The "Summer of Sailing" started with a whimper but ended with a roar as the Bay Area witnessed the greatest comeback in the history of sailing—and one of the greatest comebacks in the history of competitive sports.
Larry Ellison hoists the America’s cup in front of his winning crew at the awards ceremony at America’s Cup Park on Piers 27/29. © ACEA / Photo Gilles Martin-Raget
By Joel Williams
Published: October, 2013
The "Summer of Sailing" started with a whimper but ended with a roar as the Bay Area witnessed the greatest comeback in the history of sailing—and one of the greatest comebacks in the history of competitive sports.
By the time that the first race of the America’s Cup finals came around on September 7, it had been more than two months since the AC 72s had begun competing in San Francisco and frankly, the march to the finals was plodding and uncompetitive. It started with Italy’s Luna Rosa Challenge boycotting the very first Louis Vuitton Cup race handing the victory to Emirates Team New Zealand. Several more races consisted of a single team completing the course with no competitor at all, as Sweden’s Artemis Racing chose to sit out the first races while recovering from the devastating loss of crewmember Andrew "Bart’ Simpson in May. But when they actually had to race an opponent, the New Zealand team was winning races by five minutes or more!
The Kiwis quickly clinched the top spot in the challenger series and cemented their status as the top team in the challengers’ series with nine consecutive wins (many without a competitor) at which point they chose to opt out of the semifinals. Luna Rosa then proceeded to sweep Artemis Racing 4-0 in a best of seven series, winning the right to take another shot at Emirates Team New Zealand. However, once again the Kiwis proved to be too much for the Italians to handle as New Zealand won the best-of-13 series 7-1.
This set the stage for the much-awaited America’s Cup Finals between New Zealand and ORACLE TEAM USA that started with a great deal of fanfare on September 7. TEAM USA began the best of 17 series in the hole due to a two-point penalty imposed by the International Jury for design infractions that occurred in last year’s America’s Cup World Series competition. This meant that ORACLE TEAM USA needed to win 11 races and New Zealand only needed nine victories to take the Cup.
Things didn’t start out well for ORACLE TEAM USA as they proceeded to lose six out of the first seven races by an average of almost 50 seconds per race. Even though TEAM USA won the next two races, they had only scored one point because they needed two wins just to eliminate their two-point penalty. After Emirates Team New Zealand took the next two races, it seemed all but over as ORACLE TEAM USA was then down 8-1 with the Kiwis at match point and a seven-point lead. TEAM USA would need to win an unprecedented eight races in a row against a team that it seemed had their number from the start.
And then it happened! With their backs firmly against the wall, ORACLE TEAM USA began the greatest comeback in the history of sailing. Out of nowhere, somehow ORACLE TEAM USA switched the tables and found the speed they had been missing in the previous races. At first it seemed like they were just going to hang on for while until the inevitable victory by New Zealand but as the ORACLE TEAM USA wins began to pile up, the momentum clearly had turned. Each day saw steady improvement in the ORACLE TEAM USA boat to the point where they were hydrofoiling at unheard of speeds of over 30 knots going upwind. Over the next seven days, ORACLE TEAM USA won seven races in a row by an average of 41 seconds—resulting in an 8-8 point tie and a winner-take-all final race on Wednesday, October 25.
The day started out with a forecast of high winds, which threatened to postpone the final showdown, but at race time the conditions were perfect as the two teams headed for the start. At the first mark, ORACLE TEAM USA was tripped up by a wave that caused the boat to nosedive, giving Emirates Team New Zealand an early lead. It didn’t take long for ORACLE TEAM USA to catch up as they were only behind the Kiwis by three seconds at the second mark. It was shortly after they began heading upwind that ORACLE TEAM USA showed that they still clearly had a speed advantage heading into the wind. After a pair of lead changes, they passed Team New Zealand in the third leg of the race and never looked back, eventually winning by 44 seconds to claim the 34th America’s Cup in front of a capacity crowd of 25,000 people at the America’s Cup Park on Piers 27/29.
This marks the second America’s Cup win for defender ORACLE TEAM USA and skipper Jimmy Spithill, which won the 162-year-old trophy in Valencia, Spain in February 2010. "It was a fantastic race. We wouldn’t have it any other way," said Spithill. "We came from behind, the guys showed so much heart. On your own you’re nothing, but a team like this can make you look great. We were facing the barrel of a gun at 8-1 and the guys didn’t even flinch."
"This was a wonderful match of teams," said Regatta Director Iain Murray, who’s been involved with the America’s Cup since 1983. "In the case of a boat coming from behind, 3-1 down as was the case with Australia II in ’83, the shoe is on a different foot this time around. Then it was the challenger behind and this time it was the defender. But in the end we had great competition between two great teams, evenly matched, battling it out to the end."
"Today, the world witnessed the greatest comeback in America’s Cup history by Cup Defender ORACLE TEAM USA. I thank and congratulate the crew on a well-deserved victory and thank ORACLE TEAM USA for bringing the America’s Cup to San Francisco," said Mayor Ed Lee at the award ceremony. "I also congratulate and thank the 34th America’s Cup challenger Emirates Team New Zealand for the amazing racing on our Bay, and it was a pleasure to host your many fans in our City."
After it was all said and done, what started out as a bit of a drag with little competition in July, ended up being everything and more that the America’s Cup Event Authority has hoped for with worldwide headlines and some of the most thrilling competition in the history of sailing. Now we wait to hear from Larry Ellison as to whether ORACLE TEAM USA plans to stay in San Francisco to defend America’s Cup in the future. After the race, he said an announcement would be made in the near future as to the next challenge for the America’s Cup.
Just before the first mark in the final race, ORACLE TEAM USA slowed dramatically when it dug its hulls into the water, giving Emirates Team New Zealand the early lead. © ACEA / Photo Ricardo Pinto
In the end, it was ORACLE TEAM USA’s ability to hydrofoil at speeds of over 30 knots upwind that proved to be deciding factor in its victory. © ACEA / Photo Abner Kingman
