Cup Experience News | Who's Hot and Who's Not with 10 Days Until Racing Begins |New Webcast Series "The Cup Experience Show" | Videos from MyIslandHomeBDA
Cup Experience News
Issue 53 | Tuesday 17 May 2017 10 days until racing begins
In this issue:
Practice Racing 15-19 May
All six teams are running practice races this week. I'll continue posting the results in the Cup Experience Facebook Group In the screen grab above, from ETNZ's video, we see Land Rover BAR running into ETNZ from astern. By Tuesday evening, ETNZ had completed two races, defeating both LR BAR and Groupama Team France.
Oracle Team USA
Oracle has been testing a pedal powered grinding station behind helmsman Jimmy Spithill. We can see it in this video from Jason Smith on his YouTube channel MyIslandHomeBDA. They have had mixed results in practice racing - usually, but not always beating SoftBank Team Japan. They have not beaten Artemis Racing in either of the last two practice sessions.
Emirates Team New Zealand
The Kiwis are probably very fast but we haven't seen it yet since they have not raced much. Their "cyclor" grinders have drawn a lot of comment. In practice races in April they defeated Artemis easily before losing to Japan. This week they shredded their rudder on Monday and could not race. Today they beat both Land Rover BAR and Groupama Team France.
Artemis Racing
Currently the acknowledged form team, Artemis did not race on Monday and won their race with Team France today. It will be interesting to see if they line up against the Kiwis this week or not. When the round robin starts, we will need to wait for the fourth day of racing to see them race the Kiwis for real. They have put out an interesting video with Nathan Outteridge explaining a little about the flight controls he has on the wheel.
Land Rover BAR
The Brits are still struggling with straightline speed. On Monday they won the start in both races, against Oracle and Japan but lost both races. On Tuesday they lost to Japan and New Zealand, but beat Team France. Their crew work and manoeuvres are sharp, but they will need to wring more performance out of their boat.
Groupama Team France
With the smallest budget and the least time on the water, it's not surprising that Groupama Team France is the weakest team in the field. Their boat is fast enough to be competitive but being short on resources means the team has not had time to master their boat. They will continue to improve their crew work, but even so, they are at risk of being the team eliminated at the end of the Qualifiers. They are really preparing for the next Cup cycle, so one or two race wins in the round robin would be a good showing for them.
SoftBank Team Japan
Helmsman Dean Barker and wing trimmer Chris Draper have a strong sailing team. They bought their boat design from Oracle and designer Nick Holroyd has probably made sure they have fast foils. Nick explains about foil design and tradeoffs in this video. In practice racing SoftBank Team Japan has taken wins from Oracle and the Kiwis.
Beginning tomorrow, 17 May, "The Cup Experience Show" will give you a series of briefings on the racing. I've lined up some interesting guests to interview, and we'll cover the racing, reporting not just on who's winning, but why and how. All the webcasts will be recorded, so if you miss a live episode, you can catch up. The first two episodes are FREE and you can register for them here.
Many of you have been watching the great videos on the YouTube channel, MyIslandHomeBDA. Jason Smith spends hours and hours filming and editing his videos for us. Artemis Racing and Groupama Team France both invited Jason out on their chase boats. Emirates Team New Zealand sent him some swag. All the teams look at his videos. This is all volunteer work by Jason, so please say "Thank You" by subscribing to his YouTube channel and by making a donation here.
Join the Conversation on the Cup Experience Facebook Group.
- from roger in canada
- ask jack!
The J Class are magnificent yachts that dwarf most other boats. The J Class were raced by Lipton, Vanderbilt and Sopwith in three America's Cups - 1930, 1934 and 1937 - one of the true Golden Ages of the America's Cup There will be three days of J Class racing - 16,19,20 June, off the North Shore, in Murray's Anchorage. Take in all the excitement and beauty of these incredibly powerful yachts.
Come on board the "Arabella" - the best place to watch the J-Class racing!
Sunset cruises, exclusive dinners, sail out to watch the J Class race... Caroline Bay offers you the opportunity with your friends or business associates to join us on board this very special, three-masted, 157 foot long sailing superyacht. For more information click the photo or this link.
Bermuda's brand new marina is now taking reservations. With attractive rates and full services including provisioning, high capacity shore power, fuel, pump out service and friendly, professional staff, the Caroline Bay Marina is probably your best choice while you're Bermuda. Let us tell you about our special offers for marina guests on board Arabella. Click the map or here to request a quotation and to get more information.