America’s Cup 2017 @Bermuda: Louis Vuitton Semi Finals, Day 1 Results

LV Semi Finals D1 Review Video sent by Emirates Team New Zealand – All images ACEA / Ricardo Pinto. Ricardo has a special eye, and he catches angles no one else have show, being airborne is an advantage but he gets inside the AC50s and crews the same when shooting from the water. Click images fro HD & Slideshow .

Louis Vuitton Semi Finals Day 2.
Yesterday racing was cancelled due to lack of wind and if  New Zealand selected BAR based on the climate? Today Bermuda offered them solid 14knots. First Match of the day was Kiwis vs BAR, Ainslie had a good start but the Flying Tractor speed is impressive and Burling got ahead shortly after.
The British team had good speed but reaching the first leeward mark they heard a loud noise,  they continued racing towards the gate. After some meters done upwind BAR simply stopped the boat as they couldn´t trim the wing anymore, they had to abandon the race. The loud noise was their Wing breaking,
They couldn´t repair it for the second Match, which was programmed after SWE vs JPN following battle, so the day finished 2-0 for Team New Zealand.

Artemis vs Japan:
On the first race Nathan went for a penalty over Barker but was called clear by the judges, seconds later both started over the line with Team Japan speeding full throttle to the first reaching mark  taking  the lead they never abandoned.

We reported whole past week Team Japan for us has the fastest boat and they were missing tactics a bit or closure by Barker. Today it was perfect Match Racing for Team Japan in this first race.

In the second race Artemis got ahead by some meters but once more Team Japan had a speed and tactical edge. They dominated towards mark 5 where Barker had a wipeout over the trampoline while charging sides to the starboard hull, it was a failed gybe that gave Artemis some room to catch them at the gate. A split upwind with Artemis pointing good and selecting the right sides of the course, still JPN was able to catch up on their tremendous speed and pointing abilities.

Tension all over the place watching the race comfortably in our homes so I can imagine how Artemis felt at that stage , they got only one chance from JPN and they took it, but they had no extra gear this time around  , I think Artemis was racing on their limits today for their selected equipment and wind conditions.

This brings attention on how fast Japan is. Chris Draper for me was the star of the day calling perfect tactics, with Barker pretty solid till that painful gybe.

What an incredible we are witnessing, just plain amazing close competition, and the Cup has not even started yet.

Progam continues tomorrow Tuesday with 4 more races: Full schedule here

Louis Vuitton Semi Finals Day 1
TNZ 1 vs BAR – Forfeit
JPN 1 vs SWE 0
TNZ 1 vs BAR – Forfeit