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04 Jun 2017 |
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  Sail-World NZ - June 3 - End of the Qualifiers
 | | Emirates Team New Zealand - Round Robin 2, Day 7 - 35th America's Cup - Bermuda June 2, 2017 Richard Gladwell |
Welcome to Sail-World.com's New Zealand e-magazine for June 3, 2017
It has been a frenetic week or so in Bermuda as the 35th America's Cup Regatta has ground its way through the Qualifier phase - consisting of Round Robins 1 and 2.
Emirates Team New Zealand emerged as the top Challenger, and Oracle Team USA, the defending America's Cup champion as the top boat in the series and goes into the America's Cup Match with a contentious bonus point.
The days have been long in Bermuda coupled with the logistics of transferring across the Great Sound by ferry - which can chop several hours out of a day if you miss the ferry, by a few minutes.
For media, this is not the usual America's Cup - there are no result sheets produced at the end of the race. These are what the media feed off for their reporting - with a breakdown as to who won, lost the leg splits, wind strengths leg by leg and a raft of other information which helps quick analysis.
 | | 2017 America's Cup Qualifiers Race Day 7 Round Robin 2 - ORACLE TEAM USA Studio Borlenghi | Gattini |
There are no replays running in the media centre - with the feed switching to the live concert - usually involving reggae music pumped in at near full volume.
All of which detracts from the media conferences which could be a lot more direct and informative if this basic information were available.
Outside the main media conference there are several others which are not broadcast.
One of these is a session which Race Director Iain Murray conducts, usually with Chief Umpire Richard Slater. These are very informative with Murray, a former America's Cup skipper and noted designer is covering a lot of ground, and form the basis of our morning preview.
 | | Land Rover BAR at finish line - Round Robin 2, Day 8 - 35th America's Cup - Bermuda June 3, 2017 Richard Gladwell |
The way this regatta is organised is completely different from previous America's Cups. There is absolutely no doubt that the Race Management, Measurement and Adjudication is as straight as a die.
The people involved are visible (except for the Arbitration Panel), quite open about discussing decisions and reasoning. And as we saw earlier in the week, if they have made an error then that is admitted and not covered up as would happen in the past 160 plus year history of the event.
On the water, most Kiwis are concerned about the performance of Emirates Team New Zealand.
They got sat on the backside by Oracle Team USA, today. Time will tell if that is a setback or a learning experience.
In their other racing Emirates Team New Zealand has looked and easy winner prompting one commentator to say that Peter Burling looked like he was on a Sunday cruise around the Great Sound.
That is because the Kiwis have genuinely got a slight speed advantage and are consistent which is more important.
Except they met their match today with Oracle Team USA.
Piecing together some rough statistics, we can see that even with the start line snafu, Emirates Team New Zealand was still in contact with Oracle Team USA - they had a six-second deficit which is not particularly significant in the AC50. It forces the lead boat to either cover or sail their own race, either way, there is a good chance for a boat of Emirates Team NZ's capability to pass.
 | | Oracle Team USA salutes the crowd - Round Robin 2, Day 8 - 35th America's Cup - Bermuda June 3, 2017 Richard Gladwell |
Upwind sailing is probably the Kiwis strongest suit - enjoying a real advantage in the foiling tack department.
However they cannot sail the way they did today - and sailing through the boundary may have been understandable given the shift in the breeze, however copping a double penalty is just irrecoverable against a team that is as relentless as Oracle Team USA.
The other big advantage the Kiwis have is that they are a young team from similar Olympic backgrounds. Emirates Team New Zealand have more people in their team who have won Olympic medals than any other and cover three sports - Rowing, Sailing and Cycling.
That brings a certain edge, approach and diversity to the team, which if properly channelled can overcome the fact that for most of the crew aboard Aotearoa New Zealand are in their first America's Cup campaign. They are up against some very experienced Cup crews on the other three Semi-Finalists.
And that factor is probably at the heart of whether New Zealand will prevail in this America's Cup.
 | 03/06/17 Emirates Team New Zealand sailing on Bermuda's Great Sound in the Louis Vuitton America's Cup Qualifiers
Round Robin 2 - Race 12 - Oracle Team USA (USA) vs. Emirates Team New Zealand (NZL)
Copyright: Richard Hodder / Emirates Team New Zealand Richard Hodder/Emirates Team New Zealand |
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Good sailing!
Richard Gladwell
NZ Editor
sailworldnzl@gmail.com
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 | | Emirates Team NZ sets up for a foiling gybe- Round Robin 2 - America's Cup 2017, June 3, 2017 Great Sound Bermuda Richard Gladwell |
 | | Oracle Team USA - Round Robin 2 - America's Cup 2017, June 3, 2017 Great Sound Bermuda Richard Gladwell |
 | | Emirates Team NZ post-mortems start - Round Robin 2 - America's Cup 2017, June 3, 2017 Great Sound Bermuda Richard Gladwell |
 | | Crowd in the stands - Round Robin 2, Day 8 - 35th America's Cup - Bermuda June 3, 2017 Richard Gladwell |
 | | Emirates Team New Zealand - Round Robin 2, Day 8 - 35th America's Cup - Bermuda June 3, 2017 Richard Gladwell |
 | | 2017 America's Cup Qualifiers Race Day 7 Round Robin 2 - ORACLE TEAM USA Studio Borlenghi | Gattini |
 | | 2017 America's Cup Qualifiers Race Day 7 Round Robin 2 - SoftBank Team Japan Studio Borlenghi | Gattini |
 | | Land Rover BAR - 2017 America's Cup Studio Borlenghi | Gattini |
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