America's Cup, Part 3
We are in the middle of America’s Cup fever here in Auckland. If you haven’t been keeping track, it is the Italians versus New Zealand after the Italians dominated the Prada Cup last month. For a quick recap, the Americans never really came back after their dramatic capsize. The Brits, who had a strong showing in the round robin ended up being no match for Luna Rossa Prada Pirelli. The Italians ended up winning the finals of the Prada Cup 7-1 of Ineos Team UK, leading to the current match up for all the glory.
The format of the America’s Cup is relatively straight forward. There are two races a day, and the first boat to have seven wins takes the Cup. As I write this (on Monday) we’ve had three successful race days on Wednesday, Friday, and Saturday. The wind was too light on Sunday for the scheduled races to go forward. Going into the America’s Cup, there were rumours that the Kiwi team was moving at incredible speeds - the rumours had them up to 60 km/h - about 10 km/h faster than any other boat had gone. There was a lot of expectation that Emirates Team New Zealand was going to demolish Italy quickly and decisively.
That hasn’t happened. It’s been a nail-biter, and each day both teams have had one win, meaning we’re tied 3-3. There is scheduled sailing today and tomorrow and it could continue all the way until until Thursday if this trend continues. Part of me hopes it does (the excitement!) and part of me hopes it doesn’t (New Zealand needs to win already…)
If you’re not in New Zealand, the YouTube livestream is excellent and gives great commentary. If you’re in Auckland, there are some options for getting out on the water if you don’t have a boat - or a friend with a boat including Explore Group and NZ Sailing Trust (I’m not sure if they’ll have additional charters if the Cup continues, but it is worth checking as they have lovely boats and were out over the weekend!) There’s also the option to visit the America’s Cup Village in the viaduct if you want to be a part of the party.
As an American watching the racing, I’m thrilled that I don’t have to choose my allegiance. It was a blessing in disguise that the Americans were the first boat out of contention. I have to admit that I was unsure who I would cheer for if it was New Zealand versus the USA for the Cup. I also find it interesting that so few Americans seem to know what the America’s Cup race is. There’s been a lot of chatter on assorted Facebook groups about how strange it is that the whole country seems to be obsessed. Americans seem surprised that people cut out of work early to watch the races. I’d counter that Kiwis probably feel the same about the Super Bowl, but I’m not sure some of the Americans would appreciate that comparison. I now include the focus on sailing as one of the things that is a little bit different here than in the US.
P.S. Holy cow we just finished watching Monday’s races. New Zealand proved dominant today and won both, meaning the series is now 5-3. If New Zealand wins both races tomorrow, its over! The first race had the first pass in the series. The Italians won the start, but the Kiwis managed to pull ahead and win by nearly a minute. The second race was the most intense race yet. Early on, Team New Zealand fell off their foils and the Prada boat was ahead by about 2000m. All looked lost, but then the Italians fell off their foils, and in the span of two legs, the Kiwis went from behind by 2000m to ahead by 2000m.
I want to add that this type of racing is maybe the perfect sport. There aren’t commercial breaks. The races are capped at 45 minutes so it isn’t a huge time commitment, and there can be a lot of excitement because anything could happen.
