2013 Louis Vuitton Cup


The 8th Louis Vuitton Cup was held during July and August 2013, in San Francisco, California, United States of America. The three contenders were Artemis Racing, Emirates Team New Zealand, and Luna Rossa Challenge. After a preliminary round robin to determine seeding, Artemis Racing was eliminated in the semi-final round by Luna Rossa Challenge by four races to none. In the final, Emirates Team New Zealand beat Luna Rossa Challenge by seven races to one, and went on to challenge Oracle Team USA for the 2013 America's Cup.

The teams

Twelve yacht clubs applied to challenge the America's Cup before the deadline, though their names were not originally disclosed. They included:
On August 2, 2012, the America's Cup Event Authority announced that, following withdrawals or failure to meet the eligibility criteria, only four challenging teams would compete: Kungliga Svenska Segelsällskapet's Artemis Racing, Royal New Zealand Yacht Squadron's Team New Zealand, Circolo della Vela Sicilia's Luna Rossa Challenge and Sail Korea Yacht Club's Team Korea
In March, 2013, Team Korea withdrew, leaving three challengers. Shown in the order in which they applied, they were:
ClubTeamSkipperReference
Kungliga Svenska SegelsällskapetArtemis Racing Iain Percy
Royal New Zealand Yacht SquadronEmirates Team New Zealand Dean Barker
Circolo della Vela SiciliaLuna Rossa Challenge Massimiliano “Max” Sirena

Artemis Racing (SWE)

The Challenger of Record, Artemis Racing represented the Royal Swedish Yacht Club and was led by skipper Iain Percy, helmsman Loick Peyron and America's Cup veteran Paul Cayard as tactician and CEO. The crew included Rodney Ardern, Magnus Augustson, Stuart Bettany, Curtis Blewett, Chris Brittle, Sean Clarkson, Juliean Cressant, Rodney Daniel, Andy Fethers, Thierry Fouchier, John Gimson, Kevin Hall, Phil Jameson, Iain Jensen, Santiago Lange, Andrew McLean, Craig Monk, Nathan Outteridge, Troy Tindill and coach Andrew Palfrey. Tom Schnackenberg was in charge of performance & design.

Emirates Team New Zealand (NZL)

Led by Grant Dalton and skippered by Dean Barker, Team New Zealand won the America's Cup in 1995 and 2000 and the Louis Vuitton Cup in 1995 and 2007.

Luna Rossa Challenge (ITA)

Funded by Patrizio Bertelli, the Italian team previously won the Louis Vuitton Cup in 2000 and were runners-up in 2007. The crew included skipper Massimiliano Sirena, helmsman Paul Campbell-James, Chris Draper, Giulio Giovanella, Benjamin Durham, Pierluigi De Felice, Dave Carr, Giles Scott, Nick Hutton, Matteo Plazzi, Alister Richardson, Simone de Mari, Emanuele Marino, Manuel Modena, Marco Montis, Wade Morgan, Francesco Bruni and Olympian Xabier Fernández.
Steven Erickson was the team's sailing co-ordinator and Umberto Panerai was a trainer.

Round Robins

The three yachts were scheduled to race ten times each, match-racing each competitor five times on a seven-leg course, with the winner of the Round Robins advancing to the final and the other two advancing into the semi-final.
On May 9, 2013, Team Artemis Racing's main boat capsized in strong winds, resulting in the death of crewmember Andrew Simpson. Artemis Racing forfeited its ten Round Robin races, entering the competition in the semi-finals stage.
Per rules 60.5 and 44.1c, the Artemis boat was deemed to have abandoned each race after the event had run for 10 minutes. While the Emirates and Luna Rossa boats earned black flag victories against Artemis, both boats chose to run a five-leg course for some or all of these black flag races. Emirates and Luna Rossa only raced nine times, each forfeiting their final race against the missing Artemis as it could not change the final first-second standings of the Round Robins.
Emirates Team New Zealand won the Round Robins with nine points to Luna Rossa Challenge's four points and Artemis Racing's zero points.

Semi-finals

The semi-finals were a best-of-seven event held over the seven-leg course and won 4-nil by Luna Rossa Challenge over Artemis Racing.
Date Luna Rossa Challenge Artemis RacingDeltaScore
August 6, 201343'20"45'20"2'00"1-0
August 7, 201354'26"56'32"2'06"2-0
August 9, 201347'36"48'54"1'18"3-0
August 10, 201347'11"49'23"2'11"4-0

Finals

The finals were a best-of-thirteen event held over the five-leg course won by Team New Zealand over Luna Rossa.
Date Emirates Team New Zealand Luna Rossa ChallengeDeltaScore
August 17, 201331'03"DNF1-0
August 18, 2013DSQ25'34"1-1
August 19, 201322'28"DNF2-1
August 21, 201325'39"27'57"2'18"3-1
August 21, 201324'26"25'53"1'27"4-1
August 23, 201328'03"30'00"1'57"5-1
August 24, 201323'38"25'36"1'58"6-1
August 25, 201333'49"37'09"3'20"7-1