Pirelli, the international tire company with headquarters in Milan, Italy, is more widely associated on the competitive front with the Formula 1 automotive racing world but appeared in the America’s Cup sponsor stratosphere shortly before the 35th America’s Cup in Bermuda, where it came to the aid of Emirates Team New Zealand. Overnight, the iconic red-and-yellow signage of the Chinese-owned company appeared on the red and black hulls and rudders of the eventual Cup winners.

At the time, Pirelli’s CEO Marco Tronchetti Provera, who once campaigned a Wally superyacht, said “the sponsorship of Emirates Team New Zealand adds to the already rich portfolio of high-profile sporting collaborations…with the goal of strengthening the brand’s positioning at the high end of the market.”

Having succeeded in wresting the Cup from Oracle Racing Team USA in Bermuda, Provera is now putting support behind the red, white and green. In a statement released today by the America’s Cup’s Challenger of Record, Luna Rossa Challenge, Provera said, “Pirelli chose to be a part of this project because it represents both a sporting and technological challenge, able to bring Italy and the Pirelli brand to the attention of the entire world. The America’s Cup, as Formula 1 is to motorsport, is the most prestigious sailing competition, with a great history and tradition. It embodies values and is for a public of impassioned fans that perfectly match Pirelli’s, enabling the company to continue enriching its brand, reinforcing its positioning in high technology with clients around the world and its relationship with consumers through traditional channels and all the new digital platforms.”

Pirelli, which was sold to ChemChina, a state-owned Chinese company in 2015, is ranked 167th on the Fortune Global 500 list and claims to be China’s largest chemical company, which may have implications for a future Asia-based Cup-related event. Pirelli Media Relations declined to provide further details of the sponsorship beyond the announcement, which reads as follows:

Pirelli has signed an agreement with Luna Rossa Challenge for the constitution of a partnership aimed at the development of a multi-year project which will lead to Luna Rossa’s participation in the next edition of the America’s Cup, set for New Zealand in 2021.

Pirelli and Prada will be co-titled sponsors of the vessel and will detail their plans at a soon to be organized event.

Now in its 36th edition, the America’s Cup is the oldest trophy in the history of sport, which sees the participation of the most technologically advanced boats in the world.

The project will entail, over the 4-year period 2018-2021, a series of regattas, events and activities with the two brands as protagonists. In 2019, the first two regattas of the America’s Cup World Series will take place in the Mediterranean; in 2020 another three World Series regattas will be held in Europe, the United States of America and Asia; from January 2021, always in Auckland, there will be the Prada Cup, Challenger selection regattas, followed by the 36th edition of the America’s Cup Presented by Prada, scheduled for March 2021.

This will be Luna Rossa’s fifth tilt at the Trophy and in this edition, it will be the Challenger of Record, that is, the first challenger of the last edition’s winning team, Emirates Team New Zealand.

Patrizio Bertelli, Chairman of Luna Rossa Challenge, said “Pirelli is the ideal partner for this new America’s Cup challenge. With over half a century’s experience at the highest levels of high technology world sports, it will be an important asset at the heart of our project. In this sense it is correct to speak of a real and true collaboration between the Team and Pirelli.”

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The greater America’s Cup audience witnessed Emirates Team New Zealand’s dramatic prerace pitchpole live on TV, but when the cameras disappeared and the damaged boat was nursed back into the tent for evaluation, a small team already short on time and resources was forced to come together and save the campaign. This is the unseen story of those next 48 hours.

As with the finish of every other sailing day in Bermuda, Emirates Team New Zealand’s boatbuilders and engineers assigned with lifting the AC50 from the water wait at the ready. Only this was midday, and there was considerable tension as the team assembled shoulder to shoulder, unsure of when and in what shape Aotearoa would arrive at the base following its capsize early in the Louis Vuitton America’s Cup Challenger Finals.

There was a shared sense of relief when the boat was lifted, lowered and rolled into the tent, but the obvious damage to the wing was impossible to ignore. Its innards and precision mechanics were compromised, tattered plastic wrap flapped in the wind, and dislodged or missing foam pieces and broken wing frames protruded from its fragile skin.

The boat shed transformed into a triage station as the team poured over the AC50, intent on understanding the extent of the damage and how much work was required to return the boat to the water for either of the next day’s two races. Sailors, designers, administrators, kitchen staff, and physical trainers stepped in to clean, dry, and strip the wounds for a long night of repairs.

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Tools Down, Tools Up A somber roar too loud for comfort burst through the adjustable slats in the side of our media container. The team’s head of communications, Hamish Hooper, and I were strategizing how best to tell the story we had just captured. It was midday, and the entire team had already rallied to swap wings after the race wing sustained pre-race damage, delivering the boat back to the course in less than an hour and just in time for the first race of the day (which they won). We hadn’t yet moved to the TV outside our container to watch the race alongside the rest of the shore team, but instantly upon hearing the roar, Hooper wheeled to the wall to investigate. Opening a slat, he peered through, closed it, wheeled back and said, “We just pitchpoled."

And that was it. We both went head down and straight to work. It’s the Kiwi way; they simply strive in adversity.

When the boat was finally back in the tent, a “tools down” all-team meeting was called, and we listened to team Chief Operating Officer Kevin Shoebridge outline what had to be done. With two races scheduled for the next day and a questionable forecast, the entire campaign was on the line. Right there, outside the team kitchen, everybody came together, well-aware of the significance of their roles, no matter how big or small.

For a small group that had endured plenty of obstacles already, there was a sense of calm and a can-do attitude.

The shed buzzed with tools and bodies overnight. The normal post-race routines were much the same, just intensified tenfold. The monumental task of managing the repair fell to head boatbuilder Sean Regan, chief of delegation. Structural engineers tested the hulls and wing for integrity, because damage you can’t see is the worst kind. Hydraulic and electrical teams examined their respective areas, to the extent they could, while the boat was idle in its cradle. The wing team disassembled the tattered wing while boatbuilders swarmed over the fairings to see what could be rebuilt or salvaged.

