both races.

Land Rover BAR, were perhaps another surprise in the fleet. They were not short on America's Cup multihull experience, with several crew members ex Luna Rossa and Ainslie coming from Oracle Team USA. Ainslie and his team did have the distraction of home town adulation offset by the fact that they were sailing in home waters. They looked very efficient and fast around the course, and aside from a bad tactical/strategy error when leading Race 2, they were always going ahead and either had the race under control in Race 1, or recovering in Race 2.

Two double points scoring races are scheduled for tomorrow, Sunday however that would appear to be very unlikely with winds gusting in the 30-40kts range being forecast.