I'm so happy you're planning on more videos. Desperately looking around I have not found anyone with the same quality of analysis. If you could include correlations between previous discussions on design and actual performance I'd be delighted.
Agreed, more for the nerds haha. Was it here I heard early suggestion re foil design evolving for other characteristics than simply top end speed? And I think better hang time in manouvres is visible already in NZ! GB has great VMG at times.
LR has been religiously sticking to match racing while AM and TNZ have focused more on staying in phase and interpreting the shifts. Going forward it's likely their strategies will converge and we will see which approach has resulted in the steepest learning curve. Ineos has a lot of talent on board but perhaps not quite as much as the top three but it's close enough that on any given day anyone of these four can beat any other. It's going to be question of consistency and of who can dig deepest.
Since you asked for my thoughts, I have to admit that I usually rely on your channel for insights. I didn’t watch enough of the races or gather enough information to form a solid opinion on my own. Your analysis is always so well thought out-keep up the great work!
Remember ETNZ are not on there go fast bits , they go on when they depart the LV , just wait till you see the new shoes , basically racing testing now , loving the competition and the level of sailing to come from all teams ,
Despite what many say, the last race showed Ineos as a very fast boat (in those conditions). My concern is not only there questionable sailing decisions, but that the boat does not seem suited to the wind on the extreme light end. However, with a bit of luck and some quick learning they could well shock the naysayers.
Worth remembering that they are still bedding in the second helm. So probably scope for improvement. And in light air they kept sailing while AM fell off the foils. So not all bad. On the other hand they were thrashed by LR. So they'll have to do an Auckland and find a lot more speed for the second round, or it's yet another year when they don't even make the final.
@@tullochgorum6323 agree on both counts, I think they have done very well to win points in conditions that are not ideal for them, let's see how things turn out!
@@tullochgorum6323 Very interestingly the majority of the cause for their defeat against LR was sailing decisions IMO. If I were INEOS I'd be most worried about the yanks because they ate up that deficit against them like they were standing still. I think they're also at a tactical disadvantage against most teams in terms of upwind angles. I think they can point a little deeper than some downwind, but unless they can mode for some mean VMG at wide angles I think they're limited to shifts and splits upwind.
@@weatheranddarkness Well, the team explained their poor speed against the Yanks to an excess of caution in dying wind. With such a massive lead they knew that all they had to do was stay on the foils so they took the turns very gently. Are you basing your upwind comments on actual stats? It's frustrating that they don't show VMG very often in the coverage. But they seem competitive on distance sailed. I'm thinking that their main issue has been tactical mistakes rather than a lack of speed, but I may well be wrong. But what does seem clear is that LR are the fastest of the challengers upwind, downwind and in the turns, so something has to change if we're not going to see a repeat of the Auckland final.
ETNZ still with old sails and beating everyone with some ease. Will no doubt be holding back some other improvements until the end. Being able to write the rules is already a massive advantage, allowing them to race in the Round Robins will give them huge insights into the strengths and weaknesses of the other teams who from their part cannot hold anything back if they want to win the LV cup. The game is highly asymmetric. So the odds are that ETNZ will retain the trophy.
That is part of what makes the cup so sought after - its incredibly hard to win it, and you basically have to battle against extremely unfair odds to do so.
Don't forget that Ineos, as Challenger of Record, also had a big hand in making the rules for the particular contest. TNZ didn't have it all their own way.
Eventually the winning challenger will have to face ETNZ so its a two edged sword , yes the defender gets some benefit but the challengers get an early gauge on required performance targets. Better to find out now when there is time to hone improvements rather than enter the finals on the back foot when its too late. As for the defender having an advantage well winning the cup is damn difficult its true but ETNZ have managed it twice as underdogs against syndicates that had substantially better backing . Lets not forget they were fundamentally broke not long before the Bermuda series but came out of nowhere to win it so it can be done. The syndicate with the biggest budget does not necessarily win in fact I wonder if it becomes a weakness in a funny way.
my take away Luna rosa and emirates are great at everything. They especially have a great high mode and have better low speed foiling ability. GBR do not seem to have a high mode but are sailing really fast in low mode. Lack of high mode is a real problem for GBR as it means they have inflexible strategy.
With regards to the comment about the defender writting the rules. You may recall that Oracle (USA) while defending the cup in Burmuda also raced in the challenger series and their race wins counted. They went into the match one point up on the Kiwis in best of 7 races. At least with the Kiwis the race wins dont count.
Great post Tom. Funny, I don't hear any moaning about ETNZ being in the Louis V from any Kiwis, so, for all you others, win it then change it! Simple. Also, if YOU were in ETNZ's position would YOU want to be involved at this stage or..... YEP, thought so. Heads pulled in? You're welcome. 😊
There might be a case for Luna Rossa giving away the final race to Alinghy so they can pick them in the semi as I think they fear them less than the French (their boat having obviously the potentially to beat Luna Rossa)
No way, if anything you would want to use the french boat as a sparring partner knowing they cannot sustain the performance of the kiwis but that they will have occasional moments of exceptional performance. If you can't beat the French now there's no point going to the finals.
@@giovannigaleotti2623there is a huge point in going to the final whatever your chances against ETNZ are: the amount of media exposure your sponsors get, which is exactly why this Circus of flying boats is even possible in the first place
If LR would playing so naive then loosing they calculating 🤣 Winn every race or want is needed. .. no one can predict strengt of another in weeks ahead. And weather. ..
4x wind speed!! Simply awesome. Hopefully all bugs and start box fails will be sorted when proper racing gets underway. Everything crossed for proper breeze!
Pretty balanced commentary. I'm a New Zealander but I I still see American Magic as a potential threat to NZ, if they can get their crew work refined and reliability problems put to bed. Seems to me Patriot has the pace to challenge - everything else being equal.
Remember Alingy is partially a cost cap exercise for the red bull formula 1 team. The formula one team saves money on development budget by assigning aerodynamicists, cfd researchers and mechanical engineers to the alingy project. I’m not surprised they don’t want to buy designs given that context.
great chat ...you have a "sneaky" brain Darl...I love the way you think ....real cloak an dagger...lol.. awesome insights Mozzy ...Thankyou so much ...this cup is gonna be close at the end dont you think?
The kiwis at this point have a better overall package. The comms between the 2 x skippers/pilots Burling and Outteridge is clearer and more concise which manifests in smoother more efficient sailing with less errors. They know each other probably better than their wives. I doubt the other boats have that level of cohesion. 🎉
@phillipmurray1724 Luna Rossa skippers have spent more time together and are an extremely slick team. And I'm a kiwi... but we have to be honest. Those guys are great and must not be discounted.
