America's Cup - Brits stumble in Semi-Final start - Day 10

by Richard Gladwell, Sail-World.com on 5 Jun 2017 Land Rover BAR continued their run of bad luck, with a wingsail breakage just after the start of Leg 3 and being black flagged by the Umpires after a series of penalties were imposed and then the Brits were disqualified before rounding Mark 3.

Emirates Team New Zealand elected to sail part of the course, before pulling out as they had already been awarded the race and the point.

Although Land Rover BAR returned to their base and wanted to fit a second wingsail, time was against them and Emirates Team New Zealand started the their second race of the day (Race 3). The Kiwis went through a pre-start and started, at that point the Umpires stepped in, penalised GBR for not starting and awarded Emirates Team New Zealand their second win from a race that lasted less than a minute.

Today's racing was held in excellent conditions for sailing, the only downside being that there was not more of it. Emirates Team New Zealand once again missed some vital hard racing practice that Land Rover BAR showed they could offer - being only six seconds behind at Mark 3, and having dropped just a single second since the start.

The race was shaping up to be a cracker, although New Zealand skipper Peter Burling was well in control of the start and was set to ease away upwind, but not after a high flying hull experience as he rounded Mark 3, reminiscent of the team's near capsize in the 2013 America's Cup. But the 49er Olympic Gold medalist soon had the situation under control, and Emirates Team New Zealand were sailing impressively in the SW breeze puffing to 17kts.

The other half of the semi-final was a more even affair with Artemis Racing and SoftBank Team Japan scoring a win each.

Both races saw a lead change half way through the race, with Artemis racing being the leader for the start and first couple of legs, but they were caught and passed when the Dean Barker skippered Softbank Team Japan opted for the right hand side of the beat which once again paid its usual dividend. He then went to the left hand boundary and forced Artemis Racing to give way despite being a starboard tack yachts which would normally hold right of way. Softbank Team Japan established a comfortable 17sec lead at the next mark and then eased away to lead by 27s secs at the end of the second beat and 22 seconds at the finish.

Barker started the way he had finished in the second race of the day, after an even start with Artemis Racing. Softbank Team Japan stretched out to a 14 second lead and looked to be sailing away, before skipper Dean Barker tripped while crossing the boat during a gybe - reducing the Japanese Challenger's lead to just three boat lengths, or six seconds.


Artemis Racing gained a narrow five second lead and stretched it to 22 secs on the next windward leg by sailing better angles than Barker, who often had better speed. Artemis went further ahead on the run to the finish.

The two teams now lie even on the points table with the prospect of and extended series in the first to five wins.

At the Media Conference Ainslie said that Land Rover BAR had a good start, but with Emirates Team NZ getting in top of the Brits.

'We split down the first run, and came around the bottom gate close behind Emirates Team New Zealand. We did a nice rounding and it was at the end of that rounding that we heard a crunching sound from the wing.

'In that situation it is too easy to ignore it and keep pushing hard. It was lucky we stopped when we did, otherwise we would still have been out there picking bits of carbon out of the bay.'

Ainslie wouldn't elaborate as to exactly what broke, citing competitive reasons 'it is a very technical piece of kit', but confirmed that they had a catastrophic breakdown in a control system.

The four-time Olympic Gold medalist said they expected to be out sailing on Tuesday with the system repaired and using the same wingsail.

When the AC72's and then the smaller boats were used, it was claimed by some that they would be able to change wingsails between races if necessary. Land Rover BAR proved that wasn't possible today. 'The issue was that we couldn't sail the boat and had to use our chase boats to push the AC50 backwards and sideways to get back to the dock - which took a good 20-30 minutes, which put us out of the second race.'

'We'll come back stronger tomorrow', he added.

There is a forecast of strong winds for the next three days, and the Semi-Final must be completed by Saturday when the Challenger Finals begin.