Latitude 38 Latitude VOLUME 423 er 2012 WE GO WHERE THE WIND BLOWS SEPTEMBER 2012 VOLUME 423 AMERICA'S CUP WORLD SERIES — There were moments of rapture and season. By the time winning teams through-the-wing move. moments of pandemonium. There was scored medals and silver trays from San In the end, though, winds rarely ex- fog and sun, gleaming raceboats lining Francisco Mayor Ed Lee and drenched ceeded 17 knots for racing, with the City- the Marina, endless Moet, and wind that each other in champagne on a gloriously front's typical tricky current conditions playfully built to the mid-teens but never sun-filled Sunday, even naysayer non- making tough choices for the tacticians. took the nuclear option. sailors had to admit: sailboat racing was Earlier start times on Sunday featured Oracle Team USA's two boats came actually exciting to watch. a pronounced ebb contributing to some back from multiple penalties — includ- Official estimates counted 150,000 dramatic lead changes. ing the highest-speed T-bone we've ever spectators ashore over the five days. For witnessed — to win both match and fleet the Super Sunday championship racing, The Series racing. And over five days most sailors 40,000 people turned out, and a 200- to The AC World Series is an annual we know had a spring in their step and a 300-boat spectator fleet was presided multi-city race circuit ramping up to the shit-eating grin that seemed to get bigger over by Larry Ellison's 184-ft Perini Navi Louis Vuitton Cup next July and August, each day. flybridge ketch. and then the America's Cup finals in On Wednesday, August 22, the start Practice racing on Tuesday saw gusts September. gun sounded (yes, they've switched to to 26 knots and capsizes left and right, Eleven boats representing teams from a gun) for the first match race of the including China Team flipping and send- eight countries are competing: China, America's Cup World Series 2012-2013 ing a sailor in the now-classic punch- France, Italy, Korea, New Zealand, Swe- AUGUST IN SAN FRANCISCO den, USA, and a new team from Great The AC45 armada does battle on the Bay. For tomary round-robin eliminations. Britain headed by four-time Olympic both hardcore racing fans and neophytes it was The fun opened with match racing gold medal winner Ben Ainslie. a show that won't soon be forgotten. qualifiers for six boats that were new or For friends who say it's too com- — photo Lynn Ringseis had the fewest points as of June. Those plicated, we've started comparing it to and Naples in April and May 2013. Ru- boats faced best-of-three matches to football. AC World Series is the regular mors swirl about New York in June. move on to single-match quarterfinal, season. The Louis Vuitton is the playoffs. semifinal, and final rounds. The America's Cup is the Super Bowl. Match Racing First up was Italy's Luna Rossa The AC World Series format is a com- The America's Cup is won or lost Swordfish, skippered by Max Sirena bination of one-on-one match racing based on match racing. Mano-a-mano. and helmed by Paul Campbell-James. and fleet racing in one-design 45-foot Some of the teams, most notably Swe- They handily defeated China Team, wingsail catamarans that regularly hit den's Artemis and Emirates Team New skippered by the young Phil Robertson, 25 to 30 knots. Crew of five, with a sixth Zealand, focus primarily on match rac- in a 2-0 contest. Then newbie Artemis person as guest crew clinging perilously ing. Racing Red, skippered by Tornado world to the narrow aft catwalk. The AC World Series San Francisco champion and Olympic medalist San- SF hosts a second AC World Series featured spectator-friendly 15-minute tiago Lange, was defeated 0-2 by Chris regatta in October, likely followed by an match races and a modified points-based Draper's Luna Rossa Piranha. unspecified third location, and Venice seeding process instead of the more cus- The crowd really warmed up when AMERICA'S CUP WORLD SERIES — Olympic gold medalist Ben Ainslie Ainslie, and Spithill shut out France's start line pushing 28 knots on a beam aboard J.P. Morgan BAR tackled Olympic Team Energy, skippered by the talented reach, straight for a turning mark direct- gold medalist Nathan Outteridge (Team Yann Guichard. ly in front of the grandstands near the Korea). BAR came from behind in both Oracle Team USA's four-time Amer- Golden Gate YC. After a couple rounds of matches to win by 13 and 29 seconds ica's Cup winner Russell Coutts was windward-leeward gates, the finish was after a frustrated Outteridge lost