@@phillipmurray1724 Following 3 olympic medals in the 49er, Tuke and Burling must have a deep kinetic understanding of each others decisions, and Outeridge is clearly not far from all that, having trained and competed alongside them with roughly equal success in the same class. Dream team for sure.
Hey, Mozzy, thanks for sharing. Interesting game theory for picking the Ineos rather early. It would be interesting also to know what is still possible for the team to change on their boats. Foils? Sails? Do you see from the first racings how the double sheeting system is working (ETNZ) and is it really a bonus or overcomplicating? The self tacking systems of the jib so far looks nice, but I am curious, especially in the light air, aren't they pulled on the other side especially during the jibe? What is also more obvious in this cup, is the Luna Rossa HIGH mode, especially with this last race against Alinghi. How do they do that, why is this so efficient, and why no other boat is doing this? What is also now adding to the table, is more sophisticated manoeuvres in the start box, due to no running people. E.g. Ineons is turning 360 with both bords down a lot lately, and also, those wind shadows, are really used a lot now for letting the opposition off the foils. This is very exciting to watch now. Looking forward for more videos from you as well.
@MrVorobus LR have a great high mode, it was a key to the last event as well. I do believe the kiwis have shown they can match or beat that high mode tho.
LR clearly have a great high mode, off the start it was unbelievable!. Was there also a shift that helped them? First downwind the axis of the course was changed I think.
Great chat as always. Interested to see the boats in some different strength winds and sea states. Seemed like as the wind and chop went up New Zealand looked more beatable.
Very sightful. Can you help me understand something? Ineos received an OCS penalty at one point and had to lose 75m. In other races, I think during the preliminary regatta, boats over the line had to dip back across the line. Why didn't Ineos have to do the latter?
If you cross the line with less than 3 seconds to go you can choose to restart or do a 75m penalty. If you cross earlier than 3 seconds you don't get a choice, you have to restart
Good summary Mozzy, been looking forward to it. Re ETNZs 'low speed glide' advantage. . Any ideas how much of this is design vs technique?? I suspect it's actually both, but as a Kiwi I'm interested in how challengers might catch up? It's one card they have shown early, what else are they holding, and could they trade this for something different?
In my humble opinion, seems that it is both. Remember how ETNZ outperformed the other teams in the AC40 preliminary regattas: same boats, but different crews and, therefore, different settings. Mozzy made (in my opinion, one of his best) videos in which he explained very clearly how the kiwis used the batteries from the boat to cant the foil arms to a certain angle depending on the TWS and the TWA, if i remember well. They had it printed and glued to te helms board in a very rough way, but it worked: they were able to put in the air the boat much faster than any other team. Now, with the big AC75, they have much more room to play with the rules and set the boat to their personal taste. We don't usually consider the automatization and control code in the boat because we can't see it, but in my opinion is one of the most crucial parts of the design, because is where crew requirements, engineers creativity and rules gaps meet. I will leave the observation of how much more inclination have the foils of ETNZ AC75 when sailing comparing to other teams, and i wonder how they deal with ventilation... These guys know things!! Haha
Is it just me, or is the NZ boat more based on proven averages rather than outlying extremes (their usual position). US, SW and UK all seem to have gone to the far corners of the rule, while NZ and IT, the two finalists from previous, seem more confident with less extreme concepts.
NZ have a history of going to the far corners of the AC rule, e.g at the start they built the first "fibreglass" 12 metre then NZL 20 had the radical twin keel/rudders which apparently was a nightmare to steer. After several failures they won the cup with the somewhat "conventional" 12 meter Black Magic (NZL 38)* they defended successfully and then lost badly with the IACC NZL 82 which had the unique "Hula". The "Big Boat" challenge was gazumped by a catamaran and the "First to Foil" catamaran campaign in San Fran was lost in the context of arguably the biggest sporting choke in history. My takeaway from all this is that winning the AC does require cutting edge innovation but on its own it will not provide the winning edge if you dont execute all the other sailing aspects to basically gold medal standard. If that isn't enough the whole organization needs to achieve excellence in all the complexities of team culture and dynamics as well as having a world class executive and leadership team. All in all its bloody difficult and probably needs the continuity of at least two if not three challenges to achieve. *( I read somewhere that NZL 38 is considered to be the fastest 12 metre ever built.)
@@number1genoa I think you've outlined it pretty well here. And I think there's a good chance this boat falls into the NZL 38 mold, and their racecraft is looking especially dangerous this time. In AC36 it was clear their boat was a monster, but any team on a good day could kill them in the start box, and LRPP despite being overall a slower boat then they had a higher mode to play with than NZ did. This year it looks like NZ has exactly that advantage over LR
@@number1genoa exactly. My point is that the current boat is a departure from that impressive list of rather more outlying design concepts. Also sorry to correct you but NZ38 is not a 12m
Perhaps I’ve got it wrong but I’m still confused as to why Giles doesn’t get a seat on the boat. Surely that sail gp experience and communication skills are what’s needed.
@@jamesaron1967 Hee, well, the comment was my attempt to be poetic. Speed skating is the closest thing I could think of that carries the same kind of jeopardy for instantaneous decisions. In light air, the margin of safety is even thinner.
@@markfisher7962 I posit that some auto racing series are better analogues but we all have our individual perceptions of the current AC foiling yachts.
I doubt Alinghi would have strongly considered buying a design pack because it would not win the cup. Better to leap with both feet into learning and creating, giving the chance to make a breakthrough move.
In my opinion, if LR wins the RR has two options: to choose the best performing boat until then (for me AM) or to choose the boat which has more potential in the platform (for me this is INEOS), killimg the time and preventing their potential performance development during the semifinals Looks quite an interesting choice to make, looking forward to see how does it evolve
Great thorough analysis, lets hope that there is a good bit of wind - watching the boats fall off the foils is not very exciting, similarly having the start limited by the number of turns that a team can perform is not great. I'd love to see these boats race in 15 kts while we have the chance.
@06:02 It's all done and dusted now(as off 06-09-'24). Orient Express Racing Team is done, their America's Cup aspirations are dead in the water. The Swiss won their race against NYYC American Magic, It was a hard but great race by Alinghi Red Bull Racing! The Swiss Navy did a great job!👴😁👌
I reckon although you make a good point for luna Rosa picking Ineos to race against it would still be better to take on a weaker opponent where possible. Let Magic and Ineos battle it out for the right to face them, and get more advertising time for your sponsors in the mean time.
