Herald sports reporter Michael Burgess backgrounds the Ineos Britannia challenge from Barcelona.
Video / NZ Herald
As the anticipation builds for the opening race of the 37th America’s Cup, here’s a look back on the history of race one and what it means for the outcome of the regatta.
While they were both off the starting line side by side, an aggressive tactic from Luna Rossa to try to draw a penalty against their counterparts didn’t come off. As a result, Luna Rossa gave up any chance of taking the lead at the start of the first leg.
It was a bold manoeuvre to try in the opening race of the Cup match and put the challengers on the back foot immediately.
“It’s good to get off the line and get a few shifts up the first beat,” Burling said after the race.
“I was really happy with the pre-start and how the whole team has got the boat in good shape.”
What happened next:
The Italians hit back to take race two and level the match after day one. They then won the opening races the next two race days to hold a 3-2 lead before Team New Zealand took control of the match – winning the final five races to retain the Auld Mug.
Defenders Oracle went into the America’s Cup match with a one-win advantage after taking out the challenger qualifying series. But Team New Zealand evened the series up straight away.
Right from the start, Team NZ helmsman Peter Burling had counterpart Jimmy Spithill on the back foot, with the Oracle boat crossing the start-line early and incurring a two-boat-length penalty that resulted in a 13-second edge to the challengers at the first mark.
In 8-12 knots of wind, conditions that favoured TNZ through their campaign, that margin extended to 32 seconds downwind and to 46 seconds on the next upwind beat.
Under little pressure and showing the benefits of a tough challenger final against Artemis Racing, Burling sailed a smooth race and simply controlled his advantage through to the final mark.
Having built a lead of more than a minute at the fifth mark, Team New Zealand’s only slip occurred as they rounded that final gate towards the finish – they fell off their foils, but had enough time to regain composure for a 30-second win.
“That’s a bit frustrating, to be honest,” said Burling afterwards. “We’ve practised that so many times. We’ll be better in the next race.
Emirates Team New Zealand battling it out with Oracle Team USA in 2017. Photo / Photosport
What happened next:
Burling was right. TNZ took out Race 2 by one minute and 27 seconds for a dominant display on day one and continued that run by taking out the first five races. Oracle avoided being blanked with victory in race six before TNZ reclaimed the America’s Cup on the fifth day of racing.
2013 – TNZ beat Oracle Team USA by 36 seconds
In race one, we saw the previously unseen – lead changes. Two of them.
There was aggressive sailing from Oracle Team USA skipper Jimmy Spithill, nail-biting near misses and enough to know this was going to be a close-run thing.
These two boats were close in speed and close in the skill that sailed them. When Team NZ seemed to be in control, Spithill struck. Team NZ helmsman Dean Barker rounded the bottom mark close to the actual mark to choke Spithill and OTUSA off.
He lost impetus, Oracle pulled off a slingshot move around the outside, gaining advantage and momentum. Later in the third leg, upwind, the USA team tacked aggressively, wresting the lead off Team NZ. But Barker struck back, with Aotearoa’s expected upwind speed a boon, and tacked back into the lead – establishing the control that led to a 36s win.
Emirates Team New Zealand and Oracle race to first mark during the 2013 America's Cup. Photo / Photosport
What happened next:
TNZ finished the day with a 2-0 lead in the first to nine-wins series, with Oracle beginning the match on -2 after being found guilty of cheating during an America’s Cup World Series event. Team New Zealand remained the better boat taking an 8-1 which famously turned into a 9-8 defeat when Oracle completed one of the great comebacks in sport.
2007 – Alinghi beat Team NZ by 35 seconds
“Well, it’s nice to finish a race,” is how Dean Barker put it, with memories of the 2003 race one disaster hard to forget.
Alinghi still won, with the Brad Butterworth-skippered Swiss outfit getting the edge in the tacking duels off Valencia in 12 knots of wind and choppy waters.
With Butterworth as tactician and Ed Baird helming, Alinghi won an early duel in that first race and kept the Kiwi team at bay, with boat speeds looking pretty even.
Alinghi and Emirates Team NZ during the 2007 America's Cup. Photo / Mark Mitchell
What happened next:
Race one was an accurate indicator that an even battle was in store, but fell well short of suggesting the sort of drama that was going to take place.
TNZ edged to a 2–1 lead before Alinghi prevailed 5–2. It all reached a magnificent crescendo in race seven, the leading contender for the greatest America’s Cup race of all time.
Alinghi won that cup-clincher by a mere second. The Swiss led by 135m on the final leg before a wind shift and gear breakage enabled TNZ to hunt them down in a race of extraordinary drama.
2003 – Alinghi beat TNZ by a lot
Notorious. TNZ Skipper Dean Barker reckoned his boat was “full of gremlins”. It was almost full of water.
TNZ produced a bucket – the crew toilet – to bail themselves out of trouble as their promising start in stiff winds ended up as a humiliating disaster.
With spectators packing the home stadium – the Hauraki Gulf – New Zealand sport suffered one of its most embarrassing moments.
Alinghi and skipper Russell Coutts were handed victory as Barker pulled out on leg one, after the innovative NZL-82 heeled over and took on up to five tonnes of water.
“It felt like a losing battle,” said crewman Matt Mitchell, who did most of the bucket wielding.
What happened next:
Race one scene-setting doesn’t get much more accurate than this. The Swiss team went on to win 5-0 with TNZ pulling out of race four when the mast snapped, and a spinnaker pole going the same way in the last race.
Prada won the start as they were “right on the button”, called PJ Montgomery. A “super start”. But despite that, TNZ’s NZL 60 moved past their rivals further up the course after a series of tacks to take a 22-second lead at mark one. TNZ sent Murray Jones up the mast to get a look for breeze, back when you could do that, and the hosts continued to make gains. Prada chased for the rest of the race but couldn’t get close.
What happened next:
Just one race on the opening day and a two-day wait until TNZ cruised to a race two victory by nearly three minutes. Russell Coutts handed the keys of NZL 60 over to Barker for what would be the final race as TNZ completed a 5-0 sweep in their first successful defence.
1995 – TNZ beat Prada Challenge by 2:45
What a statement from Russell Coutts and the NZL 32 team. In choppy water off San Diego TNZ took a 31-second lead at the top mark before early drama when a spinnaker pole jammed. Young America was able to make up ground, cutting the lead to 12 seconds at mark two, but that was as close as they got as TNZ’s superior boat speed began to show and they took over the race.
What happened next:
History was made when, stop me if you’ve heard this before, the America’s Cup became New Zealand’s Cup. Two days later in race two TNZ won by a staggering four minutes and 14 seconds and it was clear they were going to make history.
