AC Racing Close!

[Flyingriki]

Given their speeds, this was a VERY close tack!

[44'cruisingcat]

Looks to be a very competitive series this year, impossible to pick the winner.

[Just Another Sa]

Originally Posted by 44'cruisingcat

Looks to be a very competitive series this year, impossible to pick the winner.

That's correct, but if it was all about the qualifier results (and it's not), it would be possible to pick the 3 on the top.
- ETNZ lost 2 races on oracle, and without umpire error, would have lost one more to Artemis. Win the rest 7 races clean.
- Oracle lost 2 races to Artemis, win the rest 8 clean.
- Artemis, won oracle twice and 3 more races, and would have also won ETNZ once without umpire error, making 6 wins total, and 4 losses. Clearly the fastest when wind is up so far, but consistency is not yet up to the other 2.

In the wins the rest of the teams are much further down. But some races were actually pretty close.
Actual AC is predicted to be in lighter airs based on statistics, but nothing is ever certain regarding weather.

The tradeoff wind speeds for different foils are critical:
The boat that has just slightly smaller foils than the opponent for a similar, but slightly higher wind range, has a little drag advantage most of the time, and is substantially slower in narrow range of conditions, when having to use a foil intended for lighter air then the opponent. Over all that gives statistical advantage for winning, as time difference is irrelevant at the finish line and only number of wins count.
At least the 2 challengers mentioned of those 3 teams mentioned and SBTJ are likely to have enough time to get their consistency up to the task before actual AC, should they make it there to meet the defender, oracle.

Other than those issues the boats are equal and it's up to the skills of the sailors who will win the Cup. But the development is definitely not over, and some boats can still end up faster than the others. It's therefore very competitive series for both the sailors and the rest of the team trying to improve the boats. AC at it's best.