The sailors who were less skilled at boatbuilding picked up trash and swept the floors all night, and offered spare hands and muscle where needed. Most of the designers grabbed hair dryers and held fans to accelerate the drying process. When not making food to fuel the team, the kitchen crew was among the carnage, taking orders with the rest of the team. Administrative staffers served coffee and boosted morale until sun up. Everyone was involved and nobody went home until all that was left to do was wait for first repairs to cure and the boat to dry.

The scene at 2:30 a.m. was no different than it had been hours earlier, or would be hours later. With the team divided into day, night and morning shifts, the platform received constant attention. As if plugged into life support, hoses and covers draped over the hulls ran continuously to dry and desaturate the salt-averse components and electronics, their operability still unknown. A spare first-generation spine receives an updated fairing, heavier than the last, but satisfactory nonetheless.

The boat shed opened for the first time in days when Aotearoa received a clean bill of health. To the casual observer, there was little evidence of the ordeal. Broken fairings were rebuilt but masked under fresh paint or heat-shrink material. Under-the-hood essential electric and hydraulic components required to sail the boat were dried, cleaned and replaced. But the boat’s outward appearance gave no hint of the extent of damage or the effort to repair it.

Louis Vuitton America's Cup Qualifiers RRX - Race X - Emirates Team New Zealand (NZL) vs. Land Rover B.A.R.

It was always highly marginal that the boat was going to sail the next day because it’s impossible to force chemical processes, and there was simply too much resin and epoxy involved to risk advancing the timeline. The forecast was for a building 25 to 30 knots, and the race committee would decide to race or abandon by 11:00 a.m. It didn’t seem windy enough to cancel, initially, but the decision was then pushed back to 1:00 p.m. While work on the boat and the wings continued, everyone understood that if there was racing that day, Land Rover BAR would pick up two free points to even the series. The long-term weather forecast was extremely complex, and there was a good chance that winds would remain too high for racing over the coming days. If New Zealand didn’t sail, BAR would win the series on a tiebreaker, awarded to the last race winner.

At 1:30 p.m., the decision finally came: no racing. Now the team could commit to more-thorough repairs, and the sailors and shore crew who had been going nonstop could rest and work on themselves. For the first time since the boat capsized, it felt as if everything was going to be all right. The galvanizing effort of the past 36 hours would strengthen the team’s resolve. The group did in fact emerge stronger and better off for it. There were no individuals. It was one team with one goal, and everybody was committed.

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The New Zealand entourage rolled into Bermuda casually late for the America’s Cup party, erected a stark, white-tented compound behind the row of food vendors in the Village, and got right to business. They didn’t waste a dime gussying up their base. If it weren’t for the big logo at the apex of their boat shed and the New Zealand flag streaming from the cable of a crane, you’d be hard-pressed to find them on the island.

Each morning throughout the Louis Vuitton America’s Cup Challenger Series and the 35th America’s Cup Match, however, you couldn’t miss them. While Oracle hid behind its fences, ETNZ’s engineers and shore crew would trickle out in plain sight to launch their sophisticated 50-foot catamaran. Like clockwork, the big red wing went skyward at 0900, the platform placed underneath and then hoisted into the water. Gawkers and journalists loitered behind metal barricades, hoping to get a hint of the innovative technology. Soon after, the sailors would pass by, dressed for the morning practice session, flashing wry smiles and quick nods of acknowledgement: no high-fives, no autographs and certainly no showboating.

They were visible now, but before arriving in Bermuda, the New Zealanders had trained alone, a hemisphere away, and no amount of spying prepared their rivals for the whipping they would receive at the hands of a 26-year-old helmsman savant, his wizard wing trimmer and four watt-cranking cyclers.

The uncompetitive French and British syndicates were dismissed in the opening rounds of the series. SoftBank Team Japan, quickest when strong winds ruffled Great Sound, was next, leaving Artemis Racing as the lone worthy rival to the New Zealanders. In what was the closest racing of the entire regatta, ETNZ emerged a faster, battle-hardened squad, plenty ready to take on its nemesis.

On the eve of the Match, Oracle Team USA’s top brass were confident in their platform but anticipated a stiff challenge. “We felt it was going to be a dogfight,” says Scott Ferguson, Oracle Team USA’s technical director, the man in charge of all things design. “All of us, internally, thought we would have similar speed, and that it would come down to maneuvers and starts.”

That, we now know, was wishful thinking. Team New Zealand dominated both of the opening races from start to finish. Skipper Jimmy Spithill and company were rusty, and it showed. Downwind, the New Zealanders sailed lower and faster — a good 2 knots faster at times — and on the upwind legs, boatspeed ­differences occasionally hit double digits.

“Our daggerboard tips were angled down more than any of the other teams,” says ETNZ coach Ray Davies, “which made them faster upwind but harder to sail, but our control systems were better and we were able to achieve the same stability with the faster foil, and that’s where we were faster upwind. We were able to sail higher, with more windward heel, which gave us more grip on the leeward daggerboard.”

Spithill stated there was nothing to speculate about boatspeed differences between the two, on account of the day’s light and patchy winds, but the fact remained helmsman Peter Burling and company were one up on the scoreboard, having wiped away the bonus point the defender carried in from the challenger series.

Oracle had no response to Emirates Team New Zealand’s offensive the following day either. Unable to hook Burling in the prestart, Spithill let him get away. At times, Team New Zealand was a good 5 knots faster as the cyclers’ heart rates beat along with their cadence. As the handles spun on Oracle, you could hear Spithill’s desperation amid the calls to “dig in” for more oil.

Did the bikes make a difference? Definitely, says Ferguson. “We considered them early on, but there was concern about the aero penalty, and the guys getting off the bikes and across.” Many of the decisions are collective, he adds, but this was one owned by the sailors.

In the second race of the day, in 10 knots of wind, Oracle tried for the pre-start hook but didn’t get it. Instead, they got slow and the Kiwis got faster, “a lot faster,” Oracle tactician Tom Slingsby noted to his helmsman. With a clear start again, the New Zealanders were off and running — by the time they flew through Gate 5, their lead was a half-mile of hurt.

The frustration was visible in Spithill’s face as he took to his hot seat at the press conference. His canned response was ready. “There is a lot of time to make changes,” he stated, noting the New Zealanders had stepped up their performance from the early rounds. “We clearly need to get more speed from our boat.”