Seems rather stupid to me spending millions on special features, hopefully within the rules…? I’ve always sailed in one design boats. As did Sir Ben previously. I enjoyed watching TNZ stuck in the Doldrums and not able to get back on the foils..!! There must have been a few expletives flying around…!! I was impressed by the umpiring etc. I don’t know what Uffa Fox would have made of it all…!!
Great content! Can you do a guide to the structure of races leading up to the cup? Or is there a good explainer video out there? I was pretty sure I knew what the format was but now it's started I'm lost! Cheers
I'll see if I can fit a small vid in. The Cup website has some formats but I think it's at two detail levels depending on which explainer level you click
LR has a very fast boat, though, the winds were ridiculously light. Things may change if they actually have some breeze. IMO, they should have a much higher minimum wind speed. Some of the racing was ridiculous. Teams were having to head away from the mark to make a tack. Dumb.
If Batman would have a boat it would look like Alinghi . A lot of friction drag from the extra surface if you compare it with AMagic .....very very slick aerodynamic boat ....with the least drag and high speed potential .
Yea I think that’s about right. Ineos boat good, team not quite gelled, if that’s the word. It’s still a bit too much Ben’s team IMO. Whose team is TNZ? Nobody’s. The whole team owns the outcome of the series, equally. That in my view is how to win.
NZ only did consistently well when a sailor like Peter Blake started running the show, not some banker It was still a “team” Ineos is “team Ben” not quite the same
Great and thorough recap and analysis. Definitely filling a gap that the official channel team and their noisy commentators. All they seem to be wanting/instructed to do is to try to make it like a NASCAR race.
Interesting idea about ITA v GBR in the semis, makes a whole lot of sense. I agree that Ineos seem to be progressing rapidly and could well be a threat if they are left to the finals. As always, what have each team still got up their sleeves for RR2, semis and finals....?
The defender should not be allowed to race in the challenger selection series when they also have an automatic berth in the cup. They shouldn’t be allowed to get the benefit of racing the challengers without facing the risk of elimination. It’s either a challenge cup or it isn’t. This is so much more egregious than anything the NYYC pulled post WWII.
Ineos still makes too many errors,but i think it's early to talk about comparisons with the defender, now the battle is between the challengers and with these weather conditions, in october the sea and wind will be completely different and the performances will have to be re-evaluated
Not too bad for a Brit but it's hard to admit it doesn't look too good for Ineos and that the Italians are doing quite well and the US is not too bad either. The funny thing about Ineos is that they have done that well regardless of Sir.
I think INEOS would be stronger with Sir Ben being Ashore, which is not to downplay his GOAT olympic sailing talent but I just think the skippers are best to have 100% focus on sailing the boat and not be distracted with organizational leadership accountabilities.
Agree with the comments on Ineos about errors, although their start tactics look dialed in. - I thought that they looked really good in 9-10+ knot winds but slow in the marginal winds of the first few days (Is Brittania heavy??). So for me the weather is key for them. Otherwise, in light winds, of the challengers, Luna Rossa look untouchable.
I don't think they're heavy. The yachts weight has range of 6192 - 6232kg. But they do have some of the smallest wings plus a deep skeg which can catch waves during turns. I think those two factors make INEOS slightly harder to keep going in the light wind
Fascinated to hear the AM recumbent cyclists crying out with effort on the 5/6 legs against ETNZ. Feel they could get hammered by standard cycle boat in a tack duel.
Cause AM body position of cyclors it's wrong. They can't produce the same energy than a normal cycling position, cause in the AM one the legs will not produce enough power on pedals.
Horizontal can push a bigger gear (putting your back into it), vs upright you can really get the spin rate higher…. I’m sure they have the theoretical data on boat cross sectional advantage. It will really come down to the effective gear being spun/pushed, which is probably a simple difference in a cyclor gear swap out to fix…
I have a question for you, do you think Team NZ would be better or worse off with a billionaire backer like most other teams. One obvious advantage would be hosting at home in New Zealand, but I wonder if having to scrap on a tight budget has forced them to focus more.
Within reason I think an excess of riches could be counter productive, you might be offered all sorts of external assistance such as the F1 engineering input etc but if there are too many possibilities what do you do with it all ?. Occam's razor is the problem-solving principle that recommends searching for explanations constructed with the smallest possible set of elements. (inputs ?) So I think part of the team focus has to be how you prioritise and focus the resouces, keeping the main goal in mind and not having too many distractions. Grant Dalton has said the team are at their best with a "Raid" mentality particularly if seen as underdogs they certainly raided the challenge in Bermuda and while its a defence they are in some way raiding AC 37 in a foreign sea.
Nice review,, having tnz spikes the pressure on the challangers, that has to be a good thing. To the black hats, you gotta beat tnz if you want the cup.. Lastly, tnz look to be well organised and nicely positioned to defend.
how is the time to do this big improvment? half time betwen the race is for declaim the spare and changig 2 days after round robbin a week after final there are no time to do nothig seriusly
Can't agree on TNZ in the LVC. Up to the defender/s to sort themslves out, and the Kiwis have done it several times before.... As Defender they award themselves plenty of advantages already...... LR choice - if they take Ineos it gives Magic more time and hard to bet against Slingsby. Intriguing choices ahead.
Dear Mozzy, I would focus your attention on the position of the AM cyclists whose performance, inferior to that of the cyclists in the classic position, could justify the difficulties shown by this boat, i.e. instability, both in straight line and during tacking/jibing especially in the presence of waves. What do you think about that?
Too many unforced errors coming from Ineos. Their 3 wins are overly flattering for them. Dylan Fletcher seems out of his depth and Ben just looks like he's lost his mojo.
That tactical disagreement at a critical time won't have helped their confidence / trust in each other. Must sort it out quickly to have a chance v LR.
Forget ETNZ. This is about the Louis Vuitton. To be able to challenge for the cup first you have to win the Louis Vuitton. So far Luna Rossa have shown they are by far the fastest and most agile of the challengers. It remains to be seen if they can sustain this. A lot will depend on getting off the line ahead, but we have seen that it is possible to overtake. However, this is usually due to a slight wind shift or a handling error by the other boat. It's going to come down to small mistakes or poor decisions that will make the difference. I hope we get some stable wind conditions, which will make it a fair fight. Bring it on !!!
It seems we can count on Ben and Jimmy to make those small errors to pick up penalties. Even watching them on Sail Gp its almost like they dont know or have forgotten the rules. They would both be in a real pickle now if the other teams were able to capitalise on the penalties.
