Arena 35th America's Cup (Yacht Racing) USA vs. New Zealand

I have no idea if anyone else will be interested or not, but the America’s Cup is something my family was always interested in, going as far as to wake us up very early in the morning to watch when I was little. I thought I’d make a thread and see if there’s anyone else who is interested. I'm not going to go into crazy detail, but it you have any questions about America's Cup, I can try to answer them. Fair warning, I'm a pretty casual fan.​

​

​

​

​

A bit of history...

The America’s Cup is the oldest international sporting trophy, first competed for in 1851 and considered yacht racing's biggest prize. The United States won that first trophy (New York Yacht Club) and went on the longest winning streak in sports history of 132 years. (To be fair, the America’s Cup is not run every year.) The U.S. defended the cup 24 times until Australia defeated the U.S. in 1983.

The United States has won the Cup 30 times, New Zealand 2 times (1995,2000), Switzerland 2 times (2003, 2007), and Australia 1 time (1983).


How it works...
It's actually quite complicated and a messy history, but it boils down every 3 to 5 years, give or take, the America's Cup takes place with a Defender and a Challenger. The Defender is who won the Cup last, and they get to decide on when and where the next cup will happen (within certain rules). The Challenger is decided from a series of races prior to the race for the America's Cup, currently called the Louis Vuitton America's Cup Challenger Playoff.


America's Cup 2017

The 35th America’s Cup is being Defended by the Oracle Team USA and will be challenged by the winner of the Louis Vuitton Cup, which will be either Emirates Team New Zealand or Artemis Racing (Sweden).

The boats are called the America’s Cup Class (ACC) which ate 15-meters long and new for this series. They are crewed by 6 people, no motors or batteries allowed, everything is operated by manpower.

This is a good video to give you an overview:

Spoiler: America's Cup Overview

Or if you would rather read, HERE is a good resource to get to know everything, rather than me blabbing on about it.



Current Standings:

5 teams attempted to challenge for the America’s Cup: Emirates Team New Zealand, Land Rover BAR (UK), Artemis Racing (Sweden), SoftBank Team Japan, and Groupama Team France.


Louis Vuitton Finals: (First to 5)
Emirates Team New Zealand vs. Artemis Racing

​

​

Wins:
Emirates Team New Zealand: 5
Artemis Racing: 2

Race 1: Emirates
Race 2: Artemis
Race 3: Emirates
Race 4: Artemis
Race 5: Emirates
Race 6: Emirates
Race 7: Emirates





America’s Cup: (First Team to 7 points)

Oracle Team USA vs. Emirates Team New Zealand

Race 1 & 2: June 17th
Race 3 & 4: June 18th
Race 5 & 6: June 24th
Race 7 & 8: June 25th
Race 9&10: June 26th



And just because I'm sure it would be the most interesting for most people, here's where Emirates Team New Zealand capsized the other day. (Everyone was okay!)

 

I'M INTERESTED!111!!!

Come on NZ!

We had charity singles back in the day.



We had Sir Peter Blake who was murdered by pirates.

http://www.stuff.co.nz/national/63898766/the-day-a-mighty-legend-was-felled

We have red socks. This country is obsessed.

History lesson.

https://nzhistory.govt.nz/culture/americas-cup

 

Artemis Racing wins race 4. It was quite an exciting race. I thought NZ would take it when Artemis took a dive and went sideways.

Emirate Team New Zealand destroys race 5 and Artemis fails to finish.


I didn't get to watch the first 3 races, so I was quite interested to see the NZ grinders were using their legs instead of their arms. It makes perfect sense, your legs are stronger than arms and can work at a higher rate for longer in most cases.

Yeah, I think you guys have a much bigger interest in sailing than the US. I say something about the America's Cup and people around here look at me like insane. Most people I've interacted with haven't even heard of it. Though I went to one of the World Series races here in NYC last year and it was quite crowded. I was surprised.

The Defenders get to pick where it will be held. Last time it was in the San Francisco Bay because the Golden Gate Yacht Club had won. They chose Bermuda this time around.

Since 2003, yes. He's apparently a member of the Golden Gate Yacht Club and fronts a good chunk of the money. But if they were to lose the Cup and different US yacht club wanted to give it a try, they could. The vast majority of the US wins come from the New York Yacht Club, but the San Diego Yacht Club won 3.

 

I think I remember hearing about this a bit when it was in the Bay Area last time. I forget, is America's Cup always held in the States, or does it go elsewhere?

 

Race 6 was a really good race, but Emirates Team New Zealand pulls it out and wins by 1 second and goes up 4 races to 2.

It moves around. Whoever wins the previous time (the Defender) gets to choose where it's held the next time. So usually it's held in the waters of the defending country, it was quite shocking that the US team chose Bermuda, but it seems to have worked out pretty well.

They do have a racing series that leads up to it(The Louis Vuitton World Series) and those races are all over the world.

 

I watched the New Zealand vs Sweden this morning. Those boats are way to high tech. Dudes are on bikes?

 

NZ has an Olympic cyclist in their crew. http://i.stuff.co.nz/sport/other-sp...dal-power-nabs-olympic-cyclist-van-velthooven

 

So Race 7 had to be run twice, which was an advantage for Artemis since they got two penalties in the first go around. The race had to be stopped because they had no wind (down as low as 1.5 knots) and reached the 25 minute time limit.

I didn't get to see the actual Race 7 because it started just as we had to leave a little before 4pm here. But I see New Zealand won! This is what I was hoping for, and I'm sure NZ is going to really be out for it after the 34th America's Cup.


My parents told me about that cyclist, which I thought was pretty cool and a good idea. You can teach him when to peddle and how hard/fast, but I think having someone who is a cyclist at that level as a grinder is quite the advantage.

 

Yes, got up at 5am to watch the becalmed first race, but happy to see the next one (and a big win) at 7:15 am - much more agreeable.
Also, from NZ's mini Onion, this.

http://www.thecivilian.co.nz/could-...-the-winner-makes-the-rules-and-nobody-cares/

 

I've always loved boating, and boat racing has always intrigued me. I have to admit that I've never watched an America's Cup race, but it's something that I want to get into.

 

Boom. ETNZ wipes out their -1 handicap, and then takes a 1-0 lead. Fast boat, good sailors - still a few errors to work on though. Couldn't believe that 2nd race where Oracle came back from a huge deficit to get right on our stern - then just died on the water.

 

I completely forgot about racing yesterday, for some reason I had it in my head that Race 1 and 2 were on the 20th. Oops!
But I'll watch today!

For those in the US that may want to see what it's about, they are showing it on NBC at 1pm EST.
HERE is a list of where to watch in other countries.

 

All going well for NZ so far.

 

With the lack of 'home-grown' requirements (e.g. Team New Zealand defecting to Switzerland), the legal wrangling and the change to high-tech cats it's lost a bit of the appeal for me. I didn't even know this latest regatta was happening (and that the US defender team is skippered by an Australian and it's being raced in Bermuda).

My dad used to be super-interested in it, a famous story in our house is him staying up to watch Race 7 in 1983 (the very first time the NYYC lost the Cup, after 135 years) and falling asleep just before they finished.

 

"Team NZ" did not defect to Switzerland, but some key personnel did go to where the money was. It got pretty ugly here.

http://www.nzherald.co.nz/nz/news/article.cfm?c_id=1&objectid=3051927

 

Here's an interesting read.

http://www.sail-world.com/NZ/Kiwi-A...--What-can-Oracle-Team-USA-do-about-it/154777