America's Cup - Heart stopping first day of LV Challenger Final

by Richard Gladwell, Sail-World NZ on 11 Jun 2017 The all-important weather forecasts for the opening day of the Challenger Final of the Louis Vuitton Trophy for the 35th America's Cup were consistent - and wrong.

The official forecast had the breeze at 11-14kts at the start, around 2.00pm and staying around that level. But at the start and for the race the SW breeze dropped to 8.5 kts, gusting to 9.5kts.

The word around the Great Sound was that Artemis Racing had opted for their light weather foils, while Emirates Team NZ had gone for their All Purpose setup anticipating a freshening breeze later in the afternoon.

But Kiwi hearts sank as it was obvious before the start that Aotearoa New Zealand was struggling to do a foiling gybe - a sure sign that the higher speed, lower lift foils were fitted.

Wrong foil selection has caused several unexpected results, as fancied teams have an unexpected loss after being caught with light air foils in a rising breeze, or vice versa.

In fact, for the first race, the geography and reduced wind speed forced Race Director, Iain Murray to reduce the leg length to just .88nm - the first time in the regatta that the leg length has been less than 1nm. It was the correct call with the time taken for the race being on the long side at 19min 20sec.

Surprisingly despite having what was ostensibly the wrong set of foils fitted, Emirates Team New Zealand recovered from a less than perfect start to pass Artemis Racing as the Swedes did a slow tack underneath the Kiwis midway up the first beat.

Artemis made an unforced error soon afterwards as they crossed a course boundary after Emirates Team New Zealand had tacked away, allowing the Swedes time and room to keep clear of the virtual obstacle.

Once through the New Zealanders stretched away on a day in which an early lead was generally rewarded with a race win - barring incidents.

Emirates Team New Zealand had a very comfortable 47-second win as Artemis appeared to give up the chase and save themselves for Race 2.

Jib change
The breeze increased between races, with some rain, to over 12kts, gusting just under 15kts by the time the race started. Emirates Team New Zealand changed their jib between races opting for the second of three supplied one design jibs.

Race Director Iain Murray stretched the course back out to the regulation 1.2nm, getting the finish time down closer to the target of 17-18 minutes.

Emirates Team New Zealand fans, knowing the board configuration, breathed a sigh of relief, but they soon had a reality check as Artemis Racing's Nathan Outteridge and Iain Percy got the Kiwis under control at the start.

Like Percy's compatriot Ben Ainslie of Land Rover BAR, they searched for the Kiwi's Achilles heel - being unable to break a close cover.

After winning the start, the Artemis Racing afterguard never let the Kiwis off anything but a short leash.

Surprisingly Artemis with her light air boards was able to hold out New Zealand with their expected advantage of all purpose boards, configured for the mid-range breeze.

At the finish, Artemis Racing was 14 seconds ahead taking the final to a win each.

The grim reality of this phase of the regatta is that one of the two teams will be going home in a day or two. While the Kiwi fans always work on the basis that it will be the other team getting the chop, but now they could see the executioner's axe poised above them with a two loss one win scorecard being quite possible at the end of the first day.

Emirates Team NZ slip through
Race 3 began with Emirates Team New Zealand having control of the start, but both boats got too close to the start line - having to sail parallel with the line to burn up time.

The start was close to being equal with as Race 2 - but Artemis pulled through from windward to enjoy a small gain at Mark 1 - and then once in front made sure they stayed there.

Emirates Team New Zealand behind. The breeze dropped a couple of knots leaving the Kiwis maybe a little vulnerable with the smaller jib and smaller foils.

However, this was a much tighter race with Emirates Team New Zealand showing they were able to live within just a three-second margin of the Swedes.

After rounding Mark 3 at the end of the first beat, Iain Murray elected to lengthen the leg length from 1.06nm to 1.24nm - a decision which worked the Kiwis' way at the end of the next beat coming into Leg 5.

Iain Percy came off the pumps several times to play the role of tactician, while the New Zealand style is to let Burling have his head and live and occasionally die by the 26-year-old Olympic Champion's natural flair, and virtuoso helming skills as he looks to exploit the smallest slip or gap.

One such opportunity flashed at the bottom of Leg 4 as Artemis Racing splashed badly during a gybe. Burling's response was to do a near perfect foiling gybe and go for the other mark and usually favoured right-hand side.

That slip was enough for the Kiwis to close to within a boat length or two and put the pressure back on Artemis as they traded tacks on the final beat.

A couple of hundred metres short of Mark 5 at the top of the final beat, with Emirates Team New Zealand swapping the lead, the pressure told on Artemis as helmsman Nathan Outteridge misjudged his crossing of the catamaran. He stepped on the after cross-beam and went overboard, leaving Emirates Team New Zealand to finish the course uncontested.

The crowd which had been cheering loudly as Artemis rounded each mark ahead of the Kiwis and at the finish of Race 2, were silent as Emirates Team New Zealand crossed the finish line to take their second race win. The reality of this regatta seems to be that the Bermudan fans support two teams - Oracle Team USA and whoever is sailing against Emirates Team New Zealand.

Artemis sailed the remainder of the leg, with one of the grinders steering. To cap off a bad day were penalised once again for sailing outside a virtual boundary line and were recorded as a Did Not Finish.

For the three races scheduled tomorrow in the best of nine series - lighter winds are predicted. The foil selection will be followed with great interest - as despite the talents and intellect of the design teams it is a far from perfect science.



Media Conference - Challenger Final - Day 1 :