If they don't eliminate these it will cost them in the end. Give any of the challengers 150 mtrs and you will be unlikely to see them again, unless you get a wind shift or a mistake. And relying on those is not a good idea.
I was highly sceptical when INEOS announced they were partnering with the Mercedes F1 team and their 300 person design team. That more noise and more ideas from hundreds more people that had never built Americas Cup boats would translate into a faster final design. Looks like that has turned out to be a pretty accurate opinion. Radcliffe has probably spent at least 50% more than ETNZ and their boat is well off the pace...a lot of self reflection coming early for Ineos I feel.
Still some time to go but as a casual observation INEOS seem to be in the same spot in the pecking order as they were in Auckland. I would have expected them to be duking it out toe to toe with Luna Rossa with little to nothing between them, that to me would represent progress. You cant help but feel sometimes that team culture, management and leadership is the ultimate technology that wins the AC not the boats, or the skills of the syndicate individuals top to bottom.
🙏 french learning rockets up and getting more confident in yacht. They mutch less on sailing and massive less against alinghi in barcelona! Winn for france🙏 or two would be clear then.
They can make up to 20% mass changes to foils and hull. They also have a selection 5 wong flaps to chose from. Not as much s last time, bit still plenty to lay with. But they have to declare 5 days out from each round (round robin, semis, challenger final, Cup match) which cuts down on modification time
how is the time to do this big improvment? half time betwen the race is for declaim the spare and changig 2 days after round robbin a week after final there are no time to do nothig seriusly
I don’t think the defender should be in the LV cup, it doesn’t seem right to me, and also removes the mystery that other cups have had of not knowing if the best challenger is up to the defender. Just seems wrong to me that the defender is in the LV cup.
People shouldn't complain about the defender being involved in the Louis Vuitton Cup as all the challenges get a chance to gauge themselves against the defender in order to see where they are in comparison. It doesn't give the defender or the challenger any advantage what so ever, in fact, it lets the challenger know how much needs to be done to the boat regarding competitiveness on the water. The result of this would mean the challenger to the Americas Cup racing could be very, very competitive verses the unknown, where the defender could outrun the challenger leaving the racing a foregone conclusion. Which I think most would agree, is not a good advertisement for the Americas Cup, considered to be the pinnacle of sailboat racing.
Looks to me like ineos best in slightly more breeze, faster downwind. etnz better upwind and nimble (loses less speed in maneuvers). AM good all round but tends to slide when gybing. LR maybe quicker than etnz downwind, best of the challengers and maybe even better than etnz when in final fit out. French quick upwind, but running out of time to eke out complete race. Alinghi needs to find more speed fast.
![I.N "HALLUCINATION" | [Stray Kids : SKZ-PLAYER]](http://i.ytimg.com/vi/n5B5q1Hwt_U/mqdefault.jpg)
I'm so happy you're planning on more videos. Desperately looking around I have not found anyone with the same quality of analysis.
If you could include correlations between previous discussions on design and actual performance I'd be delighted.
Agreed, more for the nerds haha. Was it here I heard early suggestion re foil design evolving for other characteristics than simply top end speed? And I think better hang time in manouvres is visible already in NZ! GB has great VMG at times.
Indeed! I didn’t hear enough mentions of “righting moment” recently!
Yeah! would love a hull comparison video. Cheers!
Race 13 with 4 lead changes was great to watch. Sir Ben "my wheel" (commits a penalty) - "your wheel"
Do we need to have the arrogant whinging pommie's microphone turned up so loud for the full Mercedes boat races regardless of his lost Mojo?
@@MrVaticanRagDo you need to keep repeating yourself?
Excellent analysis. Better than what you get from most sailing channels.
LR has been religiously sticking to match racing while AM and TNZ have focused more on staying in phase and interpreting the shifts. Going forward it's likely their strategies will converge and we will see which approach has resulted in the steepest learning curve. Ineos has a lot of talent on board but perhaps not quite as much as the top three but it's close enough that on any given day anyone of these four can beat any other. It's going to be question of consistency and of who can dig deepest.
Don’t worry about Luna Rosa they will be fine. Thanks Mozzy.
Since you asked for my thoughts, I have to admit that I usually rely on your channel for insights. I didn’t watch enough of the races or gather enough information to form a solid opinion on my own. Your analysis is always so well thought out-keep up the great work!
Remember ETNZ are not on there go fast bits , they go on when they depart the LV , just wait till you see the new shoes , basically racing testing now , loving the competition and the level of sailing to come from all teams ,
Despite what many say, the last race showed Ineos as a very fast boat (in those conditions). My concern is not only there questionable sailing decisions, but that the boat does not seem suited to the wind on the extreme light end. However, with a bit of luck and some quick learning they could well shock the naysayers.
Worth remembering that they are still bedding in the second helm. So probably scope for improvement. And in light air they kept sailing while AM fell off the foils. So not all bad. On the other hand they were thrashed by LR. So they'll have to do an Auckland and find a lot more speed for the second round, or it's yet another year when they don't even make the final.
@@tullochgorum6323 agree on both counts, I think they have done very well to win points in conditions that are not ideal for them, let's see how things turn out!
@@tullochgorum6323 Very interestingly the majority of the cause for their defeat against LR was sailing decisions IMO. If I were INEOS I'd be most worried about the yanks because they ate up that deficit against them like they were standing still. I think they're also at a tactical disadvantage against most teams in terms of upwind angles. I think they can point a little deeper than some downwind, but unless they can mode for some mean VMG at wide angles I think they're limited to shifts and splits upwind.
@@weatheranddarkness Well, the team explained their poor speed against the Yanks to an excess of caution in dying wind. With such a massive lead they knew that all they had to do was stay on the foils so they took the turns very gently.
Are you basing your upwind comments on actual stats? It's frustrating that they don't show VMG very often in the coverage. But they seem competitive on distance sailed. I'm thinking that their main issue has been tactical mistakes rather than a lack of speed, but I may well be wrong.
But what does seem clear is that LR are the fastest of the challengers upwind, downwind and in the turns, so something has to change if we're not going to see a repeat of the Auckland final.
ETNZ still with old sails and beating everyone with some ease. Will no doubt be holding back some other improvements until the end. Being able to write the rules is already a massive advantage, allowing them to race in the Round Robins will give them huge insights into the strengths and weaknesses of the other teams who from their part cannot hold anything back if they want to win the LV cup. The game is highly asymmetric. So the odds are that ETNZ will retain the trophy.
