It's now less than two weeks until the America's Cup gets underway in Bermuda. Emirates Team New Zealand will line up again for another crack at the Auld Mug, but before the teams hit the water Greg Pearson answers the big questions.
What is it?
It's the 35th America's Cup. Five challengers all trying to take down Oracle Team USA and get their hands on the oldest trophy in sport.
Really, how old?
The trophy was first sailed for in 1851, as the prize for a race around the Isle of Wight in England. It was won by the schooner America which the Yanks had sent over to show off their nautical superiority. The trophy was renamed after the winning boat (not the country) and first challenged for in 1871.
Speaking of challengers, the whole thing starts with the challenger series, right?
Yes and no. The Louis Vuitton Cup is no more, replaced with the Louis Vuitton Qualifiers. There's a double round robin before one challenger is eliminated and the top four challengers go on to the Louis Vuitton Playoffs (semis and final). And for the first time ever, the defender will sail against the challengers.
That's weird, how come?
Just one of a raft of changes made by Oracle and their CEO Sir Russell Coutts.
Is it going to make the whole thing confusing?
Probably. The best team after the round robin stage of the Qualifiers will also start the Cup Match (that's the actual America's Cup series between Oracle and the best challenger) with a one race head start, whether it's Oracle or a challenger - if they make it that far. Plus Land Rover BAR will begin the Qualifiers with two bonus points and Oracle with one, after they finished 1st and 2nd in the America's Cup World Series.
That doesn't seem fair.
Welcome to the America's Cup.
So is that what the ACWS was all about?
Kind of. And a big PR exercise for the event. It wasn't really about the sailing since it was fleet racing (as opposed to one-on-one match racing) and wasn't in the same boats we'll see in Bermuda.
Bermuda?
Yeah, Bermuda. Despite Oracle being an American team and defending the Cup in San Francisco last time (and the Cup being held by San Francisco's Golden Gate Yacht Club) the regatta will be held in a tiny island in the Atlantic, which isn't even part of the United States.
That sounds wacky. How come?
In a nutshell, money. Again, welcome to the America's Cup.
OK, so if they aren't using the same boats as the ACWS, what are they sailing?
The official name is America's Cup Class, or ACC catamarans. Also known as the AC50 since it's about 50 foot long.
So just a shorter version of the AC72 we saw last time?
Not even close. The ACC is a largely one-design boat, meaning a big chunk of it and its components (hulls and wingsail) are identical across the fleet. That's another first. And it has been designed to foil, meaning it will go even quicker than the AC72. They also have less crew - six instead of eleven - making it a tougher boat to sail.
Is that why Team NZ have sailors riding bikes instead of sailing?
Partly. The Kiwis have gone with pedal-driven grinders instead of arm-powered. The theory is legs create more power for the hydraulic systems on the boat than the conventional grinding setup. There's some perceived disadvantages to the system (like getting out of a saddle and across the boat during maneuvers) but since there's less bodies on board they should generate more power than the opposition and have more control over the boat. And hopefully that means more speed.
Anyone else crazy enough to go with bikes too?
Well, who knows. The others teams talked down pedal-power when it first came out, but Oracle's been spotted with some kind of bike setup on their boat in the last week. The Kiwis did such a good job of keeping it under wraps, there's no time for anyone else to copy them with the full setup.
Ok, so who else is in this thing?
There are five challengers and the one defender, Oracle Team USA. Jimmy Spithill is on the wheel for them again.
Boo.
Tell me about it. As well as Team NZ, Artemis Racing from Sweden are back again. There are three new teams - Land Rover BAR headed by Sir Ben Ainslie - the most successful sailor in Olympic history, Groupama Team France led by well known sailor Franck Cammas, and SoftBank Team Japan who have Dean Barker as skipper and CEO.
So that's what happened to Barker.
Yeah, and a bunch of other former Team NZ members. The Japanese team also have a very close working relationship with Oracle that's raised a few eyebrows.
Since Barker's Japanese now, who's driving Team NZ?
Peter Burling is the helmsman, fresh from winning Olympic gold in Rio and dominating the 49er class with Blair Tuke for the last 4 years. Tuke's also on board as a grinder, or cyclor as they like to be called.
Wouldn't it make more sense just to have a bunch of actual cyclists?
Well they have London track cycling medallist Simon van Velthooven, but the rest of the cyclors have sailing backgrounds. Understanding what's going on with the boat is just as important.
Ok, and who's the skipper?
Glenn Ashby is the skipper, wing trimmer and sailing team director. He's won about 15 world championships in various multihull classes, and joined Team NZ for the last campaign. He's an Australian but he's ok.
Last question: who's going to win?
If only I knew the answer to that....Most pundits have written off the French, while Artemis have done very well during the practice race periods. But that's practice, not the real thing. And the reality is no one knows how fast anyone is until they line up on the racecourse for the first time on May 27th.
Greg Pearson is a sports reporter for Newshub.
