America’s Cup 2017 @Bermuda: Louis Vuitton Series , Final Day Results

Video from Day 8 sent by Emirates Team New Zealand – All images ACEA / Gilles Martin Raget  –  Louis Vuitton RR2, Saturday June 3: 
R1. Close match and performance. NZ with an edge upwind and Oracle downwind by a bit. Spithill won the start leaving Burling behind forcing a penalty to NZ. The Kiwis got back with superior speed upwind and closed the gap.  Later NZ tacked in front of Oracle at the gate (left pic above)  while USA got inside with no penalty.  From then  Oracle established a good gap again downwind while NZ went for the windward advantage until a boundaries penalty destroyed any chance to catch OR.

R2. BAR owned the start , going clear ahead. JPN has as always superior speed, which put them back in the game but a close crossing with rights for BAR handed a penalty for Barker.
BAR maintained lead , but Barker had a 6th gear to pressure back over Ainslie, who in the end put tactics and talent to replace lack of velocity to and keep clear in front of JPN’s superior boat speed. Good win for BAR. Lots of potential for JPN but always short of completing the task.

R3.  Nathan got a penalty over Cammas pressuring him on the start (4th photo above). Then it was fast forward for Artemis. France had decent speed downwind but got yet another boundary penalty in the first upwind… game over from there on. Another pity moment and not the best way to end the journey. Still great effort overall for Groupama establishing a base for the future

R4.  Ainslie & Spithill seeking control over each other, the Aussie skipper won the battle staying aways from any compromise behind and left BAR trailing. Cruise control and smooth tactics from then on, with BAR having a rather excellent race in those low light wind conditions (from what we saw the other day) , the British team looked good upwind and maneuvers, even better than OR can be said, but the start deficit was key for Spithill.

Challengers bow before Sir Coutts…
This last race of the day was a key regatta for the whole Cup process as Oracle USA gained the LV Series with a candy  for the AC Cup Final: They will start the 1-0 to whomever wins the LV final match.

What a crazy gift from the challengers (minus TNZ) , what were they thinking? Why don´t they just delivered the Cup to Coutts all on their knees and with a bow?
The only ones putting the face to save the day was Emirates Team New Zealand, their were pretty close to win that extra point today, without even training or developing in Bermuda.

For me there is no excuse whatsoever to let OR racing the LV series and agreeing  a bonus point for the Finals, whom other was going to grab that point?? Well, obviously the team with more experience, resources, and drive coming from last AC at SF than Oracle?
Talk about a ‘rigged’ event , wide openly as never seen. Oracle has left a grey mark on their own America’s Cup history.

If Coutts and Ellison have balls of steel as their skipper and team has, plus some honor like the Old times mandated, they should resign to the bonus point. having such strong team and the free trainings never seen in pasts cups there no reason to look for any pre start advantage.

All the good things Coutts have done for the Cup like looking for the future with cats and else being is put down a bit with this arrangement (made from a powerful position) that belongs more to FIFA  than to the America’s Cup.

– LV Semifinals start tomorrow 2:00pm Bermuda Time.

Day 8 Results:
R1. USA 1 vs TNZ 0
R2. GBR 1 vs JPN 0
R3. SWE 1 vs FRA 0
R4. USA 1 vs GBR 0

Full results www.americascup.com/en/results.html

Overall Results Louis Vuitton Series
WINS LOSSES LVACWS* TOTAL
9pts ORACLE TEAM USA 8 2 1 9
8pts Emirates Team New Zealand 8 2 0 8
6pts Land Rover BAR 4 6 2 6
5pts Artemis Racing 5 5 0 5
3pts SoftBank Team Japan 3 7 0 3
2pts Groupama Team France 2 6 0 2