America’s Cup 2017 @Bermuda : Louis Vuitton Qualifiers Day 1

Photos: Ricardo Pinto / Gilles Martin-Raget /ACEA  – BAR  – van  der Borch / Artemis. – More updates & shots later – Tremendous action on the water for the inaugural day of the 2017 Louis Vuitton Cup Round Robins.
The good thing was course racing and tactics still play a great factor for those boats with similar speed and handling: TNZ & JPN superior speed did not pay in the end over USA & SWE .
Only France were badly behind. For what’s coming, plenty of close racing expected.
Top speed went to BAR : 41.5Knots against Artemis. (source BAR)

Matches from Day 1
– R1. USA vs FRA no contest sadly for the French team.
– R2. SWE vs JPN was really good, with Barker speeding faster at the start , but later japan failing in foiling tacks, Artemis had a comeback from 1:26min behind, never touching the water and on tactics with an awesome pass and japan tacking away. Fun to watch racing.
– R3. FRA vs TNZ Another cruise mode win, this time for the Kiwis
– R4. GBR vs SWE Sandbagging clearly from Ainslie on their real chances, no other explanation for their impressive speed, perfect foiling tacks , just winning form, Artemis tried a comeback and finished close but not enough.
– R5. TNZ vs USA Closest match of the day, looked like a Final for the Cup. Many said New Zealand were slow… ? well guess again, they are a missile and controlled Oracle in every way. Later bad tactics and another comeback by Spithill and the US team, but it was a loss for the Kiwis, real pity for Burling.
– R6. GBR vs JPN Barker owned Ainslie on the pre start on a perfect maneuver to force BAR upwind, but Ben didn´t reacted on time, BAR platform went up on a neutral helm and crashed/landed badly over Softbank cockpits, dangerous hit, it could have been a disaster, gladly no one hurt, only rather big damage on BAR’s hull and a race lost.

BAR has 3 wins on their carry for the AC45 World Series win. Oracle additional 1pt on the same basis. Full Results at americascup.com/en/results.html

WINS LOSSES LVACWS* TOTAL
Land Rover BAR 1 1 2 3
ORACLE TEAM USA 2 0 1 3
Artemis Racing 1 1 0 1
Emirates Team New Zealand 1 1 0 1
SoftBank Team Japan 1 1 0 1
Groupama Team France 0 2 0 0