Page 6. MAINE COASTAL NEWS October 2013 Oracle Defends Most Exciting America's Cup Continued from Page 5.
Club did all they could to try and revive Simpson, but to no avail. One other person suffered minor injuries.
At the time of the incident the winds were 15 to 20 knots off Treasure Island. It was not known at the time what causes the capsize, but an investigation was instantly launched. It was known that this boat had design issues, and made cracking sounds frequently.
Simpson, with Iain Percy won their Olympic gold medal in the Star Class in 2008. In the 2012 Olympics they won the Silver medal. Percy was the director and boat’s tactician and Simpson was brought on board to do weather and tactic support. This is not the fi rst time one of these boats had gone over. Back in October OTU- SA capsized in 25 knots of wind and was then swept four miles out past the Golden Gate Bridge. All onboard were uninjured but the wing mast was damaged beyond repair. They had to wait for a new one to be shipped from New Zealand. (Again. why with the technology developed in America did they need to have it made in New Zealand!) Then came news that a two race penalty would be imposed by the International Jury on OTUSA for adding weight to their AC45 in the America’s Cup World Series in 2012. They also banned a sailor (wing trimmer Dirk de Ridder) and two shore support crew members from the America’s Cup fi nals and fi ned OTUSA $250,000. Matt Mitchell was also suspended for four races. Now OTUSA would need to win 11 races and ETNZ 9 in the America’s Cup Races.
The additional weight (lead pellets in bags) was added to the forward posts by a few crew members in a warm-up event. However the infraction was not known until just before the fi nals of the America’s Cup this summer. When OTUSA learned of the issue they voluntarily forfeited all their wins in the America’s Cup World Series. The International Jury felt that a stiffer penalty was needed.
Russell Coutts, CEO of OTUSA, called
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the penalty unfair in the light that the ad- ditional weight had been added by several individuals without anyone else knowing. De Ridder asked Bryce Ruthenberg and boatbuilder Andrew Walker to add the ad- ditional weight. No one else knew of the infraction.
Some thought that this was an unprec- edented penalty, but ask Michael Waltrip Racing when NASCAR docked them points, placed crew chiefs on suspension and fi ned the team $300,000. The issue here was a spin late in a race at Richmond by Clint Bowyer that allowed team mate Martin Truex Jr. to get into the Chase by one point, leaving Ryan Newman out. Truex did not know anything about the incident, however when the penalties were handed down he was out, Newman was in. The points taken away from Bowyer will make it almost impossible for him to win the Chase. Later came the news the sponsor NAPA would be leaving MWR at the end of the year, a loss of about $18 million. Bottom-line: DO NOT CHEAT! I have a major problem with one aspect of these races and that when the Deed of Gift was written by the last of the living sailors who competed on AMERICA and won the Cup in 1851 was that it was a competition between countries. This can be complicated today because many of the larger companies have facilities in numerous other countries. The one industry this was evident in was with sailmakers in the 1960s and thus the rule was amended to allow those sailmakers, who were based in America, but had offi ces in another competing nation, to help that country too. However, my problem stems from the sailors who jump countries to race for the highest bidder. How many Ameri- cans are on OTUSA? One. If there was not enough top notch American sailors to sail these boats they needed to be trained to do so. Also what about getting the wing mast from New Zealand when it should have been built here in the United States. DAY 1
Race 1: OTUSA was aggressive at the start, but ETNZ was able to gain speed quicker and lead at the fi rst mark. OTUSA
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sailed the next leg well and was a mere four seconds back at the next mark. They luffed up ETNZ and forced them to tack and on the next crossing it was OTUSA in the lead. However at the next crossing it was ETNZ back in the lead and went on to win by 36 seconds. . OTUSA -2; ETNZ 1 Race 2: OTUSA was aggressive again but it was ETNZ to windward and gained speed quicker than the American boat. OTU- SA did well on the next leg and the delta was just seven seconds with ETNZ in the lead. The New Zealand boat had an easier time and went on to win by 52 seconds. OTUSA -2; ETNZ 2 DAY 2
Race 3, OTUSA was fouled at the fi rst mark and took the lead, but ETNZ came back and passed OTUSA and went on for their third win. The problem was a poor tack, but also the defender did not show a speed advantage.
