New Zealand wins 37th America’s Cup

Barcelona, Spain (October 19, 2024) – On the sixth day of the 37th America’s Cup Match, defender Team New Zealand needed just one more victory to secure the trophy, and they wasted little time. In a single race that ebbed and flowed from the outset, the Kiwis beat Challenger of Record, INEOS Britannia, by 37 seconds.

In a shifting breeze of 7-11 knots on flat water, the British entered on starboard before gybing immediately onto the Kiwi line to trail them out to the far-right boundary of the box and the race was on.

Team New Zealand were first to gybe down the boundary but found INEOS Britannia, who had gybed inside, right on their bow. On the lead back to the line, the New Zealand crew tried to wriggle free with two tacks, but these were matched deftly by the British.

As the set-up began for the line, INEOS Britannia sat to leeward, attempting to force a shutout at the right-hand end of the line. But in the final seconds, both boats had time to kill and bore away down the line, providing New Zealand the windward position off the start.

The British were fast off the line and tight to leeward of the Kiwis, forcing the defender to tack off immediately for the right boundary. But any advantage was fleeting for the Brits as they were forced to duck, and then could only watch as the Kiwis extended on left into increased pressure and a favorable shift.

When the teams met again, New Zealand was easily ahead, offering another instance of elite wind-reading and sailor’s intuition, with Peter Burling, Nathan Outteridge, Blair Tuke, and Andy Maloney sharing information effectively between them and reacting accordingly.

For INEOS Britannia, the writing looked to be on the wall, but the never-say-die attitude that has been carefully cultivated within the team came to the fore, and on the second windward leg, a rare miscalculation on the pressure from the Kiwis opened the door for the British to stage a comeback.

INEOS Britannia helmsmen Sir Ben Ainslie and Dylan Fletcher grabbed the opportunity with both hands, playing the far-right boundary to great effect and eating up the distance metre-by-metre to bring Britannia within striking distance at the second windward gate.

With a right-hand wind shift making both boats overstand on starboard tack on the final approaches to the gate, the teams elected to take opposite markers, with Emirates Team New Zealand bearing away around the port marker as Britannia tacked around the starboard. The official delta was measured at precisely zero seconds – literally, nothing separated the two boats.

This dead heat rounding set up a potentially fascinating downwind leg, but after gybing on the right boundary, Emirates Team New Zealand came scorching across on port gybe in a pressure patch that had been spotted by the team well in advance, and the resultant 180-metre gain was telling.

The Kiwis, having seen their lead evaporate once, were in no mood to give it up again. On the final beat, they played it conservatively up the right side, tacking on Britannia where necessary to bounce them to the left and rounded the final windward gate at 47 knots with a 17-second lead. It was brilliance combined with boat speed, and the results were devastating on the water.

A final downwind leg to the finish, textbook in its execution, saw Team New Zealand gybe off the right boundary and fly down the course before a final gybe on the port layline to angle into the finish line and the history books. New Zealand did what no other team had done before – win the America’s Cup Match three consecutive times.

“It’s a pretty surreal feeling, it’s still definitely sinking in,” admitted Peter Burling skipper of Emirates Team New Zealand. “In the America’s Cup you’re all ready for a long battle but to be able to get it done today in just beautiful sailing conditions with a little bit of shift in it and just so many people cheering us on, was amazing.

“The America’s Cup has got to be one of the hardest sporting trophies in the world to win. You’ve got to have so many parts come together to make it all work and now having done that three times in a row, it’s incredibly special.”

British skipper Ben Ainslie considered Team New Zealand “one of the best if not ‘the’ best teams in the history of the Cup. We have to take that on the chin, and I think that the team have done a brilliant job to develop through this campaign, through this series and as one very plucky Brit said, it’s the courage to continue that counts, so that’s what we’re up for.

“As for the future of the team, we set out to win the Cup, we got close and we’re getting closer every time. To my mind when you set out to achieve a target, you’ve got to get there so we continue, we keep going and keep taking this organization forward. Every time we do it we get more efficient, we learn more about the technical approaches, we learn more from our competitors, and I think we’ve got a great group of people and we can take it to the next level.”

The future of the event will be announced in “due course,” according to Grant Dalton, CEO of America’s Cup Event and Emirates Team New Zealand, with the tradition being for a challenge to be issued as soon as the winning boat crosses the finish line of the last race.

Viewing details – Race information – Results – Weather forecast

Following the publication of the AC37 Protocol and AC75 Class Rule on November 17, 2021, the AC75 Class Rule and AC Technical Regulations were finalized on March 17, 2022. The entry period was from December 1, 2021 until July 31, 2022, but late entries for the 37th America’s Cup could be accepted until May 31, 2023. The Defender was to announce the Match Venue on September 17, 2021 but postponed the reveal, finally confirming Barcelona on March 30, 2022. The 37th America’s Cup begins October 12, 2024.

Teams revealed to challenge defender Emirates Team New Zealand (NZL):
• INEOS Britannia (GBR)
• Alinghi Red Bull Racing (SUI)
• Luna Rossa Prada Pirelli Team (ITA)
• NYYC American Magic (USA)
• Orient Express Racing Team (FRA)

2023-24 Preliminary Regattas
September 14-17, 2023 (AC40): Vilanova i la Geltrú, Spain
November 30-December 2 (AC40): Jeddah, Saudi Arabia
August 22-25, 2024 (AC75): Barcelona, Spain

2024 Louis Vuitton Cup Challenger Selection Series*
August 29-September 9: Double Round Robin
September 14-19: Semi Finals (Best of 9)
September 26-October 7: Finals (Best of 13)

*Team New Zealand competes in the round robin stage only, but the results of their races were not included in the challenger leaderboard.

2024 America’s Cup
October 12-27: 37th Match (Best of 13)

For competition details, click here.

Additionally, 12 teams will compete in the Youth America’s Cup and Women’s America’s Cup.

Noticeboard: https://ac37noticeboard.acofficials.org/
Event details: www.americascup.com/en/home

Source: ACE, SSN