The center of the sailing world at present is just off the coast of Barcelona as the 37th Americas Cup is now well underway and just wrapped up its second day of competition. In a best to seven series, the 37th America’s Cup defenders Emirates Team New Zealand are dominating the event against INEOS Team Britannia and now hold a lead of 3-0. INEOS Team Britannia has particular significance to Marblehead as town native J.B. Braun has been a sail designer with the team and is currently in Barcelona.
The racing began on Saturday, Oct. 12, and throughout the past two days of competition, the performance of these foiling boats has been measured in part by their impressive technology and innovation. There is very little room with such delicate machines that literally fly across the water at 40 knots in less than 8 knots of breeze. Yet despite all the emphasis on the boats themselves, it is now coming down to a championship match where the skill of the sailors is at play. They must remain focused on the task at hand. Further, it has come down to the teams focusing primarily on winning the start. As much as things change and evolve, some things remain the same and in match racing the start is key and whoever wins the start has prevailed in a competition that does not allow for many lead changes.
No doubt, the New Zealanders have the momentum in this event both on the water and on shore — with up to 5,000 visiting fans from New Zealand. The supporters have filled up the viewing areas around the port on shore and on the water the team is flanked by an armada of vessels of all shapes and sizes who head out on the water each day to cheer for their teams.
When the boats dock out in the morning, the atmosphere is electric all the way down the harbor as fans from both teams line the shoreside and cheer with colorful banners and flags. For many sailing experts and observers, the next few days will tell the full story but at present, INEOS Team Britannia must pull off a win to stay in the game. They will have a chance to do that tomorrow.
“We have been working hard on our performance and each race we make some gains and tomorrow is another day,” said Sir Ben Ainslie of INEOS Team Britannia. “I have said all along that New Zealand is the benchmark team. We knew this regatta would be tough. We knew this would be the ultimate fight.”
After three races, the Team New Zealand flight controller Blair Tuke said their strategy is to try and make the steps forward incrementally and get ahead of their opponent.
“We try to get out ahead of our opponents and keep building. They will keep throwing stuff at us and we have to keep our performance going at the highest possible level.” Tuke said.
One thing is for certain, in the light air conditions it is nearly impossible to come from behind and lead changes are very rare at this level of racing. With tomorrow set to be another light air day, which seems to be very winning conditions for the New Zealanders, it is getting increasingly steeper for the British to make its mark.