That is part of what makes the cup so sought after - its incredibly hard to win it, and you basically have to battle against extremely unfair odds to do so.
Don't forget that Ineos, as Challenger of Record, also had a big hand in making the rules for the particular contest. TNZ didn't have it all their own way.
Eventually the winning challenger will have to face ETNZ so its a two edged sword , yes the defender gets some benefit but the challengers get an early gauge on required performance targets. Better to find out now when there is time to hone improvements rather than enter the finals on the back foot when its too late. As for the defender having an advantage well winning the cup is damn difficult its true but ETNZ have managed it twice as underdogs against syndicates that had substantially better backing . Lets not forget they were fundamentally broke not long before the Bermuda series but came out of nowhere to win it so it can be done. The syndicate with the biggest budget does not necessarily win in fact I wonder if it becomes a weakness in a funny way.
@@number1genoa Yes. Is that called ... sitting on your laurels or something like that. ?
Beauty
The INEOs boat look s like a clunky Lego construction.
I think it’s alright but it’s probably the second or third challenger after the Americans and Italians - in that order. Very mid pack
Clunkier than the actual Lego AC75
I think the word you're looking for is Duplo. 😉
Just like the cars they sponsor. A.I. built ...
my take away
Luna rosa and emirates are great at everything. They especially have a great high mode and have better low speed foiling ability.
GBR do not seem to have a high mode but are sailing really fast in low mode. Lack of high mode is a real problem for GBR as it means they have inflexible strategy.
With regards to the comment about the defender writting the rules. You may recall that Oracle (USA) while defending the cup in Burmuda also raced in the challenger series and their race wins counted. They went into the match one point up on the Kiwis in best of 7 races. At least with the Kiwis the race wins dont count.
good point, there is certainly precedent
Really enjoy following your cup updates. Im a kiwi and havnt missed watching an Americas Cup race since 1983 when the Aussies won.
Great post Tom. Funny, I don't hear any moaning about ETNZ being in the Louis V from any Kiwis, so, for all you others, win it then change it! Simple. Also, if YOU were in ETNZ's position would YOU want to be involved at this stage or..... YEP, thought so. Heads pulled in? You're welcome. 😊
Awesome analysis mate! Happy for the fellow Kiwis, happy about Luna Rossa as the strongest challenger.
Good to see you on the chat Tom.
In my view Ineos has shown speed in 10kts, the human factors and errors are easy to fix (as long as egos get parked).
There might be a case for Luna Rossa giving away the final race to Alinghy so they can pick them in the semi as I think they fear them less than the French (their boat having obviously the potentially to beat Luna Rossa)
Good point. Would be a huge talking point if they did!
No way, if anything you would want to use the french boat as a sparring partner knowing they cannot sustain the performance of the kiwis but that they will have occasional moments of exceptional performance. If you can't beat the French now there's no point going to the finals.
@@giovannigaleotti2623there is a huge point in going to the final whatever your chances against ETNZ are: the amount of media exposure your sponsors get, which is exactly why this Circus of flying boats is even possible in the first place
Luna Rossa will never do that, on contrary they will hope to chose the french in semi final, to acquire more data they can on the NZ twin boat
If LR would playing so naive then loosing they calculating 🤣
Winn every race or want is needed. .. no one can predict strengt of another in weeks ahead.
And weather. ..
Awesome thank you Mozzie!
4x wind speed!! Simply awesome. Hopefully all bugs and start box fails will be sorted when proper racing gets underway. Everything crossed for proper breeze!
Pretty balanced commentary. I'm a New Zealander but I I still see American Magic as a potential threat to NZ, if they can get their crew work refined and reliability problems put to bed. Seems to me Patriot has the pace to challenge - everything else being equal.
Agree although LR are looking sharp too.
Dear kiwi the real threat for NZ is his own skipper 😂
@@villageroma which one?
Great round up , on par with what I’ve seen 👍. I hope some of the teams can up the ante and make really exciting second round clashes .
Remember Alingy is partially a cost cap exercise for the red bull formula 1 team. The formula one team saves money on development budget by assigning aerodynamicists, cfd researchers and mechanical engineers to the alingy project. I’m not surprised they don’t want to buy designs given that context.
Not sure how happy the British will be with your insightful assessment of which boat the Italians should choose first. 😂
Great reflection, very interesting.
You're definitely the person I listen to for the Americas cup. 👍
great chat ...you have a "sneaky" brain Darl...I love the way you think ....real cloak an dagger...lol.. awesome insights Mozzy ...Thankyou so much ...this cup is gonna be close at the end dont you think?
The kiwis at this point have a better overall package. The comms between the 2 x skippers/pilots Burling and Outteridge is clearer and more concise which manifests in smoother more efficient sailing with less errors. They know each other probably better than their wives. I doubt the other boats have that level of cohesion. 🎉
@phillipmurray1724 Luna Rossa skippers have spent more time together and are an extremely slick team. And I'm a kiwi... but we have to be honest. Those guys are great and must not be discounted.
@@phillipmurray1724 Following 3 olympic medals in the 49er, Tuke and Burling must have a deep kinetic understanding of each others decisions, and Outeridge is clearly not far from all that, having trained and competed alongside them with roughly equal success in the same class. Dream team for sure.
As a team, ETNZ has the whole package. That's why the Kiwis consistently win. It takes everything to win the AC.
Hey, Mozzy, thanks for sharing. Interesting game theory for picking the Ineos rather early. It would be interesting also to know what is still possible for the team to change on their boats. Foils? Sails? Do you see from the first racings how the double sheeting system is working (ETNZ) and is it really a bonus or overcomplicating? The self tacking systems of the jib so far looks nice, but I am curious, especially in the light air, aren't they pulled on the other side especially during the jibe? What is also more obvious in this cup, is the Luna Rossa HIGH mode, especially with this last race against Alinghi. How do they do that, why is this so efficient, and why no other boat is doing this? What is also now adding to the table, is more sophisticated manoeuvres in the start box, due to no running people. E.g. Ineons is turning 360 with both bords down a lot lately, and also, those wind shadows, are really used a lot now for letting the opposition off the foils. This is very exciting to watch now. Looking forward for more videos from you as well.
@MrVorobus LR have a great high mode, it was a key to the last event as well. I do believe the kiwis have shown they can match or beat that high mode tho.
LR clearly have a great high mode, off the start it was unbelievable!. Was there also a shift that helped them? First downwind the axis of the course was changed I think.
Great chat as always. Interested to see the boats in some different strength winds and sea states. Seemed like as the wind and chop went up New Zealand looked more beatable.
