Photo of America’s Cup boat underway via Emirates Team New Zealand
By Alexander Smith and Tessa Walsh (Reuters) New Zealand flew to the edge of America’s Cup victory over the U.S. on Sunday, going 6-1 ahead in the first-to-seven final and setting themselves up to exorcise the ghost of losing in San Francisco in 2013.
Veteran Oracle Team USA skipper Jimmy Spithill was out-smarted by his younger rival Peter Burling in both races on Bermuda’s Great Sound, with Emirates Team New Zealand giving a masterclass in “foiling” their 50-foot (15 meter) catamaran.
“Hat’s off to those guys today, they sailed clean and smart,” Spithill said after the race, adding that the U.S. team bankrolled by Oracle founder Larry Ellison would fight to the end and had staged a comeback from a similar position before.
Spithill’s fightback in San Francisco in 2013 ranks as one of the biggest ever sporting reversals, overturning an 8-1 New Zealand lead to win the “Auld Mug” by 9-8.
The tough-talking Australian sailor and his crew will need to find something special to repeat that feat, after making significant changes in the last week to their space-age catamaran to try to match the New Zealand boat’s superior speed.
The Kiwis have revolutionized sailing in the 35th America’s Cup, using “cyclors” who pedal to provide the power needed to control the boat’s foils and towering “wing” sail.
Burling, a 26-year-old Olympic gold medalist in 2016, was cool and composed as he “luffed” and trapped the more experienced match-racing specialist Spithill in the “pre-start” of the day’s second race, forcing the U.S. boat to a standstill.
Such head-to-head duels can often determine the outcome of America’s Cup clashes, with New Zealand quickly establishing an early lead which they never relinquished.
“They didn’t have many chances to get back in the race,” Burling said from on board his catamaran at the finish.
Although the six-man U.S. crew managed to notch up their first victory of the series on Saturday, and appeared finally to be matching the Kiwis for speed, they were less stable when “foiling” above the water.
Every time the catamaran’s hulls “touch down” on the water they lose crucial speed and the New Zealand were able to “fly” their cat around the course on the sparkling Bermudan waters 100 percent of the time.
In a quiet corner of the Pacific last August, a vessel unlike any other was making what many thought was its final voyage. R/P FLIP (Floating Instrument Platform), the U.S....
Wendover Production’s latest video, “How Inland Waterways Work,” the spotlight is on the often-overlooked yet vital network of U.S. inland waterways that power much of the economy. These rivers and...
Yachting World is reporting that while missiles rain down on oil tanekrs and major shipping companies divert billions in cargo away from the Bab-el-Mandeb Strait, a handful of brave, or...
October 20, 2024
Total Views: 2783
Why Join the gCaptain Club?
Access exclusive insights, engage in vibrant discussions, and gain perspectives from our CEO.
This website uses cookies to improve your experience while you navigate through the website. Out of these, the cookies that are categorized as necessary are stored on your browser as they are essential for the working of basic functionalities of the website. We also use third-party cookies that help us analyze and understand how you use this website. These cookies will be stored in your browser only with your consent. You also have the option to opt-out of these cookies. But opting out of some of these cookies may affect your browsing experience.
Necessary cookies are absolutely essential for the website to function properly. This category only includes cookies that ensures basic functionalities and security features of the website. These cookies do not store any personal information.
Any cookies that may not be particularly necessary for the website to function and is used specifically to collect user personal data via analytics, ads, other embedded contents are termed as non-necessary cookies. It is mandatory to procure user consent prior to running these cookies on your website.