The defender then had five days to mine its notebooks for solutions: foils, rudders, wings, control systems, techniques — they would look at everything. It was a difficult team meeting that Monday morning, says Ferguson. First to go were the horizontal rudder elevators that they’d dubbed “the seagulls.” They’d never used them in competition, and they were clearly not fast. Then came the weight-loss program.

“We were struggling to get to minimum weight, so we looked at every piece of the boat we couldn’t justify keeping,” says Ferguson. “We stripped everything we could get rid of.”

On the water, they experimented with ­daggerboard toe angle, which turned out be a wasteful trip down a rabbit hole. They reduced the area of their light-air daggerboards and switched to shorter rudders, which they knew would be OK in a straight line but likely to break the surface during maneuvers.

Meanwhile, the New Zealanders continued to clean up from their Louis Vuitton series capsize. They also refined a speed-producing alteration they “borrowed” from their rivals. “Shroud-gate,” as one New Zealand crewmember called it, was the one contentious rule interpretation of the Cup. Oracle had determined early on that loose lower shrouds allow the platform to wrack, which translates to more righting moment. To sail in this configuration, however, the lower ­portion of the wing had to be strengthened.

In the process of seeking measurement approval, Oracle ended up having to show its hand. The measurers said no, says Ferguson, but the defender lobbied the regatta director, who overturned the ruling. Once the Kiwis were in the loop, they took the tip and ran with it.

“The Oracle guys realized you didn’t need the lowers, and that allowed the whole platform to twist,” says Davies, “which, in effect, gives more offset in the rudders. It was a big advantage to be able to get the platform to wrack, and it wasn’t until the Cup that we had our whole package sorted. That was another gain, for sure, and we got to it just in time.”

After a five-day break in the action, ­Oracle returned for the second weekend of the series down four races and slightly more confident in their boat, but Emirates Team New Zealand was surgical in its win. Oracle shot itself in the foot several times, incurring an OCS penalty and crashing through three bad jibes, but the big one was a penalty during a crucial midrace dial-down.

For Kiwi fans, the move was a thing of beauty: Oracle lowered its board to set up for a tack from the left boundary, and in that moment, Burling had their number. Already on starboard, he bore away sharply to start the dial-down early and make it that much more difficult for Spithill to avoid when the two boats met. As Oracle turned up past the stern of the Kiwi boat, Slingsby broke the news to his helmsman.

“We’ve got a penalty?” Spithill responded incredulously. “I was altering the whole way!”

That’s not how the umpires saw it, and Spithill pleaded his case at the post-race press conference before taking a dig at the umpires for giving the New Zealanders “soft penalties.”

The Kiwis began the next day with another convincing win, and looked to continue their sweep in the second until Oracle took control of the race when the New Zealanders missed a windshift. Spithill was quick to seize upon the victory and throw a jab at the press conference.

“We’ve worked hard this week, and we saw these guys (nodding toward Peter Burling) take days off and made a commitment that we’d make the boat faster,” said Spithill. “We saw that today. We’re not sailing as well as we should be. Even in the second race, we had a pretty good lead and lost it again, but it’s good to be able to come back from a race like that. The point is, the boat is faster.”

As far as the New Zealanders were ­concerned, they gave that one away.

“We should have sailed the course instead of the competitor,” says Davies. “As soon as you get into shifty conditions and differences in pressure, it’s more important to race yourself around the course.” The win gave Oracle cause to celebrate, but they knew they were on borrowed time.

“The guys were really suffering that day,” says Ferguson. “We realized then that we could win races, but there were times where we were at critical pressures in the accumulators. If you’re not up to pressure going into a maneuver, you’ll lose it, and it will go bad.”

Pressure and control were never a concern for the Kiwis. Their sophisticated and manually driven daggerboard autopilot system, as well as Ashby’s dynamic wing controls, allowed them to effectively divide the labor on board. The competitive essence of their AC50 was “awesome,” says Davies.

“It’s how we envisioned the boat from the outset. We had the ability for Pete [Burling] to control most of the boat from the wheel, so we could sail the boat however we liked, from the no-look maneuvers in the light air to having the guys put their weight forward in the boat.

“Having the cyclers producing plenty of power and having the ability to control either foil from either side of the boat gave us a huge advantage for tactical options and the ability to easily pull off consistent maneuvers without much warning. The boats are thirsty for hydraulic oil, and to have the bikes cranking out huge wattage for the whole package ­certainly helped.”

Cyclers Blair Tuke and Andy Maloney flew the boat with controls at their handlebars, leaving Burling free to focus on the race. Controls on Burling’s steering wheels enabled him to fly the boat if needed, and control the wing trim as well. When wing trimmer Glen Ashby went to leeward, for example, Burling could trim the wing, and conversely, when Ashby arrived at the other wheel out of a maneuver, he could trim the wing as Burling crossed.

“We contemplated whether we even needed a wing trimmer in certain conditions,” says Davies. “We had an option to put another bike on the boat, but we didn’t need to. To control the wing from the wheel opened up a lot of consistency in our maneuvers.”

Much ado was made before the Match about Burling’s match-racing experience in the pre-start box, but with every start he managed fine by never engaging with Spithill and using his maneuverability to stay out of harm’s way. On the penultimate day, however, he finally showed Spithill who was boss. In the most telling moment of the match, Burling foiled into a leeward hook in the start of the day’s second race, and as he glided to leeward, spitting distance from Oracle’s port hull, he took his right hand off the steering wheel, glanced over at his rival and gave a mocking wave. Maybe he was signaling Spithill to turn up, but that’s not how it appeared. It was more like, “Hello, Jimmy … and goodbye.” Off sped the New Zealanders to another trouncing, bringing the series to 6-to-1 and match point.

Less than 24 hours later, cyclers Simon Van Velthooven, Andy Maloney and Josh Junior, flight controller Blair Tuke, trimmer Glen Ashby, and Peter Burling would deliver the decisive blow to Oracle Team USA in a move they’d practiced many times but never had the chance to deliver in a race.

The opportunity presented itself early in Leg 2 of Race 9 as Oracle led the New Zealanders toward the first boundary after Mark 1 with a 10-meter lead. The playbook says he who jibes first gets the jump, and racing sailors know the move well as the “no-look jibe.”