Sunday in slightly more wind shone a new light. I would really like to see them race is 15+ which could mix things up again
Very sightful. Can you help me understand something? Ineos received an OCS penalty at one point and had to lose 75m. In other races, I think during the preliminary regatta, boats over the line had to dip back across the line. Why didn't Ineos have to do the latter?
If you cross the line with less than 3 seconds to go you can choose to restart or do a 75m penalty. If you cross earlier than 3 seconds you don't get a choice, you have to restart
Brilliant, thank you
You have always been jealous of Luna Rossa haven’t you Mozzy 😂
Great weather, beautiful boats, lovely food... I am a little green
@@MozzySails you will become magenta…
Good summary Mozzy, been looking forward to it. Re ETNZs 'low speed glide' advantage. . Any ideas how much of this is design vs technique?? I suspect it's actually both, but as a Kiwi I'm interested in how challengers might catch up? It's one card they have shown early, what else are they holding, and could they trade this for something different?
luna rossa helm .Checco Bruni, said in italian interwiews we wait for big wawe 'cose our boot is better.
In my humble opinion, seems that it is both. Remember how ETNZ outperformed the other teams in the AC40 preliminary regattas: same boats, but different crews and, therefore, different settings. Mozzy made (in my opinion, one of his best) videos in which he explained very clearly how the kiwis used the batteries from the boat to cant the foil arms to a certain angle depending on the TWS and the TWA, if i remember well. They had it printed and glued to te helms board in a very rough way, but it worked: they were able to put in the air the boat much faster than any other team. Now, with the big AC75, they have much more room to play with the rules and set the boat to their personal taste. We don't usually consider the automatization and control code in the boat because we can't see it, but in my opinion is one of the most crucial parts of the design, because is where crew requirements, engineers creativity and rules gaps meet.
I will leave the observation of how much more inclination have the foils of ETNZ AC75 when sailing comparing to other teams, and i wonder how they deal with ventilation... These guys know things!! Haha
I was so waiting for your 2 cents! So long a very interesting Luis Vuitton, with a day 4 really fantastic to watch...
Is it just me, or is the NZ boat more based on proven averages rather than outlying extremes (their usual position). US, SW and UK all seem to have gone to the far corners of the rule, while NZ and IT, the two finalists from previous, seem more confident with less extreme concepts.
NZ have a history of going to the far corners of the AC rule, e.g at the start they built the first "fibreglass" 12 metre then NZL 20 had the radical twin keel/rudders which apparently was a nightmare to steer. After several failures they won the cup with the somewhat "conventional" 12 meter Black Magic (NZL 38)* they defended successfully and then lost badly with the IACC NZL 82 which had the unique "Hula". The "Big Boat" challenge was gazumped by a catamaran and the "First to Foil" catamaran campaign in San Fran was lost in the context of arguably the biggest sporting choke in history. My takeaway from all this is that winning the AC does require cutting edge innovation but on its own it will not provide the winning edge if you dont execute all the other sailing aspects to basically gold medal standard. If that isn't enough the whole organization needs to achieve excellence in all the complexities of team culture and dynamics as well as having a world class executive and leadership team. All in all its bloody difficult and probably needs the continuity of at least two if not three challenges to achieve. *( I read somewhere that NZL 38 is considered to be the fastest 12 metre ever built.)
@@number1genoa I think you've outlined it pretty well here. And I think there's a good chance this boat falls into the NZL 38 mold, and their racecraft is looking especially dangerous this time. In AC36 it was clear their boat was a monster, but any team on a good day could kill them in the start box, and LRPP despite being overall a slower boat then they had a higher mode to play with than NZ did. This year it looks like NZ has exactly that advantage over LR
ETNZ boat is essentially designed for October!
@@number1genoa exactly. My point is that the current boat is a departure from that impressive list of rather more outlying design concepts. Also sorry to correct you but NZ38 is not a 12m
@@jameslittlewood7821 My bad, I think I transposed 38 for 32 :-)
Ah - the curious case of Ineos : sounds like an Agatha Christie detective title, and appears to have similar puzzling themes.
I totally agree with your stance on the defender being in the round robin. Other teams get race practice, why not the defender?
ETNZ has a nice aircraft indeed, it can fly for up to six meters
Glide ? :-)
Another excellent video, Tom. Good objective analysis of various team's strength/weaknesses/potential to win RRS.
Glad you enjoyed it
Perhaps I’ve got it wrong but I’m still confused as to why Giles doesn’t get a seat on the boat. Surely that sail gp experience and communication skills are what’s needed.
Overall, the series has been reminiscent of speed skating, but with office buildings instead of individuals.
Your comment makes no sense.
@@jamesaron1967 Hee, well, the comment was my attempt to be poetic. Speed skating is the closest thing I could think of that carries the same kind of jeopardy for instantaneous decisions. In light air, the margin of safety is even thinner.
@@markfisher7962 I posit that some auto racing series are better analogues but we all have our individual perceptions of the current AC foiling yachts.
I doubt Alinghi would have strongly considered buying a design pack because it would not win the cup. Better to leap with both feet into learning and creating, giving the chance to make a breakthrough move.
Except the time they first won they bought the sailors …
LUNA ROSSA LAUNCH: Do beautiful yachts still win races? has your question found an answer? :)
Brilliant and insightful as ever, Mozzy - keep up the great work. Thanks!
Much appreciated!
In my opinion, if LR wins the RR has two options: to choose the best performing boat until then (for me AM) or to choose the boat which has more potential in the platform (for me this is INEOS), killimg the time and preventing their potential performance development during the semifinals
Looks quite an interesting choice to make, looking forward to see how does it evolve
Great thorough analysis, lets hope that there is a good bit of wind - watching the boats fall off the foils is not very exciting, similarly having the start limited by the number of turns that a team can perform is not great. I'd love to see these boats race in 15 kts while we have the chance.
Brilliant analysis Thank you!
Great video and thought I’d take you up on the discount offer for craft insure dinghy insurance. Every boat except RS700 it would seem!😡
Watching nz in last race, they were losing a lot less speed in simultaneous tacks.
@06:02 It's all done and dusted now(as off 06-09-'24). Orient Express Racing Team is done, their America's Cup aspirations are dead in the water.
The Swiss won their race against NYYC American Magic, It was a hard but great race by Alinghi Red Bull Racing! The Swiss Navy did a great job!👴😁👌
Mozzy, you're getting obsessed with the covers...
Well I'm not the only one!
I hope Orient Express beats Alinghi.
