Emirates Team New Zealand wins Louis Vuitton Cup

Emirates Team New Zealand wins second consecutive Louis Vuitton Cup

Emirates Team New Zealand © ACEA / PHOTO GILLES MARTIN-RAGET

Emirates Team New Zealand won the 30th anniversary Louis Vuitton Cup with a 3:20 victory over Italy’s Luna Rossa Challenge in the eighth and deciding race. The Kiwis, who beat Luna Rossa in the previous Louis Vuitton Cup in 2007, won the series 7-1.

The victory makes Emirates Team New Zealand the official challenger to ORACLE TEAM USA for the 34th America’s Cup in the “September Showdown” beginning Sept. 7. It’s the fifth time in the past six America’s Cup Matches that the Kiwis will be a contestant in the match.

Emirates Team New Zealand led by 16 seconds at Mark 1, 1:31 at Mark 2, 2:58 at Mark 3, and 3:18at Mark 4.

Emirates Team New Zealand vs. Luna Rosa Challenge © ACEA / PHOTO ABNER KINGMAN

“To race for the America’s Cup you have to win the Louis Vuitton Cup,” said Emirates Team New Zealand skipper Dean Barker. “We’ve definitely come here to win the America’s Cup, so winning the Louis Vuitton Cup is all part of the preparation. The guys are extremely focused. We came short in Valencia in 2007 and we’ll give it our all now in the next few weeks to make sure we’re as ready as can be.”

Luna Rossa made the final of the Louis Vuitton Cup for the third time in the past four contests. The widely popular team won the Louis Vuitton Cup in 2000 and finished runner-up to the Kiwis in 2007. The team came into the 2013 Louis Vuitton Cup as a late entrant, but has made great strides since the start of racing last month. In the end, they simply ran out of time.

“Again Team New Zealand did a great job. They managed the pre-start and the race well, good job to them. They are a really strong team and I’m looking forward to seeing them racing in the match,” said Luna Rossa skipper Max Sirena. “We started this team late and the main goal for us was to do well in this Louis Vuitton Cup. We are proud of what we achieved. No one was putting us in the Louis Vuitton Cup Final one and a half years ago. I’m proud of all the work done by the team. I said to the guys just before the finish that today starts the new challenge for the next America’s Cup. We’re going to be stronger next time.”

America’s Cup on top of the Golden Gate Bridge. © ACEA / PHOTO GILLES MARTIN-RAGET

Louis Vuitton Cup Final Standings

• Emirates Team New Zealand – 7
• Luna Rossa Challenge – 1

Race 8 Performance Data

• Course: 5 Legs/10.26 nautical miles
• Elapsed Time: ETNZ – 33:49, LR – 37:09
• Delta: ETNZ +3:20
• Total distance sailed: ETNZ – 11.9 NM , LR – 12.3 NM
• Average Speed: ETNZ – 21.27 knots (24 mph), LR – 20.04 knots (23 mph)
• Top Speed: ETNZ – 41.19 knots (47 mph), LR – 38.73 knots (44 mph)

America’s Cup Schedule (best-of-17 series)

• Saturday, Sept. 7: Race 1 (1:10 pm PT), Race 2 (2:10 pm PT)
• Sunday, Sept. 8: Race 3 (1:10 pm PT), Race 4 (2:10 pm PT)
• Tuesday, Sept. 10: Race 5 (1:10 pm PT), Race 6 (2:10 pm PT)
• Thursday, Sept. 12: Race 7 (1:10 pm PT), Race 8 (2:10 pm PT)
• Saturday, Sept. 14: Race 9 (1:10 pm PT), Race 10* (2:10 pm PT)
  (* If necessary)

Courtesy of  AmericasCup..com.

 

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Wicked Fast And So Much Fun To Watch!

Emirates Team New Zealand conquers Luna Rossa Challenge

 

Now that there’s more than one boat racing, it’s time to get the cameras rolling and watch these behemoth Cats fly.

Whether or not you are of the camp that misses the days of the monohul, or – like me, wish that the powers that be had stuck with the 45s to include more teams, I think we can all agree that it’s a ton of fun to watch these cats fly.

After the official judgement was given (on the controversial ruling and safety issues) allowing all the teams to get on with the racing, the first actual race was finally run.

