It was during Friday’s races that the two AC45 catamarans made their mistakes. Team New Zealand first of all, during a match against Team USA. The Kiwi boat capsized, fortunately without any injuries or too many breakages. Fifteen minutes after the incident, the cat was once again on the start line...
As for the Americans, the boat capsized when they were trying to avoid Artemis Racing, which had priority. As for the New Zealand challenge, the Americans were quickly able to continue the competition. But these two racing incidents show clearly that the level is rising, and that to gain a few tenths of a second, the crews now have to go to the limits.
The Chicago leg gave some good racing, with ideal conditions on the Sunday: the six AC45s entered had great fun, flying over the waves in front of 200,000 spectators and nearly 1,000 boats, according to the organizers. A record for the oldest sporting trophy, which for the first time in its 165 year existence was being raced for on fresh water.
At the finish, the Swedes from Artemis Racing won, ahead of Ben Ainslie Racing and Team Japan.
See you in Europe for the next two legs, with England at the end of July and France on 10th and 11th September.
1 Artemis Racing – 61
2 Land Rover BAR – 58
3 SoftBank Team Japan - 56
4 Emirates Team New Zealand - 51
5 Oracle Team USA – 49
6 Groupama Team France – 40
Overall classification after Chicago:
1 Emirates Team New Zealand – 295 points
2 Land Rover BAR – 285 points
3 Oracle Team USA – 285 points
4 Artemis Racing – 262 points
5 SoftBank Team Japan – 259 points
6 Groupama Team France – 234 points