“Basically we have the ability to fire the windward board and jibe without sending anyone to leeward, so they didn’t know we were jibing,” said Tuke afterward.

They trained for this exact scenario ­knowing that the team that follows through Mark 1 has to beat the boat ahead to the jibe. As was the case throughout this lopsided series, ­Oracle didn’t see it coming, was late to react, and slow out of its jibe. As soon as both boats were up and foiling again, the writing was on the wall. “It’s something we trained a lot on, and when you pull it off in racing, it is a nice feeling,” added Tuke. “To do it in the last race was pretty cool.” Behind the sailors of Emirates Team New Zealand is team of teams, one that crafted the most technical boat the America’s Cup had ever seen. As with all other challengers left in Emirates Team Zealand’s wake, the 35th defender never stood a chance. They had the wrong tool for the job.

From the isolation of the proud Kiwi Nation came a squad that was determined, one that dared to be to different, and the tool they brought to Bermuda was a masterpiece of innovation: from the appendages, the hydraulic controls, the dynamic wing, the intelligent software and, yes, the game-changing cyclers, which allowed them precision trim and on-demand oil. All of this, handled by a young sailing team flush with experience winning at the highest levels, was the complete package. The fastest boat won, there’s no doubt about it, conceded Spithill, the raw emotions of the defeat noticeable in his voice. “They fully deserved it. They had all the speed.”

The post The Kiwi’s Cup appeared first on Sailing World.

From the Commodores of Royal New Zealand Yacht Squadron & Circolo della Vela Sicilia:

The Royal New Zealand Yacht Squadron accepts the challenge of Circolo della Vela Sicilia, which becomes the Challenger of Record for the XXXVI America’s Cup.

The Royal New Zealand Yacht Squadron is pleased to announce that it has accepted a challenge from Circolo della Vela Sicilia which was received immediately upon the victory of Emirates Team New Zealand in the last race of the 35th America’s Cup.

As the first challenger, CVS will be the Challenger of Record for the 36th America’s Cup and its representative team will be Luna Rossa Challenge.

The 36th America’s Cup will be open to further challengers from any organized Yacht Club of a foreign country under conditions to be announced in due course.

RNZYS and its representative team, Emirates Team New Zealand, look forward to working with CVS and Luna Rossa Challenge to create an exciting future for the event by combining innovation with the traditional sporting values of the America’s Cup.

By the Commodores,

Steve Mair,
Royal New Zealand Yacht Squadron

Agostino Randazzo Randazzo,
Circolo della Vela Sicilia

Luna Rossa Challenge 2013 Louis Vuitton Cup Final – Race 5

Just hours after the Emirates Team New Zealand defeated Oracle Team USA in the final race of the 35th America’s Cup, Circolo della Vela Sicilia filed an official challenge for the 36th America’s Cup. The Royal New Zealand Yacht Squadron, the home club of new new holders of the Auld Mug, promptly accepted the challenge, setting the stage for 2021.

“The Royal New Zealand Yacht Squadron… has accepted a challenge from Circolo della Vela Sicilia which was received immediately upon the victory of Emirates Team New Zealand in the last race of the 35th America’s Cup,” it said in a statement.

Circolo della Vela Sicilia will be the official Challenger of Record, represented by an America’s Cup veteran team, Luna Rossa Challenge. Luna Rossa Challenge is no stranger to sailing against Emirates Team New Zealand. The teams have faced on the America’s Cup World Series, and in challenger trials at the 34th Cup in San Francisco. The Kiwis also successfully defended the America’s Cup from another Italian team sailing under the Luna Rossa banner, though from a different yacht club, in 2000 in Auckland.

“The 36th America’s Cup will be open to further challengers from any organised Yacht Club of a foreign country under conditions to be announced in due course.”

Further details of the next Cup, including additional challengers will be announced in the coming weeks.

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Another dominant race win for Peter Burling and Emirates Team New Zealand in race nine of the America’s Cup Match, presented by Louis Vuitton, gave the Kiwi team victory on the Great Sound in Bermuda, sparking wild celebrations on board their America’s Cup Class (ACC) boat, and the team’s support boats on the Great Sound. Burling now adds the 35th America’s Cup to the Red Bull Youth America’s Cup trophy he won in San Francisco, 2013.

The Kiwi team dominated the final stage of the 35th America’s Cup, winning eight races to ORACLE TEAM USA’s one race win, giving the New Zealanders a final winning scoreline of 7-1.

The America’s Cup was last won by a team representing New Zealand in 2000 and they are now the Defenders of the America’s Cup for the 36th installment of the competition for the oldest trophy in international sport.

In the final press conference of the 35th America’s Cup, Grant Dalton, CEO of Emirates Team New Zealand, also announced that the Royal New Zealand Yacht Squadron has accepted the challenge of Circolo della Vela Sicilia, who will be the Challenger of Record for the 36th America’s Cup and will be represented by Luna Rossa.

Race nine started with both Emirates Team New Zealand and ORACLE TEAM USA enjoying clean starts and engaged in a drag race to the first mark, the US team edging just ahead but then losing ground to their rivals on the run to the second mark.

Burling was serene at the helm of the Kiwi boat, displaying no nerves as he steered his team towards glory, but Spithill and the ORACLE TEAM USA crew were not giving up, pushing harder than ever to try and take the tie to race ten. However, it was not to be.

By the third mark the Challenge’s lead was up to 26 seconds, increasing further still at the fourth mark, up to 34 seconds, and from that point, barring mistakes by Burling and his all-conquering Emirates Team New Zealand crew, the die was cast.

ORACLE TEAM USA managed to peg back their rivals slightly in the latter stages of the race, but New Zealand sealed their win in impressive style, crossing the finish line for the final time in the 35th America’s Cup 55 seconds ahead of the US team.

From The Sailors:

Peter Burling, helmsman, Emirates Team New Zealand:

“We’re just blown away. We came here to win the America’s Cup and right now we’re taking the America’s Cup back home to New Zealand.

“To be able to win eight races in Beautiful Bermuda in front of a big crowd of our own fans is overwhelming, we’re just happy to be able to share this moment with them, we’re just blown away.

“I’ve grown up watching this competition as a fan and to be a Kiwi and taking this Cup home is a dream come true.