The decision made by the International Jury upheld protests by Emirates Team New Zealand and Italy’s Luna Rossa Challenge that the Regatta Director alone could not change some of the regatta rules, even if he was acting in the best interests of all the sailors. In effect, it stated that the teams must adhere to the AC72 Class Rule as well as to the 37 safety rules established following the Artemis Racing capsize that resulted in the tragic death of Andrew ‘Bart’ Simpson in May.

San Francisco (USA,CA) – 34th America’s Cup – Jury Meeting, July 8 – The jury : Josje Hofland (NED), Graham McKenzie (NZL), David Tillett (AUS), Bryan Willis (GBR), John Doerr (GBR).
Photo: Giles Martin-Raget / ACEA

Let the Racing Commence!

Emirates Team New Zealand and Luna Rossa Challenge are familiar partners in the America’s Cup arena. The two teams contested the 2000 America’s Cup Match, were finalists in the 2007 Louis Vuitton Cup Final, and have shared a design package and many hours of training together in the lead up to the 2013 America’s Cup.

San Francisco (USA,CA) – 34th America’s Cup – Louis Vuitton Cup –
Round Robin – Race Day 4 – Luna Rossa vs ETNZ.
Photo: Giles Martin-Raget/ACEA

Over the weekend, on Saturday – the familiar foes contested the first two-boat race of the 2013 Louis Vuitton Cup, the America’s Cup Challenger Series, and the reigning champions from New Zealand came out on top.

Skipper Dean Barker and the Emirates Team New Zealand crew made today’s race look effortless. With the wind blowing around 17 knots, Emirates Team New Zealand held up Luna Rossa in the pre-start and then sailed away to win by nearly five and a half minutes on the 15.47-nautical-mile course.

The Kiwis completed the course in 43 minutes, 52 seconds. They recorded a top speed of 42.33 knots (48 mph), compared to Luna Rossa’s 39.95 knots (46 mph).

Stay tuned for more AC34 action!

Video and news update courtesy of www.americascup.com.

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Countdown to the Summer of Racing on SF Bay. Go Team USA!

This weekend the countdown clock will mark two months to the start of the “Summer of Racing” in San Francisco. An Opening Ceremony is planned for July 4 and will be followed on July 5 by a special fleet race for all teams.

San Francisco (USA) – 34th America’s Cup – ARTEMIS and ORACLE TEAM USA AC72 training in San Francisco Bay. Photo:Gilles Martin-Raget/AC34

Racing in the Louis Vuitton Cup, the America’s Cup Challenger Series, officially begins on July 7 with a match between Emirates Team New Zealand and Luna Rossa Challenge of Italy. It continues on July 9 with Sweden’s Artemis Racing taking on the New Zealanders, and July 10 with Luna Rossa against Artemis Racing.

The Louis Vuitton Cup schedule is packed with action. Some highlights:

• The Louis Vuitton Cup round robins are scheduled July 7-Aug. 4. Wins are worth 1 point
• The Louis Vuitton Cup Semi Final, a best-of-seven series, is scheduled Aug. 6-14
• The Louis Vuitton Cup Final, a best-of-13 series, is scheduled Aug. 17-30
• Racing is scheduled on Tuesdays, Wednesdays, Fridays, Saturdays and Sundays
• Start times for the round robins and semi finals are scheduled for 1:15 pm PT (Tuesdays, Fridays, Saturdays, Sundays) or 2:15 pm PT (Wednesdays)
• Mondays and Thursdays are scheduled reserve days
• In the round robins and semi finals, one race is scheduled per day with a target elapsed time of one hour
• In the Louis Vuitton Cup Final, two races are scheduled each day, each with a target elapsed time of 30 minutes

Boat 2 First Sail / SFO April Testing Session / ORACLE TEAM USA / San Francisco (USA) / 24-04-2013.
Photo: Guilain GRENIER/AC34

The top team at the end of the round robins gets to choose whether it advances directly to the Louis Vuitton Cup Finals or races in the semi finals. With a break of 12 days in the offing, presumably the winner would choose to go to the final and let the other two teams continue slugging it out in the semis.

Throughout the Louis Vuitton Cup the defender, ORACLE TEAM USA, will also have access to the race course four days per week, Wednesdays, Thursdays, Saturdays and Sundays, sometimes sandwiched around the challengers’ racing.

The America’s Cup Finals are scheduled Sept. 7-21, with racing set for Saturdays, Sundays, Tuesdays and Thursdays. The match is a best-of-17 series. Two races are planned each day, lasting approximately 30 minutes, and beginning at 1:10 pm PT and 2:10 pm PT. A break of approximately 30 minutes between races is mandated by the Protocol.

