THAT'S A WRAP | AMERICA'S CUP WORLD SERIES FUKUOKA
America’s Cup World Series ends with spectacular grand finale in Fukuoka, Japan
Land Rover BAR was fast out of the blocks on Day 1 and ultimately stole the show in Fukuoka with regatta and overall series wins on Sunday. They will carry bonus points into the America’s Cup Challenger Series, as well as ORACLE TEAM USA who claimed second in the series overall.
SoftBank Team Japan scored a hometown win in Race 2 under the roar of fans cheering from the beach. Fukuoka, Japan was an excellent host for the World Series final and it was awesome to see such enthusiasm for sailing and hometown pride for the Softbank team.
Artemis Racing sailed a fantastic Sunday, winning the first two races of the day and coming second in the regatta under Land Rover BAR.
Competitive spirit was alive and well on the course this weekend with tight maneuvers, match-racing tactics, and penalties abundant especially in the final day. Nathan Otteridge’s comment “Makes it easy when everyone else is fighting!” is a good indication of the aggressive approach we saw, especially from Land Rover BAR, this weekend. It is clear the stakes are rising and if you ask me, it’s a preview of what we’ll see in the America’s Cup Challenger Series!
When the teams meet again in Bermuda, May 2017, they will be racing America’s Cup Class (ACC) boats. The ACCs are built by each team within a design rule: they are 15 meters long (just over 49 feet) and much higher performance than the boats we have watched in the World Series this year. All of the America’s Cup events this spring, up to the finals, will be sailed in the ACCs:
Louis Vuitton America’s Cup Qualifiers
America’s Cup Challenger Playoffs
America’s Cup Match
The America’s Cup event schedule is updated here: https://www.americascup.com/en/event-schedule.html
North Sails’ sister company, Southern Spars, has taken on boat and wing construction for Emirates Team New Zealand. Very cool stuff. You can check out their progress here:
http://www.southernspars.com/etnz-sailors-meet-ac50-southern-spars/