“To be able to win this event at such a young age is an unreal feeling. However, I’m just a tiny part of a massive team and it is incredible to be able to reward the hard work of those hundreds of people who have supported us, not only here but back home in New Zealand as well.

“We’ve had to go through some incredibly tough times to get to this point. It has been an incredibly tough path to get past the rest of the challengers and then ORACLE TEAM USA and it’s credit to every team that competed.

“It’s so unique to get to sail these boats, every day they can be different. Our incredible shore team gave us that edge and to be able to reward their hard work and bring this Cup home with us is an amazing feeling.

“It’s just sinking in really and I think that will be the same feeling for all of those Kiwi fans watching us win the America’s Cup back home.

“For me I think the reason we won was because of what happened four years ago. This team has gone through some really tough spots from San Francisco and to be able to reward this team with the America’s Cup is the best feeling, because they are such an incredible team.

“I’d like to say thank you to Bermuda. It has been an amazing venue for a sailing event and I’ve absolutely loved this place, I’d love to come back at some stage.

Glenn Ashby, Skipper, Emirates Team New Zealand:

“It’s just an amazing feeling of satisfaction to have finally won the America’s Cup.

“It has been an incredibly tough journey to get here. We came across late to Bermuda from New Zealand and to be able to get the boat into good shape in such short time is all credit to our amazing team.

“I’m just so proud to be a part of this team and to be able to bring the Cup home and I want to thank the support of the whole country.

“What happened in 2013 was a brutal experience for everyone involved, to be so close was extremely disappointing and is something that will live with all of us for the rest of our lives.

“So to be able to come here a few years later and pull off an unbelievable victory has really redeemed that situation for New Zealand and it feels like justice has prevailed.

“I think we’ve seen some unbelievable advancements here with the boats and the type of races we’ve seen and it’s great for our sport. From a sailing perspective it’s going to be hard to sail anything else after what we’ve seen in these boats, the technology is just absolutely amazing.”

Grant Dalton, CEO, Emirates Team New Zealand:

“We’ve done it, finally!

“We probably don’t realise how big a deal this is back in New Zealand. I’ve been told that there was traffic jams at 4am with people trying to get to work just to see the races, which is utterly incredible.

“We’ve had a phenomenal group of guys, we’ve battled some serious adversity but as a group we’ve overcome everything. There have been a lot of people behind that and none more so than Matteo De Nora, who has stuck with the team through thick and thin and believed in everything that we have done. New Zealand owes a lifetime of gratitude to him for what we have achieved.

“We thought outside of the square and we did it our way. After San Francisco we knew we couldn’t out-spend other teams here so we had to out-think everyone. One of the things to come out of San Francisco is that we were out-designed and we knew this time round that we had to push that area.

“This time round we had no restrictions on design. We just wanted to see what we could come up with and we have achieved some truly amazing things that have been revolutionary in this sport.

“After San Francisco we had a pretty tough debrief and came up with 20 points that we had to change. One of those was that we had to invest in technology and the people that provide it. We also had to get our arms around the next generation of yachtsmen that were coming through and Peter (Burling) was one of those.

“He told me he wanted to be helmsman, so it was all about investing in the right people and giving them the responsibility to go out and achieve what we knew we could.

“It is important that we make the next America’s Cup affordable but we also need to remember that it is the America’s Cup and it is one of the top sports and not a little beach regatta. It is never going to be cheap.

“It is a fine balance between not making it prohibitively expensive, but not being so cheap that it devalues the competition.

“At the core of what we believe, we have to create an event that takes a lot of the good that has happened here, because there been a lot of good here. Just because we didn’t sign the Framework Agreement, that doesn’t mean to say there weren’t elements we didn’t agree with, it was just didn’t agree with every element.

“To me it is a privilege to host the America’s Cup. It is not a right and we will put in place rules and an organisation of our own that will do everything to be good enough.”

Jimmy Spithill, Skipper, ORACLE TEAM USA:

“On behalf of the whole of ORACLE TEAM USA, congratulations to Emirates Team New Zealand. What an incredible team. They’ve been a class above everyone in the 35th America’s Cup and we take our hats off to you. Well done.

“They sailed better than anyone else out here and so, rightly so, they are the 35th America’s Cup champions.

“The defeat hasn’t really sunk in yet and it is definitely weird looking at the trophy and knowing we won’t be taking it home.

“With hindsight there are a lot of things you would like to change but I think it’s far too early to say what might have gone wrong.

“Finally, I want to say, to Bermuda, you’ve welcomed us to your beautiful island and we’ve loved every moment of it. Thank you.”

Sir Russell Coutts, CEO, America’s Cup Event Authority, was quick to acknowledge the first New Zealand victory in the America’s Cup since 2000, saying, “I would like to offer my heartfelt congratulations and praise to everyone in Emirates Team New Zealand for winning the 35th America’s Cup.

“Helmed brilliantly by Peter Burling, with the guiding influence of skipper Glenn Ashby, supported by a world class sailing, design and shore team, they performed magnificently here in Bermuda, winning in dominant fashion.

“I know just how much this victory means to the team and to the people of New Zealand. This is a remarkable achievement, one that will be rightly celebrated in Bermuda and across New Zealand and I hope those celebrations live long in the memory, much as the team’s victory in Bermuda has now written a new chapter in the history of the America’s Cup. Congratulations Emirates Team New Zealand. You deserve your victory, you deserve the accolades coming your way, and now, you deserve to enjoy it.”

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Emirates Team New Zealand cyclists Simon Van Velthooven, Andy Maloney, and Josh Junior, flight controller Blair Tuke, trimmer Glen Ashby, and high-performance helmsman-savant Peter Burling delivered the decisive blow to Oracle Team USA today in a move they’d practiced many times, but never had the chance to deliver in a race.

Right time, right move.

The opportunity presented itself early in Leg 2 of Race 9 of the 35th America’s Cup Match as Oracle Team USA led the New Zealanders toward the first boundary after Mark 1 with a 10-meter lead. The playbook says he who jibes first gets the jump, and racing sailors know the move well as the “no-look jibe.”

“Basically we have the ability to fire the windward board and jibe without sending anyone to leeward, so they didn’t know we were jibing,” says Tuke. They trained for this exact scenario knowing that the team that follows through Mark 1 has to beat the boat ahead to the jibe.