View the complete schedule for the “Summer of Racing”

From: Americascup.com

 

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America’s Cup World Series + Fleet Week = Massive Excitement in San Francisco

Skippers gather before the start of the America’s Cup World Series 2
in San Francisco Bay. Photo: N.Birnbaum/2012

Pre-race events today included “Up Close & Personal” interviews with Oracles Team  Captains’ Russell Coutts and Jimmy Spithill.

With record highs and almost no wind, todays’ practice runs won’t give the crews anything to write home about. But come tomorrow, the second America’s Cup World Series San Francisco will begin, with qualifying racing for the match racing championship. Then on Thursday, the first two of seven scheduled fleet races kick off the event championship, which concludes Sunday, Oct. 7, with a live nationwide broadcast on NBC.

The America’s Cup World Series San Francisco is being held during what is being billed as the busiest week of events in the city’s history. According to America’s Cup Commissioner and regatta director Iain Murray, there will be more spectators for this weekends’ AC World Series than ever before in the history of the America’s Cup. Besides the AC World Series, there are a few other great events happening in Bay Area this weekend. As many as one million people are expected for events such Oracle OpenWorld (the largest technology conference in the world) at the Moscone Center , the Hardly Strictly Bluegrass music festival in Golden Gate Park, the Mill Valley Film Festival, the Castro Street Fair,home games for the San Francisco Giants and San Francisco 49ers, and San Francisco’s annual Fleet Week.

“We have a challenging program this week,” said Murray. “We’re working with Fleet Week, so most of our racing will be later in the day. On Super Sunday we’ll be participating in the air show with Fleet Week. The air show will start and then stop, we’ll sail our Super Sunday fleet race (scheduled to start at 1:55 pm PDT), and then the air show will resume.

Hopefully that will allow the spectator fleet to keep incidents to a minimum. It’s always fun to be on the Bay during a Blue Angel flyover – all eyes are focused on the sky while thousands of boats make their way around, hopefully refraining from making sailing into a contact sport.

All 11 teams that raced the first AC World Series San Francisco in August return, including (in order of standing): ORACLE TEAM USA SPITHILL (Jimmy Spithill), Luna Rossa Piranha (Chris Draper), Team Korea (Peter Burling), Energy Team (Loick Peyron), Luna Rossa Swordfish (Iker Martinez), Artemis Racing – White (Terry Hutchinson), Emirates Team New Zealand (Dean Barker), ORACLE TEAM USA COUTTS (Russell Coutts), Artemis Racing – Red (Nathan Outteridge), J.P. Morgan BAR (Ben Ainslie) and China Team (Phil Robertson).

Just as they have for the past two ACWS regattas, NBC will broadcast nationwide the “Super Sunday” fleet racing championship. Racing on Thursday, Friday and Saturday will be broadcast by the America’s Cup regional media partner NBC Bay Area on its digital channel California NonStop (channel 186 on Comcast and 11.2 on over-the-air digital). California NonStop is on the air in select California markets, including San Francisco.

If you have not had the pleasure of viewing ACWS racing on Television, you should certainly tune in. The technology that goes into each broadcast is truly amazing and a treat to watch.

Racing on Thursday through Sunday will be broadcast on the America’s Cup YouTube channel.

The AC Race Village will once again be located at Little Marina Green, and fans will again be able to watch the racing from shoreside bleachers. Visit the ACWS San Francisco event page for more information about the venue.

It may be a billionaire’s sport, but you don’t have to be a billionaire to enjoy it.

But just to maintain that grand style of yachting, sponsors like — Louis Vuitton, Lexus, Moët & Chandon and … Red Bull, have joined in the festivities.

©2011 ACEA/Ricardo Pinto

Spillhill enjoys a Moët moment. ©2011 ACEA/Gilles Martin-Raget.

Moët & Chandon have a tent to themselves along the waterfront — called the Club 45 — where VIP’s and their guests can have commanding views of the racing along the Marina Green while sipping some of the world’s most iconic champagne.

“Moët & Chandon has been associated with the America’s Cup for nearly 25 years.  This year, as the official champagne, we raise a glass to this most prestigious event in the world’s grandest setting: the iconic San Francisco Bay,” said Stephane Baschiera, President & CEO of Moët & Chandon.

