Sunday’s racing in Bermuda will have more points on offer than any other day in the Louis Vuitton America’s Cup World Series to date.
After racing was abandoned on Saturday due to extremely light winds, a third race has been added to the schedule on Sunday. All three races will have double-point scoring, meaning up to 60 points are available. Racing is scheduled to start at 14:10 ADT.
“Three 20-point races can be pretty powerful in the grand scheme of things in the series,” said SoftBank Team Japan tactician Chris Draper. “If you can smash the final day it will make a massive difference on the leaderboard.”
Weather models show the light conditions of Saturday giving way to 8-12 knots of wind on Sunday, building stronger later in the day. On Saturday, the wind never breached the 6-knot lower limit to allow racing.
“We’re looking forward to tomorrow, the forecast looks very positive for racing,” said ORACLE TEAM USA tactician Tom Slingsby. “I think it will be perfect sailing conditions for these boats. It’s all to play for and we’ll be looking to come out on top.”
After racing was abandoned, an exhibition race took place inside the Harbour. The sailors were unanimous in paying tribute to the enthusiasm of the Bermudian crowd and the ability of the course marshals and race management team. Hundreds of boats relocated from the Great Sound race course area to the Harbour in short order, without incident, allowing for an exhibition race.
“We came over from Dockyard at about 12:15 in the chase boat and we couldn’t believe how many boats were out there,” Draper said. “It’s a shame we didn’t get a point-scoring race. But we had a little exhibition in Hamilton Harbour at the end there so hopefully that gives everyone a little taster ahead of tomorrow.”
“It’s amazing. The island has gotten behind the America’s Cup and it’s great to see,” said Land Rover BAR sailor Giles Scott. “It felt like there were thousands of boats out there. It was quite the spectacle today. I’m sure tomorrow will be even better.”
“It was great to see all these people on the water. We stayed in the harbor and we didn’t see all the boats, but when we finally went out to race this huge spectator fleet came in – very impressive. Now we have to do a good show for them tomorrow!”
Louis Vuitton America’s Cup World Series Leaderboard after two events:
1. Emirates Team New Zealand – 72
2. Land Rover BAR – 65
3. ORACLE TEAM USA – 64
4. SoftBank Team Japan – 56
5. Artemis Racing – 53
6. Groupama Team France – 50
-AC Media
