The America's Cup has shown its new face. For the first time, it was sailed off Bermuda, the spot where it will be contested in 2017. Perfect conditions, hundreds of spectator boats around the very small race course, three very short and entertaining races provided a foretaste of the upcoming defence. It was also remarkable how close the spectator boats were allowed to get to the race course. Whereas at previous events it felt like nautical miles of distance had to be maintained, the boats now sometimes flew past at a distance of just 30 metres.
Although the foiling AC-45 catamarans have virtually nothing in common technically with the 50-foot-long boats that will be sailing in 2017, the races showed just how exciting racing with cats can be. Fast manoeuvres could be seen, many changes of lead and position, big differences in the handling of the boats. A fall off the foils, a bad rounding of a buoy and the ranking shifted. Yesterday's opening failure on Saturday, when no sailing was possible due to a lull, became a footnote thanks to the perfect Sunday.
The final day of the 2015 AC World Series - Super Sunday, as it was called by the organisers because all three races counted double - was dominated by the Swedish team Artemis. With a win and second and fourth place, the team made a comeback after a surprisingly poor performance at the previous events in Portsmouth and Gothenburg. These placings secured victory ahead of Bermuda.
In the overall standings of the World Series, however, Artemis only managed to improve from fifth to fourth place. The British team also lost one place and had to let Oracle Team USA pass them for second place. The New Zealanders defended their lead almost unchallenged.
Result Bermuda:
1st Artemis Racing, 52 points
2. EmiratesTeam New Zealand, 50
3. Oracle Team USA, 48
4. Landrover Team BAR, 44
5. Softbank Team Japan, 44
6th Groupama Team France
Final result AC World Series
1st Emirates Team New Zealand, 122 points
2nd Oracle Team USA, 112
3. Landrover BAR, 109
4. Artemis Racing, 105
5. Softbank Team Japan, 100
6. Groupama Team France, 82
TV tip: Servus-TV will be broadcasting a report from the world series off Bermuda on Monday, 19 October, from 8.15 pm in Austria and from 10.15 pm in Germany via satellite.
Lars Bolle
Chief Editor Digital