The Moët & Chandon tradition of supporting the grandest achievements lives on as a ‘grand prize,’ where a bottle of the House’s iconic champagne becomes the award itself for champions. Victorious athletes celebrate their exceptional triumph on the winners’ podium, such as at the Barclays ATP World Tour Finals, by accepting a well-deserved bottle of Moët & Chandon – a symbol of the overflowing joy of success.

The racing schedule:

Wednesday, Oct. 3
4:00-6:00 pm PDT    Match Racing Qualifying

Thursday, Oct. 4
12:25-12:55 pm PDT  Match Racing Quarterfinals
5:00-6:15 pm PDT    Fleet Races 1 & 2

Friday, Oct. 5
4:00-4:35 pm PDT    Match Racing Quarterfinals
4:50-6:00 pm PDT    Fleet Races 3 & 4

Saturday, Oct. 6
4:00-4:35 pm PDT    Match Racing Semifinals
4:50-5:55 pm PDT    Fleet Races 5 & 6
6:10-6:25 pm PDT    Match Racing Championship

Sunday, Oct. 7
1:55-2:25 pm PDT    Fleet Race Championship

 

Guide to Special Events in San Francisco

It’s a busy week in San Francisco and the entire Bay Area!

Check out our event info and transit resources page to find out what’s going on and how to get there (or get around it) –>http://bit.ly/UEhP2a

© 2012 ABC News

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Worth the wait! NBC to show America’s Cup racing starting July 1st.

Soon all sailboat racing enthusiasts will see their wishes come true

as the America’s Cup will finally be broadcast on network television for the first time since 1992. It all happens next year when NBC broadcasts the first two races of sailing’s top prize on San Francisco Bay in September 2013.

17/02/2012 - Sedro Wooley (USA) - ORACLE Racing - Training. © Americascupmedia.com.

In an AP article, it was reported that:

Officials told the Associated Press that the deal with the NBC Sports Group also includes three broadcasts on NBC this year from the America’s Cup World Series. The remaining races in the America’s Cup match will be on cable, on NBC Sports Network.

The deal is big for regatta organizers, who hope to showcase the modernized America’s Cup racing to mainstream fans. Racing will be on a short course close to shore rather than miles out to sea, and in fast, wing-sail catamarans rather than plodding sloops.

The NBC Sports Group also acquired rights to the Louis Vuitton Cup in the summer of 2013 in San Francisco, which will determine which foreign syndicate meets Oracle Racing, owned by Silicon Valley maverick Larry Ellison, for the oldest trophy in international sports.

Richard Worth, chairman of the America’s Cup Event Authority, said NBC will televise the final day of racing from three stops on the America’s Cup World Series this summer, as well as the opening two races of the 34th America’s Cup match on Sept. 7 and 8, 2013.

NBC Sports Group is not paying a rights fee. Worth said America’s Cup officials will acquire airtime and offer commercial time first to their own sponsors.

18/02/2012 – San Francisco (USA) – ORACLE Racing – Training.
© Americascupmedia.com.

A Fair Race?

Of course there’s plenty of folks out there who feel that the race isn’t like it used to be before the big cats came on board. But organizers believe they’ve largely avoided the potential problem of weather-related delays that could easily mess up broadcast schedules by switching to catamarans that can sail in a wide range of conditions. Races have been shortened to better fit into TV time slots and will be sailed close to shore.

The ACWS is being contested in 45-foot catamarans with high-tech wings as mainsails. The Louis Vuitton Cup and America’s Cup match will be sailed in 72-foot cats.

The first NBC broadcast is scheduled for July 1, the final day of the America’s Cup World Series in Newport, R.I. The other dates on NBC are Aug. 26 and Oct. 7, so America’s Cup organizers will fit events to those slots. Organizers are exploring having an ACWS stop on the Hudson River in New York, which would end on Aug. 26. If that’s not possible, there would be ACWS stops in San Francisco ending with televised races on Aug. 26 and Oct. 7.

Whether it’s in New York or San Francisco, the regatta ending on Aug. 26 will feature Ben Ainslie’s debut with Oracle Racing. The star British sailor, who will be trying for a fourth straight gold medal in the London Olympics, will join Oracle Racing to gain experience for what he hopes will be a title challenge with his own team in the future.

Each boat will carry an HD camera and 14 microphones. America’s Cup officials have developed a system called LiveLine that will insert graphics into live shots from helicopters. Lines similar to the yellow first-down line used in football broadcasts will be used to show which boat is ahead, distance to the marks and course boundaries.

(Originally published March 1, 2012)

By The Associated Press  BERNIE WILSON (AP Sports Writer)

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