Considering that Alinghi could have done better in their races I feel the same way.
I reckon although you make a good point for luna Rosa picking Ineos to race against it would still be better to take on a weaker opponent where possible. Let Magic and Ineos battle it out for the right to face them, and get more advertising time for your sponsors in the mean time.
Seems rather stupid to me spending millions on special features, hopefully within the rules…?
I’ve always sailed in one design boats. As did Sir Ben previously.
I enjoyed watching TNZ stuck in the Doldrums and not able to get back on the foils..!! There must have been a few expletives flying around…!!
I was impressed by the umpiring etc.
I don’t know what Uffa Fox would have made of it all…!!
Great content! Can you do a guide to the structure of races leading up to the cup? Or is there a good explainer video out there? I was pretty sure I knew what the format was but now it's started I'm lost! Cheers
I'll see if I can fit a small vid in. The Cup website has some formats but I think it's at two detail levels depending on which explainer level you click
LR has a very fast boat, though, the winds were ridiculously light. Things may change if they actually have some breeze. IMO, they should have a much higher minimum wind speed. Some of the racing was ridiculous. Teams were having to head away from the mark to make a tack. Dumb.
Unlikely ETNZ would ever sell a design package to Alinghi. The past is not forgotten also 2007 Valencia had bad blood.
If Batman would have a boat it would look like Alinghi . A lot of friction drag from the extra surface if you compare it with AMagic .....very very slick aerodynamic boat ....with the least drag and high speed potential .
Yea I think that’s about right. Ineos boat good, team not quite gelled, if that’s the word. It’s still a bit too much Ben’s team IMO. Whose team is TNZ? Nobody’s. The whole team owns the outcome of the series, equally. That in my view is how to win.
NZ only did consistently well when a sailor like Peter Blake started running the show, not some banker
It was still a “team”
Ineos is “team Ben” not quite the same
Thanks for the awesome review.
Great and thorough recap and analysis. Definitely filling a gap that the official channel team and their noisy commentators. All they seem to be wanting/instructed to do is to try to make it like a NASCAR race.
Interesting idea about ITA v GBR in the semis, makes a whole lot of sense. I agree that Ineos seem to be progressing rapidly and could well be a threat if they are left to the finals. As always, what have each team still got up their sleeves for RR2, semis and finals....?
The defender should not be allowed to race in the challenger selection series when they also have an automatic berth in the cup. They shouldn’t be allowed to get the benefit of racing the challengers without facing the risk of elimination. It’s either a challenge cup or it isn’t. This is so much more egregious than anything the NYYC pulled post WWII.
Thanks, Mozzy!
Ineos still makes too many errors,but i think it's early to talk about comparisons with the defender, now the battle is between the challengers and with these weather conditions, in october the sea and wind will be completely different and the performances will have to be re-evaluated
In the italian channels 80% of us agrees to choose Ineos for LR
Great overview. Thanks.
Not too bad for a Brit but it's hard to admit it doesn't look too good for Ineos and that the Italians are doing quite well and the US is not too bad either.
The funny thing about Ineos is that they have done that well regardless of Sir.
I think INEOS would be stronger with Sir Ben being Ashore, which is not to downplay his GOAT olympic sailing talent but I just think the skippers are best to have 100% focus on sailing the boat and not be distracted with organizational leadership accountabilities.
Agree with the comments on Ineos about errors, although their start tactics look dialed in. - I thought that they looked really good in 9-10+ knot winds but slow in the marginal winds of the first few days (Is Brittania heavy??). So for me the weather is key for them. Otherwise, in light winds, of the challengers, Luna Rossa look untouchable.
I don't think they're heavy. The yachts weight has range of 6192 - 6232kg. But they do have some of the smallest wings plus a deep skeg which can catch waves during turns. I think those two factors make INEOS slightly harder to keep going in the light wind
Fascinated to hear the AM recumbent cyclists crying out with effort on the 5/6 legs against ETNZ. Feel they could get hammered by standard cycle boat in a tack duel.
Cause AM body position of cyclors it's wrong. They can't produce the same energy than a normal cycling position, cause in the AM one the legs will not produce enough power on pedals.
@@solinvictus1234why is that? Aren’t they still horizontal in posture?
@@NinoDiVenanzio gravity
Horizontal can push a bigger gear (putting your back into it), vs upright you can really get the spin rate higher…. I’m sure they have the theoretical data on boat cross sectional advantage. It will really come down to the effective gear being spun/pushed, which is probably a simple difference in a cyclor gear swap out to fix…
@@larrydunn4626 It's more than gravity. There are physiological reasons for the differences which may be more significant.
I have a question for you, do you think Team NZ would be better or worse off with a billionaire backer like most other teams. One obvious advantage would be hosting at home in New Zealand, but I wonder if having to scrap on a tight budget has forced them to focus more.
Within reason I think an excess of riches could be counter productive, you might be offered all sorts of external assistance such as the F1 engineering input etc but if there are too many possibilities what do you do with it all ?. Occam's razor is the problem-solving principle that recommends searching for explanations constructed with the smallest possible set of elements. (inputs ?) So I think part of the team focus has to be how you prioritise and focus the resouces, keeping the main goal in mind and not having too many distractions. Grant Dalton has said the team are at their best with a "Raid" mentality particularly if seen as underdogs they certainly raided the challenge in Bermuda and while its a defence they are in some way raiding AC 37 in a foreign sea.
Please tell us how different the pecking order might get with higher wind conditions? And is there any chance of seeing that in the next round?
Nice review,, having tnz spikes the pressure on the challangers, that has to be a good thing. To the black hats, you gotta beat tnz if you want the cup.. Lastly, tnz look to be well organised and nicely positioned to defend.
can the different team change the foils and the sails on every race or not ?
Been looking forward to your update. Then I saw you doing bits for red bull! V exciting!
Where?
Red Bull TV, flying on water series about the Cup with highlights
how is the time to do this big improvment? half time betwen the race is for declaim the spare and changig 2 days after round robbin a week after final there are no time to do nothig seriusly
Can't agree on TNZ in the LVC.
Up to the defender/s to sort themslves out, and the Kiwis have done it several times before.... As Defender they award themselves plenty of advantages already......
LR choice - if they take Ineos it gives Magic more time and hard to bet against Slingsby. Intriguing choices ahead.
Agreed.... ETNZ should not be racing in the LVC. This series should be for potential challengers only.
Dear Mozzy, I would focus your attention on the position of the AM cyclists whose performance, inferior to that of the cyclists in the classic position, could justify the difficulties shown by this boat, i.e. instability, both in straight line and during tacking/jibing especially in the presence of waves. What do you think about that?