As was the case throughout this lopsided series, Oracle didn’t see it coming, was late to react, and slow out of its jibe as well. As soon as both boats were up and foiling again, the writing was on the wall, and the New Zealanders were stretching away with a jump.

“It’s something we trained a lot on, and when you pull it off in racing it is a nice feeling,” added Tuke. “To do it in the last race was pretty cool. We can jibe without anyone moving, just like we can when tacking, which means we can reduce our standby time by 5 or 8 seconds.

“That’s how we designed the boat, to be able to get out of a lot of technical situations and be able to change direction without anyone moving. We knew it would be powerful come racing. It’s not always the best VMG move but a powerful one in a tactical situation and it helped us in the end.”

Once in control, the New Zealanders sailed as they pleased into the first gate. In order to get a split, Oracle had no option but to try its “Albatross” double jibe-rounding, which didn’t help their cause. Emirates Team New Zealand sped away from the opposite gate at 21 knots with Oracle struggling to get to 13.

Oracle Team USA skipper Jimmy Spithill did his best to will his teammates back into the race, but it was a lost cause. Team New Zealand simply extended with its trademark flawless boathandling and cruised to a 54-second win to put the final nail into Oracle’s coffin.

This time, there would be no comeback. No three-peat. The scoreline reads 7 to 1, but remember, it’s 8 to 1, and even that 1 was a missed-shift gift from Peter Burling.

Behind the sailors of Emirates Team New Zealand is team of teams, one that crafted the most sophisticated boat of this America’s Cup. As with all other challengers left in Emirates Team Zealand’s wake in the Louis Vuitton America’s Cup Challenger Series, the 35th defender never really stood a chance. They had the wrong tool for the job and no amount of desperate modifications would help.

From the isolation of the proud Kiwi Nation came a squad that was determined, one that dared to be to different, and the tool they brought to Bermuda is a masterpiece of innovation: radically different appendages, efficient hydraulic controls, dynamic wing trim, intelligent software, and yes, the game-changing cycle-powered hydraulics that allowed them precision trim and on-demand oil. All of this, handled by a young sailing team flush with experience winning at the highest levels, was a combination that no one came close to in the end.

The fastest boat won, there’s no doubt about it, conceded Mr. Spithill after racing, the raw emotions of the defeat revealed in an uncharacteristic quiver in his voice. “They fully deserved it,” he said, “they had all the speed.”

For skipper Ashby, victory came with much relief. He explained that they learned lessons from the Cup in 2013, but most importantly that they had to be “extremely innovative” if they were to win in Bermuda. Team director, Grant Dalton, the driving force behind campaign, later explained in the press conference that after San Francisco they knew they couldn’t outspend the defender. They had to outsmart them.

After a “brutal debrief” following the loss, says Dalton, they adhered to a team ethos that they would “throw this one as far as we can and try to get to it. With no restrictions on design.”

“We had to invest in technology on a pretty limited budget and we had to invest in the people that could provide that technology, or handle that technology,” he says. “We had to get our arms around this new generation of yachtsmen that were coming.”

That new generation, of course, was young Peter Burling, the 2013 Red Bull Youth America’s Cup winner, Moth world champion, and Olympic medalist (all accomplished before the age of 26). Dalton’s first meeting with Burling was a private one away from the base, in 2013, at which time Burling asked to be helmsman. Ashby, however, the lone Australian in the sailing team, would prove to be a key one to lead the charge, along with longtime Team New Zeland tactician Ray Davies, who assumed an invaluable coaching role.

Ashby, says Dalton, was looking at pedaling early on and was convinced that investing in traditional grinders for the America’s Cup World Series’ AC45s would lead them down the wrong road. They “invested in knowing we had to be different,” says Dalton, “and having the right people that could think differently and knew what they were doing.”

As was said early, Emirates Team New Zealander dared to be different, and that is what will define the outcome of the Match. Tonight they will celebrate on this tiny island in the North Atlantic, return home to their own island next week by way of Dubai, and then take on the enviable, or cursed as some would say, task of defending the America’s Cup.

They will do so with the Royal New Zealand Yacht Squadron’s acceptance of a challenge from Italian Challenger of Record, Circolo della Vela Sicilia. Luna Rossa returns, close this fascinating chapter of Larry Ellison, Russell Coutts, and the reign of Oracle Team USA, and where it goes from here nobody will say, but if the words of Emirates Team New Zealand’s benefactor Matteo de Nora provide any insight, it’s that the Cup is “headed back to the future.”

The future is Auckland, 2021.

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In a dominating, clinical performance on the waters of Bermuda’s Great Sound, Emirates Team New Zealand thrashed Oracle Team USA in two consecutive races on Sunday to take a commanding 6-1 lead in the 35th edition of the America’s Cup. The Kiwis now need only one more victory to bring the Cup home to Auckland for the first time since 2003, when they lost the trophy to an Alinghi team skippered by countryman Russell Coutts, the driving force behind both this year’s Cup match and Oracle Team USA. It would certainly be sweet redemption.

Much has been made of the changes Oracle has purportedly made to its daggerboards and rudders – the rumor mill has it the team has shaved 100 kilograms of weight from the boat in an effort to get quicker – but skipper Jimmy Spithill and his crew have continued to suffer the consequences of unforced errors on the racecourse. In today’s first race the critical mistake came during the pre-start, when on the final approach to the starting line Spithill – perhaps mindful of being over early during Saturday’s racing – bore away briefly and opened the door for the Kiwi’s to break away unchallenged. The American’s hiccup allowed New Zealand to hit the line making 26 knots and speed away to an early lead.

“We had to wipe out a little bit of boat speed and did a little turn we didn’t need to do,” Spithill later said. “That was certainly a mistake.”

Emirates Team New Zealand capitalized on the break to maintain modest leads around the first two marks of the 7-leg race. Then, on the third leg of the contest, they broke cover over Oracle and found a significant wind shift on the left-hand side of the course, stretching a reasonably tight 50-meter lead into a whopping 285-meter advantage. Though Oracle would shorten that gap during the second half of the race, it was too much to overcome; the Kiwi’s led the rest of the way around the track to earn a wire-to-wire 12-second victory that felt far greater.

