Team Performance Comparisons: Louis Vuitton Cup RR 1

Also: See LVC Round Robin 1 + 2 Statistics

*The analysis above is based only on the "completed" legs of Round Robin 1, defined as a race leg where both boats sailed the entire leg to the next mark. Excluded are: races where one team Did Not Start (DNS); and the legs from Did Not Finish (DNF) or Disqualifed (DSQ) races where both boats did not complete the leg. (This is an update from an earlier version that only included completed races, not individual completed legs.)

A couple RR1 observations, team by team:

Orient Express Racing (FRA):
Upwind performance stands out. Usually it is better to be faster upwind than downwind, and this was true even in traditional America’s Cup monohulls or multhihulls, because more time is spent on the upwind leg. The exact balance between the two has to be found, but France has good upwind speed to work from.

INEOS Team Britannia (GBR):
INEOS sailed well in RR1, they are the only team to win every race when leading at Mark 1.

Luna Rossa Prada Pirelli (ITA):
LRPP had the strongest performance in RR1; only ITA and NZL were not in the lower range in any of these categories. LRPP is also the only boat with 5 complete races in the data for RR1, so they have seen all the competitors, and put up a good showing. Half of the upwind passes were theirs.

Emirates Team New Zealand (NZL):
The RRs don’t count for any points for the Defender, so it’s an open question at what percentage of their potential they are sailing depending on the situation and their opponent. Even if they are backing off the throttle, New Zealand is still a worry for the challengers. What’s more, ETNZ won their two complete races (against ITA and USA) even though Emirates didn't lead at Mark 1. (In their other matches: NZL didn’t start against GBR; FRA didn’t start against NZL; and SUI was DSQ before the start though 4 legs were sailed unofficially.)

Alinghi Red Bull Racing (SUI):
Alinghi had more gains downwind than upwind, proportionately more so than the other teams. They also had the lowest total percentage of legs with any gains. Whether it’s an issue in tuning, sailing, or design, it’s hard to say at this point, but either way, Alinghi’s is not showing the performance yet that they will need.

NYYC American Magic (USA):
American Magic looked good in completed races, but their numbers aren’t there yet, including points. Upwind speed was impressive at times, but in two races they did lose a lead after Mark 1.

See LVC Round Robin Results and Standings 

Notes:
Round Robin 1 of AC37 Louis Vuitton Cup Challenger Selection Series featured all 6 teams, and 15 starting procedures.

Recording rounding time, analyzing first cross, passes, and comparing upwind and downwind gains helps paint a picture of what is unfolding in Barcelona.

ITA made the most of Round Robin 1 to develop their platform and gauge the opposition, having raced 30 of these 71 completed legs, while NZL's racing time, after they did not start in one race and FRA did not start in another, was less they might have expected.

The six teams showed different strengths and weaknesses, like FRA boat's ability to gain upwind (82% of the completed uw legs), but also their failure to gain on their opponent downwind (9% of completed dw legs).

Overall, Round Robin 1 illustrated the difficulty of recovering from a touchdown in the low wind range, but some close matches were raced, resulting in 10 passes, and several dramatic comebacks. 

Of the completed 11 races, seven were won by the team which led at the 1st cross (69% conversion), with the same win ratio of 69% for the boat leading at Mark 1. 

This dataset will improve as RR2 starts.

Limitations:
Not all teams faced the same combination of opponents or sailing conditions.

In any case this is a small sample size, and individual decisions about sail selection or tactics are built into the results, not just design and boat tuning. Of course, it takes the entire package to win.

So this is not a comprehensive or even-handed sample, but it does summarize some of the performance in the RR stage to date, revealing patterns in how the teams are sailing, and suggests competitive aspects to keep in mind during RR2.

Additionally, the comparision in only completed legs (which simplifies some of the calculations) does not include some legs where a team's performance might affect the statistics. USA particularly sailed well against FRA, while the race was stopped before FRA finished leg 5, so two legs USA sailed are not counted here.