Cup Experience Monday News | Toulon Results | ACWS Standings | Starting Penalties

Cup Experience News

Issue 33 | Monday 11 September 2016

In this issue:

Toulon Results: Artemis First, Oracle Last
Series Leaderboard Arithmetic
Ask Jack: How did those penalties work at the start of Race 5?

The Côte d'Azur lived up to its name with warm sunshine for the racing just off Toulon's beaches.

Artemis Wins in Toulon, Oracle Struggles

All teams had their Olympians back for the America's Cup World Series in Toulon. 2016 Finn gold medalist Giles Scott, tactician on Land Rover BAR, got a podium finish after coming last in the first two races. Rio 49er gold medalist Peter Burling was back on the helm at Emirates Team New Zealand but finished the event next to last, their worst finish in the series. The Kiwis were outdone by Oracle, who finished dead last, with Tom Slingsby on the helm, replacing injured Jimmy Spithill. Not exactly the result Slingsby, the London 2012 Laser gold medalist, was hoping for. London gold and Rio silver 49er medalist Nathan Outteridge came out on top in Toulon, winning the light air regatta, thanks in large part to tactician Iain Percy finding pressure up and down the flukey course on both days. Percy has two Olympic golds and a silver in the Finn and Star. The fates were not kind to the home team. Franck Cammas and Groupama Team France were in second place for the regatta at the end of the first day and at the beginning of the final downwind leg of the regatta. The patchy conditions did them in as the Kiwis slipped past and bumped the French off the podium.

Bowmen? On an AC45?? Team Japan's tactician Chris Draper, standing on the bowsprit in the light conditions, looked like the bowman on a big monohull. Artemis Racing's Iain Percy spent most of the regatta straddling the bowsprit and looking for patches of pressure in the light conditions.

Series Leaderboard Arithmetic

Land Rover BAR leads the series, 14 points ahead of Oracle Team USA and 17 ahead of Emirates Team New Zealand. These three teams have traded places at the top of the leaderboard all through the America's Cup World Series. Remember that that top two teams in the series carry bonus points into next year’s round robin AC Qualifiers in Bermuda – two points for the series winner and one for the runner up. With one event left, in Fukuoka, Japan in November, the arithmetic says any of the three could win still win the series, but past performance says it's unlikely either Oracle or the Kiwis can close the gap on BAR, who are likely to finish on top. With only three points separating them, Oracle and Team New Zealand will be battling for the remaining bonus point.

Chances for the other three teams are between slim and none. Team France is out of contention. Artemis cannot beat BAR and would need something close to a sweep of the regatta in Japan combined with a collapse by Oracle to grab second place. Unlikely. Team Japan has a mathematical chance, but the odds are very long. That said, all six teams need to fight for every remaining point – series standings will be used to break ties at the end of the round robin, when one challenger will be eliminated.

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Reader Questions to "Ask Jack"

from jevon in france
ask jack!

Hi Jack. I was wondering about the clearing of penalties in race 5 and 6 at Toulon. Several boats incurred penalties (notably Artemis twice) but only Land Rover cleared it by going back a boat length behind the last boat. In race 5, the commentators were saying that it was harsh for Artemis to go back behind the last boat Oracle who had got a bad start but Artemis didn't do that and just kept sailing (along with Softbank I think) then suddenly the penalties were cleared. Can't find any commentary on it online. Did I miss something? Thanks.

Hello Jevon, I love knotty questions like yours! Here's the start of Race 5 in Toulon, with Artemis and Team Japan both penalized for being over early. This is a bit tricky: Rule 44.2a says that boats who are over early must drop back two lengths behind any boat that has started properly within four seconds of the starting signal. The four second rule is for exactly this kind of situation: Oracle had a poor start. It would be unfair to penalize Artemis and Japan by making them wait for a boat that had started late. In fact, the commentators may not have realized that the "four second rule" applied - it's hard to do live commentary and count seconds at the same time!

(Image courtesy of ACTV)

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