The day’s second race also hinged on a pre-start maneuver, this one executed to precision by Emirates Team New Zealand skipper Peter Burling. Prior to the Cup finals, conventional wisdom held it that one of the areas where Oracle held an advantage over the New Zealanders was in the technical art of match racing. But it was aggressive tactics by Burling that left Spithill and his mates in the dust at the outset of the race. It was a simple move made to precision: the Kiwi’s got to leeward of the Americans and took them head to wind. Oracle stalled, the New Zealander’s bore away and easily won the start. To add insult to injury, Burling waved at this rivals – as it to say, “See ya,” – as the Kiwi’s flew away and across the starting line with Oracle 18 seconds in arrears.

Oracle did not help their cause when they drew a penalty on Leg 3 for sailing outside the course boundary – yet another unforced error – but by that point the outcome was more or less a foregone conclusion. In the end, it was an old-fashioned horizon job, putting the New Zealander’s at match point in the series.

Two statistics helped further tell the day’s story. In the second race, the New Zealander’s achieved 100 percent “fly time,” meaning they sailed on their foils – through every tack and jibe – for the entire duration of the contest. In other words, they performed flawlessly. And in both the day’s races, though the boatspeeds were remarkably similar, the Kiwi’s sailed hundreds of meters less, meaning they were also surgically efficient. It proved to be a double whammy for Oracle Team USA.

Now, Spithill and his mates are in the same position they found themselves in during the last America’s Cup in San Francisco – on the brink of elimination to a New Zealand squad and with no room for error. They simply cannot afford to lose another race. “The plan wasn’t to be in this position again,” said Spithill. “But here we are.”

Oracle’s skipper said his team couldn’t afford to look at the big picture but needed to win one race at a time. On Monday, we’ll see if Spithill has the makings of another miracle up his sleeve. One race at a time.

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What was “left on the table,” after last week’s trouncing Mr. Spithill wouldn’t say at the post-race press conference, but ask around the America’s village enough and most reliable sources point to Oracle’s rudders as a major change. Word is they gone to minimal surface area on the elevators. The tradeoff in this area, I’m told, is “grip” versus drag on the weather rudder. Grip delivers better righting moment and righting moment is speed.

Excessive grip, however, is drag. As we all know, drag is slow.

The corollary is that less grip also makes the AC50 skittish, and in the day’s first race, that’s exactly how USA 17 looked into and out of maneuvers. The boat appeared to behave much differently in the second race, perhaps as a result of changes to the rudder “differential” (angle) between races. With an allowance of 3 degrees of fore-and-aft adjustment, a 1-degree tweak can make a world of difference in regaining that grip, and restoring confidence in the boat.

And that confidence was the most noticeable difference between the two races of the day, that and the noteworthy historical point that the defender led at Mark 1 for the first time in this 35th Match.

“Let’s get into them boys,” was Mr. Spithill’s call to action to his crew before entering the starting box of the second race. Emirates Team New Zealand came in with the favored port entry and Oracle arrived late to the party, setting up the advantage to Team New Zealand. Spithill tried his best to get a hook as they made their way toward the pin end, but the Kiwis foiled across their bow before both boats turned hard to starboard with New Zealand in the controlling leeward position. It looked to be another repeat Kiwi takeoff, but Oracle popped up quickly, and had just enough pace to inch ahead.

With a better angle into Mark 1, Oracle had better pace a 3-second lead. Fifty meters separated the two as they neared the boundary on starboard. Exiting the first jibe, Team New Zealand squirted ahead. Oracle hooked into its puff and closed the gap, pulling the proverbial rubber band taut.

Finally, the America’s Cup village and flag wavers in the grandstands had the makings of a yacht race. Oracle was faster and lower, revealing a downwind mode we have not yet seen. Into and around the right-hand gate Spithill went with Burling sniffing his transom.

The Kiwis, not one to follow in anyone’s wing wash, wasted no time tacking away and creating the critical split, using the efficiency of their wing and control to maneuver at will and without consequence.

As Oracle sailed clear across the Kiwi boat on their first cross, Spithill shot a few glances over his shoulder, perhaps enjoying this new view of the racecourse; bows, not transoms. Boundary to boundary, Oracle remained in control, with a hint of better speed and clean maneuvers. For the first time in the Match, they led at Mark 3, rounding the left-hand gate (upwind) to cheers ashore.

Twelve seconds and 250 meters separated the two as they started Leg 4 and Oracle continued to pad its lead. Not something we’re used to seeing here. It was all looking good for Mr. Spithill and Co., but lo and behold, as Oracle made its final jibe into the next gate (overstood Mr. Spithill would later admit at the press conference) Team New Zealand were sailing straight down the course and into the gate, taking the lead, thank you very much.

Oracle followed round but promptly tacked left to get a split. The Kiwis managed the covering game again, putting 50 meters between them and appearing to cruise to another win. But up the beat, with a few more splits and crosses, the New Zealanders controlled the first dial-down on starboard, but the umpires waived it, springing Oracle to the right to the right-hand boundary and setting them up for the next race-changing dial-down at the top of the course.

New Zealand, on port, turned down hard at the last minute, which pushed them shy of their layline to the right-hand mark. Oracle took control of the race from there, extending on the run to Mark 6 and into the finish for an 11-second win.

Turning of the tide?

It’s way too soon for Oracle Team USA fans to start having visions of San Francisco, but Mr. Spithill was quick to seize upon the victory at the press conference.

“We’ve worked hard this week and we saw these guys (nodding to Peter Burling) take days off and made a commitment that we’d make the boat faster. We saw that today. We’re not sailing as well as we should be. Even in the second race we had a pretty good lead and lost it again, but it’s good to be able to come back from a race like that. The point is the boat is faster.”

And what of the first race? Emirates Team New Zealand was surgical in its 2-minute win. There is a long list of critical moments where Oracle shot itself in the foot, starting with an over early penalty (Spithill says their software thought otherwise), and three noticeably bad jibes where they dropped off the foils.

But the big one was the penalty they picked up in a crucial dial down at the top of Leg 3.

Rewind the race footage and it’s now easy to see that as soon as Oracle dropped its board for a tack back to the middle of the course from the left-hand boundary, Peter Burling knew exactly what to do. He bore away sharply to set up the dial-down early and make it that much more difficult for Spithill to avoid the altercation when the two boats met.

