Cup Experience Monday News | Team Japan Breaks Wing | Oracle Almost Capsizes | The Stakes Are Not Quite So High | Missing Sponsor

Cup Experience News

Issue 39 | Monday 7 November 2016

In this issue:

SoftBank Team Japan Breaks Their Wing - video
Oracle Almost Capsizes Again - video
Understanding the Arithmetic Going into the AC World Series Fukuoka
Bremont - Missing in Action
Ask Jack: Why no AC World Series in Auckland?

SoftBank Team Japan Breaks Their Wing

On 26 October the wing on Team Japan's AC45x test boat broke apart while training in over 20 knots of wind. The lower forward corner of the trailing element - the flap of the wing - gave way and then the entire lower flap segment tore loose. Click the photo to watch the short video. If you stop the video at about four seconds, you can see where the breakage occurs. The wing trim line was holding the lower trailing corner of the wing (equivalent to the clew on a soft mainsail) and the rest of the flap simply blew apart. No one was injured and the team was back out sailing a few days later using their "AC45x" wing, which has a different shape. The wing that broke was their "AC50" wing, which meets the design rule to be used on their race boat next year. I pointed out the difference in shape with photos in this earlier article.

Oracle Team USA Almost Capsizes Again

In this video, sailing team manager Tom Slingsby credits wing trimmer Tom Johnson with keeping the boat from capsizing last week. Click the photo to play the video. Remember that TJ was also doing wing trim when they did capsize back in March.

Look at the starboard hull! After the nosedive, the cockpits are completely swamped. Doing this in a race next year will lose a lot of distance, waiting for the cockpits to drain! The rule allows drains of 0.01 m2 in area for each cubic meter of volume.

Understanding the Arithmetic Going into Fukuoka

In spite of breathless reports which explain that the winner of a race on Sunday scores 20 points, it won't be so easy for any of the teams to move up the leaderboard. Consider this: If the weather cooperates and all races are sailed, the most one team can improve over another is 45 points. And this would mean one team wins every race, scoring a total of 90 points for the regatta, while the other team comes in last in every race, scoring 45. I give a full explanation of the standings here. Short version: Land Rover BAR is in a strong position to win the series and take the two bonus points. Oracle and Team New Zealand will be battling for second place and the remaining bonus point.

Bremont - Missing in Action

It looks like the sponsorship leaderboard has been shuffled. Official Timekeeper and sponsor Bremont no longer appears on the ACEA "Partners" web page. And, they are gone from Oracle's boat, too. Their America's Cup Collection watches are still on offer on their web page.

Some flat black paint covers the Bremont logo in the photo above. An earlier photo, below, still had the logo.

Join the Conversation on the Cup Experience Facebook Group.

Reader Questions to "Ask Jack"

from Richard - in New Zealand
ask jack!

Hi Jack. How come TeamNZ is the only Challenger that does not have an 'at home' regatta? And please don't use the excuse of distance - Auckland is not much further than Japan!

Hi Richard, Thanks for your question! I hope you understand that I have nothing to do with ACEA and the organization of the event. I write and speak about the AC but I don’t have any influence on how it is run!

You may remember that the original Protocol called for having the AC Qualifiers (round robin) in a different location from the challenger semi-finals, finals and the AC Match. That was written to allow it to be in Australia, because Hamilton Island YC was the original Challenger of Record. Once the Aussies pulled out, things became more opaque. What we know:
- ETNZ published the header and signature block (but not the body) of a letter signed by AC Commercial Commissioner Harvey Schiller in February 2015. They claimed that this letter gave Auckland the AC Qualifiers.
- In March 2015, Schiller informed ETNZ that the letter had been rescinded because ETNZ was supporting Luna Rossa who wanted to stay with the AC62 Rule when Oracle and the other teams voted to change to the current AC Class (49 foot) Rule.
- ETNZ lodged a complaint with the at-the-time-non-existant arbitration board.
- The Protocol was modified to forbid any discussion of dealings with the now-constituted arbitration board.
- Richard Gladwell has reported that his sources tell him there has been a ruling in favor of ETNZ.
Now, to your question: during all of this there was never any public discussion of an AC World Series in NZ. I am guessing ETNZ didn’t have the money to hold it and didn’t want the distraction of trying to raise the money. I think they have been keeping their heads down to focus on their boat for the America’s Cup itself in Bermuda next year. A smart move.

America's Cup Guide