Too many unforced errors coming from Ineos. Their 3 wins are overly flattering for them. Dylan Fletcher seems out of his depth and Ben just looks like he's lost his mojo.
Dylan Fletcher gets told it’s “my wheel” at crucial moments that generally lead to penalties. It’s not him, he’s a world class helm.
That tactical disagreement at a critical time won't have helped their confidence / trust in each other. Must sort it out quickly to have a chance v LR.
I've thought for the longest time team GBR need to change helmsmen the same way TMNZ did with Dean Barker
I wonder if becoming a "Sir" is actually good for people not retired long ago.
Yeah Ben reminds me of dean barker. Too desperate and aggressive to be successful in the Americas cup. Fantastic sailor though.
Where do you get the data ?
Great video.
Great stuff Mozz.
My power rank:
1.NZ
2.ITA
3.UK
4.US
5. FRA
6.SWZ
my sloppy boat handling rank:
1.SWZ
2.FRA
3.UK
4.US
5.ITA
6.NZ
Forget ETNZ. This is about the Louis Vuitton. To be able to challenge for the cup first you have to win the Louis Vuitton. So far Luna Rossa have shown they are by far the fastest and most agile of the challengers. It remains to be seen if they can sustain this. A lot will depend on getting off the line ahead, but we have seen that it is possible to overtake. However, this is usually due to a slight wind shift or a handling error by the other boat. It's going to come down to small mistakes or poor decisions that will make the difference. I hope we get some stable wind conditions, which will make it a fair fight. Bring it on !!!
It seems we can count on Ben and Jimmy to make those small errors to pick up penalties. Even watching them on Sail Gp its almost like they dont know or have forgotten the rules. They would both be in a real pickle now if the other teams were able to capitalise on the penalties.
They are too agile imo... and im kiwi
If they don't eliminate these it will cost them in the end. Give any of the challengers 150 mtrs and you will be unlikely to see them again, unless you get a wind shift or a mistake. And relying on those is not a good idea.
You can never be to agile in an AC75.
I was highly sceptical when INEOS announced they were partnering with the Mercedes F1 team and their 300 person design team. That more noise and more ideas from hundreds more people that had never built Americas Cup boats would translate into a faster final design. Looks like that has turned out to be a pretty accurate opinion. Radcliffe has probably spent at least 50% more than ETNZ and their boat is well off the pace...a lot of self reflection coming early for Ineos I feel.
Still some time to go but as a casual observation INEOS seem to be in the same spot in the pecking order as they were in Auckland. I would have expected them to be duking it out toe to toe with Luna Rossa with little to nothing between them, that to me would represent progress. You cant help but feel sometimes that team culture, management and leadership is the ultimate technology that wins the AC not the boats, or the skills of the syndicate individuals top to bottom.
Oi, don't get me started on the Radcliffe PR juggernaut 🙏
To suggest that INEOS is well off the pace is not supported by the data
Have had the same thought on LRPP choosing Ineos. But would take some huge cojones to take on the challenger of record early AND then beat AM.
Let's call Alinghi the Batboat....😂
Happy to see ETNZ beat both LR and Magic. You missed to say that ETNZ vs Magic 2nd race was totally dominated Magic who everyone says has speed
🙏 french learning rockets up and getting more confident in yacht.
They mutch less on sailing and massive less against alinghi in barcelona!
Winn for france🙏 or two would be clear then.
Every team seems to be improving quite a bit. As an AM fan, I am not sure their rate of improvement is as steep as the other teams. ???
Your wish for R16 came true!
It did! Fingers crossed for a race off... but I wouldn't put it past either of those two teams snagging another win before the RR finishes
What can the teams change on their boats to develop as the cup goes on?
They can make up to 20% mass changes to foils and hull. They also have a selection 5 wong flaps to chose from.
Not as much s last time, bit still plenty to lay with. But they have to declare 5 days out from each round (round robin, semis, challenger final, Cup match) which cuts down on modification time
Is the losing team eliminated before the winning team selects who they will race?
is it a race off or a count back
Race off for any tie for 1st or last. Double race off if 3 teams tie! Could be quite interesting I think!
@@MozzySails that's exciting, that would be quite appropriate
This is awesome racing
how is the time to do this big improvment? half time betwen the race is for declaim the spare and changig 2 days after round robbin a week after final there are no time to do nothig seriusly
Me thinks VAVA II will be departing Barcelona next week.
Put the guys on recombinant bikes and seal them in the hulls.
Just use batteries and sail with 4 guys. Its fine.
Then remove two more guys with auto trim !
How many people cycling do you need to drive the whole boat without batteries?
Noticed that LRPP has no telltales at all on her sails, contrary to all other teams.
Any idea ?
You don't put tassels on a fine Italian suit 😁
Or they already know what the sails are doing everythime.
I believe they do. They are just stylishly the same colour as the sail. 🧐
@@MozzySails yeah… but they are made in Nevada, not in Milano…😉
good strategy - LR to pick INEOS!
Hi Mozzy, about safety why does the sailors not protected by a monocoque like F1.
I don’t think the defender should be in the LV cup, it doesn’t seem right to me, and also removes the mystery that other cups have had of not knowing if the best challenger is up to the defender. Just seems wrong to me that the defender is in the LV cup.
People shouldn't complain about the defender being involved in the Louis Vuitton Cup as all the challenges get a chance to gauge themselves against the defender in order to see where they are in comparison. It doesn't give the defender or the challenger any advantage what so ever, in fact, it lets the challenger know how much needs to be done to the boat regarding competitiveness on the water. The result of this would mean the challenger to the Americas Cup racing could be very, very competitive verses the unknown, where the defender could outrun the challenger leaving the racing a foregone conclusion. Which I think most would agree, is not a good advertisement for the Americas Cup, considered to be the pinnacle of sailboat racing.
And it’s been common over the years.
@@julian4548 In the last few years, before that the Defender was on its own.
Yes! I agree. And ETNZ have introduced the other classes as well. Youth and women's classes of yet we will see.
Agree with all your points !
Letting the defender race gives the others a comparison of where they need to improve !
Looks to me like ineos best in slightly more breeze, faster downwind. etnz better upwind and nimble (loses less speed in maneuvers). AM good all round but tends to slide when gybing. LR maybe quicker than etnz downwind, best of the challengers and maybe even better than etnz when in final fit out. French quick upwind, but running out of time to eke out complete race. Alinghi needs to find more speed fast.