Toulon provided warm weather, sunny skies and very light air for the penultimate regatta in the America’s Cup World Series. Fresh from Rio with his 49er silver medal, Nathan Outteridge and Artemis Racing won the regatta, guided through the patchy conditions up and down the course by tactician Iain Percy. The other recent Olympic medalists had decidedly mixed results in Toulon. After taking the 49er gold in Rio, Peter Burling and Blair Tuke were back on board Emirates Team New Zealand in Toulon but finished next to last in the regatta. Another gold medalist, Giles Scott was back on Land Rover BAR. They came in last in the first two races before atoning with two bullets, a third and a fourth, impolitley knocking the host French team off the podium and maintaining their overall lead in the series. Home team Groupama Team France had an unlucky last downwind leg in the last race. Looking like they were on their way to second place for the regatta, the patchy conditions did them in as they slipped to third in the race, just off the regatta podium. Dean Barker and SoftBank Team Japan struggled on Saturday but posted a 1-2-4 scoreline in Sunday’s double points races to take second in the regatta, their best result to date.Tom Slingsby was on the helm for Oracle Team USA, replacing injured Jimmy Spithill, whose job looks safe – Oracle came in last in the regatta, a new experience for the defender.

The AC World Series wraps up in Fukuoka, Japan in November. 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. BAR are in a strong position to win the series, leading second place Oracle and the third place Kiwis by margins that are comfortable, but far from unassailable. 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. Leaderboard arithmetic says Team Japan has a chance, but the odds are very long. The battle looks like it will be between Oracle and the Kiwis for the second place bonus point. That said, all five challengers 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 excused from further competition.

If that’s how we score the teams, how do we score the event? Clearly, a regatta series in the years between America’s Cup Matches keeps the event in the conciousness of sailing fans and brings the Cup to new fans in new venues. The idea began with the Louis Vuitton Acts introduced by Alinghi in the build-up to the 2007 America’s Cup. Renamed the America’s Cup World Series for the 2013 Cup cycle, the raison d’être expanded from awareness raising and sponsor exposure to  include helping teams transition to the wing-sailed catamarans, although underfunded teams dropped by the wayside, diluting the main event in San Francisco. For the current cycle the under-funded cannon fodder have been eliminated and the stakes have been raised – both are good developments. Trying to shoe-horn meaningful racing into a two hour TV window on two days on “stadium racing” courses has proved to be too much of a stretch. Four of the eight regattas have lost a full day of sailing because of too much or too little wind. And, much of the racing has been in marginal conditions that sometimes reward luck as much as skill. Arbitrarily scoring Sunday racing with double points has no rational justification. On the commercial side, the news is positive. Large crowds of sailing enthusiasts and casual newcomers have enjoyed the events in venues that have never before seen America’s Cup racing. Sponsors have had good success with their activation. Organizers in the venues are happy and deservedly proud.

The America’s Cup World Series has had fits and starts, but its evolution looks to be on a positive track.