Kiwis Clinch Spot Against Oracle Team USA In America’s Cup
“Emirates Team New Zealand sped away from Sweden’s Artemis Racing on Bermuda’s Great Sound on Monday to advance to the America’s Cup match and another showdown with nemesis Oracle Team USA,” as reported in an article on Fox Sports.
“With unflappable 26-year-old Peter Burling at the helm, the Kiwis finally won a start against Artemis skipper Nathan Outteridge. Their 50-foot catamaran rose up on hydrofoils and showed its incredible speed in a 56-second, wire-to-wire victory that clinched the best-of-nine challenger finals at 5-2.”
“The victory sets up a rematch of the epic 2013 America’s Cup, when Team New Zealand blew an 8-1 lead on San Francisco Bay and watched as Oracle Team USA’s Jimmy Spithill won eight straight races to retain the Auld Mug.”
In order to win, Team New Zealand must win eight races while Oracle Team USA, owned by software billionaire Larry Ellison, needs to win seven races to keep the oldest trophy in international sports because they won a bonus point by winning the qualifiers, reports the article.
“We definitely feel like we’re in great shape to take on Oracle now,” said Burling.
The Kiwis were the lone wolf during this Cup cycle, according to the article.
“They joined Italy’s Luna Rossa in opposing an unprecedented midstream downsizing of the boats that was approved by the regatta organizers and other syndicates in 2015. The Italians were so incensed they dropped out after already investing millions of dollars in their boat design. The Kiwis stayed in, but their support for the Italians cost them a regatta in Auckland and with it, badly needed government funding.”
“And then there’s the “cyclor” grinding system. Rather than having the beefy grinders turn winches with their arms, ETNZ built four cycling stations into each hull to harness leg power to run the hydraulic systems used to trim the wing sail and operate the foils.”
Article Source: Fox Sports, June 12, 2017
Image Source: Twitter – Emirates Team New Zealand
"...because they won a bonus point by winning the qualifiers,..." It's great when you can write the rules in such a way as to ensure that you can change them at any time and allow yourself, as the Defender, to race in a series, the sole purpose of which is to determine the challenger, and gain an extra point. The teams racing in that series and the Challenger series all know that it is a knockout format, lose and you go home, would Oracle have done that? These teams should be starting at 0 points each, just like the two series before as the score is reset every time.