The America’s Cup World Series

Newport hosted the 34th America’s Cup World Series, which concluded on Sunday in front of nearly 8,000 spectators at Fort Adams. ORACLE TEAM USA was prominent in all areas of the leader board.Jimmy Spithill’s team earned the overall 2011-12 AC World Series Championship with a strong second place finish in both the match racing and fleet racing in Newport. Spithill also claimed the overall season Fleet Racing Championship while Sweden’s Artemis Racing won the inaugural season’s Match Racing Championship.

Newport hosted the 34th America’s Cup World Series, which concluded on Sunday in front of nearly 8,000 spectators at Fort Adams. ORACLE TEAM USA was prominent in all areas of the leader board.Jimmy Spithill’s team earned the overall 2011-12 AC World Series Championship with a strong second place finish in both the match racing and fleet racing in Newport. Spithill also claimed the overall season Fleet Racing Championship while Sweden’s Artemis Racing won the inaugural season’s Match Racing Championship.

Oracle’s other team Russell Coutts won the Newport Match Racing Championship over Spithill and almost took out the fleet race as well, but was beat by Chris Draper’s Prada Luna Rossa Piranha team, who grabbed the Newport Fleet Racing Championship. Coutts held on for second place. For skipper Chris Draper, the fleet racing win was a nice turn around after a difficult week in Newport. Luna Rossa Piranha also won the World Series round 4 in Naples.

Terry Hutchinson’s Team Sweden Artemis Racing placed fourth in the Newport Match Racing Championship, which earned his team enough points to win the Match Racing title for the season. The Newport event marks the end of the first season of AC World Series racing and follows previous events in Cascais (POR), Plymouth (UK), San Diego (USA), Naples and Venice (ITA). Regatta Director Iain Murray and his team have conducted 133 races over 30 days of racing in the six international venues. Over the time, only one day of races has been postponed due to bad storm in Naples on April 14. 
 Sunday’s final racing was broadcast live, coast to coast, in the USA on NBC, marking the return of the Cup to network television for the first time in more than 20 years. The final day of racing in the opening two events of the 2012-13 AC World Series in San Francisco on August 21-26 and October 4-7 will likewise be shown on NBC. The Newport races were under beautiful clear sunny weather all week but it was not all smooth sailing, On Day One the Emirates Team New Zealand encountered a technical problem and capsized, it was down in the water for the rest of the race with difficulty to be lift up. On Day Three, the Oracle Team USA Coutts collided with a mark boat breaking a rope for the sail and couldn’t repair fast enough to make the second race of the day. Both teams’ base staff diligently repaired the damages and resumed the racing next day.

To top off the exciting week of races, America’s Cup hosted a reception and dinner party at one of the most magnificent Newport mansions The Breakers for team members and sponsors. The Breakers was originally built in 1895 as the 70-room summer estate of Cornelius Vanderbilt II and currently a National Historic Landmark. The party was held at the majestic two and a half story high Great Hall made of marble, alabaster and carved gilded wood ceilings, all the crew team members were introduced on the balcony of the Hall. The dinner was served on the spacious terrace overlooking the rolling lawn and sea.