ACup Experience 23.05.

Cup Experience Monday News

Issue 54 Tuesday 23 May 2017 3 days until racing begins

In this issue:
Racing Begins Friday – Key Matchups
Episode 2 of „The Cup Experience Show“ on Tuesday
Redress? „We’re working on it.“
Ask Jack: Where can I find…? New „AC Guide“
J Class Race Viewing
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Racing Starts Friday!
The round robin AC Qualifiers begin Friday with four races.
Race 1: USA vs FRA – Should be an easy win for USA.
Race 2: SWE vs JPN – A key early indicator – who’s hot?
Race 3: FRA vs NZL – Another tough opponent for FRA.
Race 4: GBR vs SWE – Have the Brits found some speed?
Remember that Land Rover BAR and Oracle Team USA already have points on the sccoreboard – the bonus points they earned in the AC World Series

At the end of the Qualifiers, the AC World Series final standings will be used to break ties. This could affect which challenger is eliminated, the pairings for the semi-finals and whether a team earns a bonus point for the America’s Cup Match.
Practice Racing
Last week practice racing on Thursday and Friday was cancelled due to very light winds. More practice races are scheduled for Monday, Tuesday and Thursday this week. On Monday three races were started – Artemis Racing beat Land Rover BAR in the first race. Artemis and Emirates Team New Zealand started two races but neither team finished either race. In this image we can see that the Kiwis were racing without a jib. You can watch the video here.

Webcast Series Continues
Join me today, Tuesday for the second episode of „The Cup Experience Show.“ I’ll have photos and videos. We’ll look closely at the race schedule. Bring your questions and comments! A few local times:
22:00 Paris
21:00 London
17:00 Bermuda
16:00 New York
08:00 (Wednesday) Auckland
If you can’t attend, sign up anyway so that you get notified when the replay is ready. Register here.
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Redress? We’re Working on It
What happens if your boat is damaged when another boat fouls you? Or when you hit an object in the water? As of last week, there was still no provision for redress in the RRSAC – the Racing Rules of Sailing, America’s Cup Edition. That means you lose any race you are unable to start.The teams have been discussing adding a redress process. They need to finish soon – it would need to be approved by the competitors before racing begins on Friday. If you want to check – it’s Rule 62.2 in the RRSAC.

Damage to the Kiwis‘ boat kept them off the water for four days. With no provision for redress, that means they would be scored as having lost any races they missed.