early already seeded into the semifinal, so a reach to the end of the Marina jetty. leads with an error in the first race and Coutts and Spithill faced — and prevailed Ever see a raceboat slam a commit- penalties in the second. against — their formidable adversaries, tee boat at 30 knots? That's what hap- "We seemed to be getting penalties for Artemis White and New Zealand. pened Friday when Coutts blasted in at no apparent reason…," said Outteridge But that put Coutts versus Spithill in full tilt but could not find room on the afterwards. "We're a bit confused about a Super Sunday match-race final just as line next to Jimmy Spithill. Iain Murray, what happened, to be honest." The jury they'd had in Newport in June. spying Coutts about 20 seconds prior, denied redress. announced simply "I think we have a Quarterfinals on Thursday saw Fleet Racing problem." Slam. The YouTube replay Swordfish and Piranha lose out to Terry Meanwhile, the fleet racing was stun- from a half dozen camera angles is defi- Hutchinson's Artemis Racing White and ning. Eleven boats screamed across the nitely worth a look. Oracle Team USA Spithill, respectively. These sensational pictures tell the story and need no explanation, except the shot at upper right: On Friday, Dean Barker on Emirates Pictured are Spithill and the boys driving hard for the starting line, seconds before Coutts' boat found Team New Zealand shut the door on no entry lane and was forced to T-bone the committee boat. Amazingly, damage was minimal. ACEA ABNER KINGMAN ACEA ORACLE TEAM USA ORACLE ORACLE TEAM USA ORACLE ORACLE TEAM USA ORACLE Page 86 • Latitude 38 • September, 2012 AUGUST IN SAN FRANCISCO Fleet racing gains points that include across the finish overlapped at 20-plus to leeward. Draper nearly capsized in a a weighted final match that makes it knots. gust just feet from the finish, but won possible for any strong boat to take the "Maybe the old dog's got some old by three seconds over Spithill. championship. Two 35-minute fleet tricks that still work," said Coutts after- Ultimately, Spithill's 2-1-7-1-2-1-2 races were staged each day from Thurs- wards. "Or maybe the young dogs don't performance gave him 86 points, just day through Saturday, leading up to a know the tricks." one point ahead of Piranha (3-8-2-5-4- championship fleet race on Super Sun- Heading into the Fleet Race Champi- 5-1) and 21 points ahead of Korea (7-4- day. onship, Spithill led on points but had to 4-2-8-2-3). grab at least second place to ensure the Team USA Takes Super Sunday championship victory. Yet another slow Surf and Turf Sunday dawned clear as could be, start and boundary penalties put him Beyond the course, in the middle of with a freshening breeze to quicken a way behind. the spectator fleet, things were a bit hairy racer's pulse. Spithill steadily clawed his way back at times, as countless Fleet Weeks and In the Match Racing Championship, through the fleet to get that second place fireworks have taught they are wont to Coutts got revenge, forcing Spithill into in a nail-biting finish. Spithill rounded be. a poor start. In a race that saw the lead the final reach mark in third, led by Powerboats drifted or cut through change three times and expand to 200 Draper on Luna Rossa Piranha and prohibited areas and anchor lines, and meters and back, Coutts eked out a Korea's Outteridge. But Spithill pushed the stake boat Good Omen felt the bad one-second victory as both boats flashed Korea into a penalty and sailed through omen of a cabin cruiser taking out her ACEA / SEND TO NEWS TO / SEND ACEA ORACLE TEAM USA ORACLE ALL PHOTOS COURTESY ACEA EXCEPT AS NOTED EXCEPT ACEA COURTESY PHOTOS ALL September, 2012 • Latitude 38 • Page 87 AMERICA'S CUP WORLD SERIES — entire bow pulpit. "Prepare to be board- The "Red Bull gives you wings" theme ed," hailed the Coasties to the cruiser. was well in evidence, too, with a guy The VHF Channel 20 commentary flying around in a crazy water jet pack, relay was usually inaudible due to an plus wing-suited skydivers. unspecified transmission problem, and Following racing on Thursday and the edge of the course area was a bit far Friday the world's fastest sailboat, from the main action (viewing might have l'Hydroptere DCNS, wowed folks (and been best from the windward end of the some lucky riders, including Latitude's course). Richard Spindler and John Arndt) with We talked to several people, though, speeds up to 44.3 knots. particularly those with good binoculars, who enjoyed watching from the water.