It doesn't sound right, but it happened anyway: For the first time in the history of the America's Cup, the defenders took part in the challenger qualification and were rewarded for it. The reason for this novelty was the decision that each Cup team is only allowed to build one boat in this cycle for cost reasons. To ensure that the defenders are not left without opportunities for comparison and testing, while the challengers can gain experience, learn and improve in their races, the defenders have simply entered themselves in the challenger qualification round. This was not without controversy from the outset and has now taken on an additional dimension thanks to the Americans' qualifying victory. Oracle Team USA will start the 35th America's Cup match on 17 June with a bonus point.
Admittedly, the challengers had the same chance in this qualifier, in which each team met each other twice, but were unable to capitalise on it. On Saturday evening, Emirates Team New Zealand, which had been so dominant, fast and convincing up to that point, botched the eagerly awaited battle for the bonus point in a direct duel with Jimmy Spithill's strong team, conceding a whole series of penalties for an early start, a manoeuvre that was too tight and crossing the course boundary - and coming away empty-handed. Now what the Kiwis in particular had warned about has happened: The small bonus point with perhaps a big impact goes to the defenders. By way of comparison, imagine a national football team going into a World Cup final with a one-goal lead. That certainly doesn't sound reasonable to everyone.
However, Oracle skipper Jimmy Spithill defended the ruling again the evening after the decision: "We've known about it from day one. It's not a surprise that we just found out about. I thought it was kind of cool. It brought a slightly different element to the races. And I think it was worth the fight. And I also think people, especially you Kiwi media (ed.: Spithill's repeated reference to his difficult relationship with New Zealand journalists), would have implied that without the bonus point we were masking our ability or tampering with the results. So we really created this hunger for the bonus point among all the teams. Any win you can get for an America's Cup match is very valuable."
Having said that, Spithill did not take long to attack the potential future challengers from New Zealand. The Australian in American service is known for verbally attacking potential opponents in order to unsettle them and throw them off their stride. The Kiwis were obviously so good that Spithill is already launching his verbal attacks at this early stage: "Both times we've sailed against them, they've made pretty fundamental mistakes. The start line today... And obviously at the top mark as well... Again! Just like the first time we met. The line-up on our boat is very powerful. We have a dedicated tactician in Tom Slingsby. And Kyle Langford is also always involved. On the other boat (ed.: meaning the New Zealanders) they have none of that. You can hear that in their communication on board."
However, Spithill sidestepped the question of the possible installation of more pedal drives along the lines of Emirates Team New Zealand: "Almost every system on board is scrutinised again. You can't sit back at this stage of the game. We have to get a lot faster if we want to win the Cup." At the end of the evening press conference, Spithill shot one last poisoned arrow in the direction of Emirates Team New Zealand - whether it was meant humorously or seriously was left open by his emphatically expressionless face. When asked who the New Zealanders would probably choose as the best challengers for the semi-final opponent in the Challenger Playoffs, Spithill said: "From my leak to Team New Zealand, I've heard that they've chosen Ben Ainslie Racing."
The New Zealand media in particular reacted immediately and aggressively to Spithill's provocation. A short time later, the New Zealand Herald wrote: "Spithill has stuck a knife in ETNZ." Spithill's prediction, whether actual information or - much more likely - just a cheeky guess, came true. Which, however, was not too difficult to guess after the British team's weak performance so far and their unconventionally vulnerable catamaran. Peter Burling himself said when asked about his choice of opponent for the semi-finals of the Challenger Playoffs: "We got together as a team and decided that we would pick Team BAR. Looking at the predictions for next week, we believe it's our best chance of progressing." Sir Ben Ainslie's response to the unflattering choice was almost sympathetic, although he is unlikely to remember the last time he, the most successful Olympic sailor in the sport's history, was voluntarily chosen by anyone as an opponent: "Certainly Team New Zealand have proven in this qualifier that they sail very well and are very fast across a wide range of conditions. It's going to be a real battle for us. But we are ready and looking forward to it." Sir Ben has been humbled after also claiming a fighting victory at the end of qualifying, 13 seconds ahead of the Japanese, but then succumbing 36 seconds behind the defending champions, giving the Americans their eighth win out of a possible ten.
The second semi-final pairing in the Louis Vuitton Challenger Playoffs will automatically be Artemis Racing and SoftBank Team Japan from Sunday evening. It is of course no coincidence that the challengers' semi-final encounters begin the day after the end of qualifying. This leaves the challengers hardly any time for major modifications, while the defenders - with the experience gained in qualifying in their luggage - now have two weeks to make changes and improvements and at the same time can continue to observe the challengers' performances intensively from the sidelines. The result of Saturday's duel between the reinvigorated Swedish team Artemis and the French, which unfortunately turned out to be a boring farewell for the Cammas crew, remains to be added - Groupama Team France was too weak, Artemis Racing too dominant. Helmsman Nathan Outteridge and his team brought their "Magic Blue" to the finish 2 minutes and 35 seconds ahead of the wingless French and Franck Cammas admitted at his last press conference: "We used the wrong boards (ed.: foils) over the past two days." Nevertheless, Cammas held out the prospect of continuing the French campaign if the current concept remains in place. He also announced that he and his team would be staying on site for a while longer in order to drive forward the learning process and development of Groupama Team France.
Tatjana Pokorny
Sports reporter
