I think that Luna Rosa’s average speed for the entire course was faster than the wind speed.
SAN FRANCISCO (AP) - Emirates Team New Zealand set another top speed for America’s Cup 72-foot catamarans, hitting 44.15 knots, or 50.8 mph.
Top speed translates to 81.7 kilometers per hour or 74.5 feet per second. The wind speed on the leg peaked at 15.8 knots, close to x3 wind !
Race Stats:
- Emirates Team New Zealand sailed the five-leg America’s Cup course
- Course length: 9.32 nautical miles
- Total distance sailed: 10.97 nautical miles (17% greater than the straight line course distance)
- Elapsed time: 23 minutes, 1 second
- Average speed: 28.1 knots (32 mph)
- Top speed: 44.15 knots (50.8 mph) on the first leg, reach
- Wind speed: average 15.5 knots; peak gust 17.4 knot
"By far this is the coolest, most fun boat I’ve ever sailed on,’’ said Emirates Team New Zealand wing trimmer Glenn Ashby, who watched Thursday’s race from a chase boat. "Doing 40-plus knots reaching and downwind and low-to-mid-20 knots upwind, there’s no other boat as a sailor that you’d ever wish to sail on at that moment. The boats are getting faster and faster. Every month, we’re getting quicker. If we had another six or eight months of development we’d probably get another three to four knots quicker. The feeling sailing downwind is surreal, covering ground that quickly.’’
O.R picking race with kite boarder that cannot sail faster than the wind anyway ? … but love the guys wheels !!! 
Let’s see how fast that guy can go upwind.
Granted - it didn’t foil, wasn’t 72 feet long and had a soft sail, but folks never understood the enjoyment and excitement of racing a cat… or tri
Sigh …
I didn’t think you could go upwind, being pulled by a kite.
Not too much different than a sail - except for mast. It won’t sail as “close” to wind, but can sail to windward, none the less
Artemis hits the water …finally !
The crew must be excited, looking forward to see if they can get her up to speed quickly as they did with their Foiling AC 45 training package… Good luck Artemis !
Congrats to ETNZ!!
Any point in LR being ‘in the race’? (other than practice)
Row
been away from the net for a few days, heard the news about sailing with no jib just no details. if ETNZ had not broken. I would have guessed that they ran the race with out the jib just to keep Oracle from getting any good speed data on ETNZ. the facy that they went from a 30 second lead to a +2 minute lead with no jib. Very impressive.
May Art, will have something to help ETNZ practice against since LR seems to be all show and not much go…
They already have data proving that the gennaker is slower than the jib in over 6-8 kts of wind, so it seems realistic that the jib would become a liability at some upper windspeed (except for prestart maneuvers). This race was sailed in the 18kt range, so my guess is that it was no performance hit to do without.
LR did a nice job in the prestart and had a good go at ETNZ for a bit, but needed more time on the water and knot or two more speed.
Yeah, somebody was commenting on the 7/23 race that LR should have use the chute for top speed, but we all know that it would have made things even worse than it was.
My opinion on why LR was slow was because the winglet on the rudder was bent or twisted just a little, enough to make a difference. That’s why LR was bobbing up & down on the downwinds so much, and slow overall.
nope,
just another dnf for LR
are they still ‘in the race’?
What if ETNZ as the winner of Round Robin decides to take part at the LVC Semi Finals, then the Italians would be out of the game? 
But, who would try a semi final against the master of disaster Artemis, when not needed?
Largest victory @ 7+ minutes… maybe LR and ART will have fun playing together. but right now LR is getting their asses kicked like a one legged man at an ass kicking contest. 
Artemis foils on the first day… [video]http://m.youtube.com/watch?v=4dz9UqazFLk[/video] Huge achievement for all involved. My colleagues are finally being allowed home to see their families.