Race 4, OTUSA got a good start and
held off ETNZ and at the fi nal turning mark were ahead by just fi ve seconds and went on for the win by a mere eight seconds. OTUSA -1; ETNZ 3. DAY 3
Race 5, OTUSA wins the start and had a nice lead at the fi rst mark. At the leeward gate tactician John Kostecki wanted a foiling tack, but the boat came almost to a standstill and ETNZ made up a lot of distance and was also out of phase. ETNZ gained but at their next crossing could not pass in front of OTUSA. OTUSA was slower and ETNZ took the lead and the win. Following the race OTUSA opted not to sail the next race. This would allow the design team and shore crew to make alterations to the boat in the hope of fi nding more upwind speed. They also need- ed to tack better. After the race it was asked at the press conference if OTUSA would switch boats. Boat 2 is the boat they are presently sailing and is slower upwind than Boat 1. However boat 1 is slower downwind and harder to manage. Some differences on the boats are obviously different. The wing on ETNZ is easier to move across; ETNZ has a self tacking jib; ETNZ does not have a cockpit, which allows the crews to be in po- sition faster; all these add up to a being a little quicker at doing their job. A plus of OTUSA is the endplate on the base of the wing that gives the wing more power. The question is can OTUSA make any adjustments and better their speed? Gary Jobson, who had picked OTUSA to defend was now changing his mind and picking the New Zealand boat to take the Cup. OTUSA -1; ETNZ 4 DAY 4
Race 6, when the crew list was sub- mitted a change had been made onboard OTUSA and John Kostecki was out and Ben
Ainslie, a four-time Olympic gold medalist, was in. However ETNZ showed that she was good in all conditions and won this race by 47 seconds. She really shined on the upwi leg gaining 55 seconds. OTUSA -1; ETNZ 5
Race 7, ETNZ started to windward, and on their foils doing about 38 knots she took the lead and never looked back. She won by one minute and six seconds. Following the race OTUSA’s skipper, Jimmy Spithill said that they had focused on each other and not the design. He was surprised by the difference upwind, even though he had the advantage downwind. OTUSA -1; ETNZ 6 DAY 5
Race 8, ETNZ hit the starting line per- fectly with a speed of 41.2 knots. On the third leg disaster nearly struck ETNZ when they lost control due to a problem with the wing mast and nearly capsized. The hydraulic system was not powered up and the wing would not come across when they tacked. The crew did not panic and kept pumping and fi nally the mast went over. However they did foul OTUSA, who went on for the win. OTUSA 0; ETNZ 6 A second race followed Race 8, and on Leg 3 the race was cancelled due to winds exceeding the limit of 22.6 knots for fi ve minutes. Despite being behind in this race OTUSA had made positive changes and was much faster upwind, though maybe a little slower downwind. DAY 6
Race 9: The wind was blowing 20 and the tide was ebbing at 2.2 knots. OTUSA took the early lead and stretched it out over the next two legs and went on for the win. OTUSA 1; ETNZ 6
Race 10: Both boats fought hard for the lead before the fi rst mark and soon ETNZ had a four boat lead. At the leeward gate the boats split and OTUSA began gaining ground. In the next three crosses the lead changed each time. On the next leg it was still close, but ETNZ fi nal gained the ad- vantage and went on for the win. OTUSA 1; ETNZ 7 DAY 7
Race 11: ETNZ wins the start and even though OTUSA got even a couple of times they could not get passed the New Zealand boat. OTUSA 1; ETNZ 8 DAY 8
Race 12: OTUSA came down to lee- ward of ETNZ in the starting box, got the overlap and forced ETNZ to keep clear al- lowing them to win the start. ETNZ would gain, but could not pass. OTUSA was foiling going upwind and on the next leg gained more and went on for the easy win. OTUSA 2; ETNZ 8
They tried for another race, but the wind
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