As Oracle turned up past the stern of the Kiwi boat, tactician Tom Slingsby alerted Spithill of the penalty. “We’ve got a penalty?” he responded incredulously. “I was altering the whole way!”

But that’s not how the umpires saw it.

Spithill pleaded his case at the post-race press conference: “We had them altering the whole time and yes we are frustrated with the penalty. We just feel like these guys have been given a few soft penalties. We had one in the first race of the qualifiers against us that they should have gotten at the top mark and the umpires admitted that and we saw what happened in the Artemis race—they were give them one there. Seems like they are getting some soft ones from the umpires.”

To better understand the port boat’s perspective (dial-down explained here), I asked SoftBank Team Japan tactician Chris Draper, who explained that coming out of tack (as Oracle did) and going right into the dial down is tough. “It’s hard for the port boat because you can’t see the other boat through the wing,” said Draper, “But, I think New Zealand did a good job selling it, too. They did it right by starting the dial down early, getting down to Oracle’s line so that it would make it really hard for them to do it properly. Turning up, as New Zealand did, creates the illusion that they had to maneuver to avoid.”

Draper agrees the umpires gifted New Zealand that one, but Burling says it was he who gave that race away. “My fault with the shifts up at the top to give it back to them,” he said, “but it’s who sails their boat better will win… and it’s good to see a bit of fight from these boys.”

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J-Class

In 1903, motivated by the extremity of Reliance, the largest racing sloop to ever sail the Cup, under the Seawanhaka Rule, Nathaniel Herreshoff suggested a new rule aimed to make racing more wholesome and durable. What resulted was one of the most iconic classes in sailing.

Under the new Universal Rule, overall length and displacement were included in the rating to benefit the heavy hulls of the large racing sloops, without handicapping sail area. The decision was controversial for British and American clubs who wished to pursue speed as the ultimate goal for the America’s Cup class.

Under a revised Universal Rule, James Lipton would continue to seek the cup with Shamrock IV and V, but was kept at bay by American defenders, Resolute and Enterprise. Carrying on Lipton’s legacy, another British challenger, of aviation fame, Sir Thomas Sopwith mounted a series of challenges, unsuccessfully facing down Rainbow and Ranger.

Notable Yachts: Shamrock V, Ranger, Rainbow, Endeavor, Resolute

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The International America’s Cup Class

In the wake of the controversy over the Mercury Bay Challenge in 1988, a new rule was put into place. The International America’s Cup Class (IACC) was introduced to replace the 12-metre class after its 30 year stint as the preferred design. The new yachts aimed to preserve the heritage of the 12-meter by establishing restrictions that would place equal weight on yacht design and seamanship skills.

The first challenge saw an Italian team, Il Moro di Venezia take on Bill Koch and Buddy Melges’ America3. The Americans one again triumphed, but their victory was short lived. Russel Coutts quickly mounted a challenge from Royal New Zealand Yacht Squadron and handily defeated Dennis Conner 5-0 with his uncannily fast “Black Magic.”

The IACC would bring about a series of Cup changes of hand. While the American’s successfully defended the first challenge, New Zealand, held the trophy for several years. In 1999, another America’s Cup milestone was hit, when for the first time in the event’s history, the trophy was contested without an American challenger or defender in the finals.

In 2003, a host of strong challengers battled for the right to challenge the Cup in Auckland during the challenger selection series. The Swiss syndicate, Alinghi, having poached New Zealand sailors to aid their challenge, defeated the Louis Vuitton Cup trials and in turn took the America’s Cup 5–0 for the Swiss. Alinghi became the first European team in 152 years to win the trophy. Alinghi would go on to defend the cup again in 2007 against BMW Oracle.

Notable Yachts: SUI-100, SUI-64, “Black Magic, America3

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In the wake of the controversy over the Mercury Bay Challenge in 1988, a new rule was put into place. The International America’s Cup Class (IACC) was introduced to replace the 12-metre class after its 30 year stint as the preferred design. The new yachts aimed to preserve the heritage of the 12-meter by establishing restrictions that would place equal weight on yacht design and seamanship skills.

The first challenge saw an Italian team, Il Moro di Venezia take on Bill Koch and Buddy Melges’ America3. The Americans one again triumphed, but their victory was short lived. Russel Coutts quickly mounted a challenge from Royal New Zealand Yacht Squadron and handily defeated Dennis Conner 5-0 with his uncannily fast “Black Magic.”

The IACC would bring about a series of Cup changes of hand. While the American’s successfully defended the first challenge, New Zealand, held the trophy for several years. In 1999, another America’s Cup milestone was hit, when for the first time in the event’s history, the trophy was contested without an American challenger or defender in the finals.

In 2003, a host of strong challengers battled for the right to challenge the Cup in Auckland during the challenger selection series. The Swiss syndicate, Alinghi, having poached New Zealand sailors to aid their challenge, defeated the Louis Vuitton Cup trials and in turn took the America’s Cup 5–0 for the Swiss. Alinghi became the first European team in 152 years to win the trophy. Alinghi would go on to defend the cup again in 2007 against BMW Oracle.

Notable Yachts: SUI-100, SUI-64, “Black Magic, America3

vs.

KZ-1

In 1988, one of the most infamous showdowns in America’s Cup history took place. After Dennis Conner won back the cup in 1987, New Zealander Michael Fy launched a challenge against the US. The battle came down to two wildly different designs, a massive 90-foot monohull sailed by the Kiwis, and the first foray into the word of catamarans, the American Stars & Stripes.

Michael Fay’s challenge against San Diego Yacht Club brought back the original rules of the Deed of Gift, a surprise to the American’s who intended to keep the cup in 12-metres. The New Zealand entry, dubbed the “Big Boat” weighed in at 39 tons, 120 feet over all, and boasted a 90 foot waterline, the largest waterline allowed by the original deed. The unusual carbon fiber design was a far cry from the 12 meters that the cup sailors were used to. The challenge would be skippered by David Barnes with a massive crew of 40 sailors from the Mercury Bay Boating Club in New Zealand. The Big Boat, while fast, would face a shorter battle on the water than off after facing down the American entry.

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