Now You Know: Team USA Wins America's Cup

Betcha didn't know this was happening Wednesday afternoon.

Yeah, that's right, Yacht racing.

It's being called one of sports history's greatest comebacks. Oracle Team USA, down 8-1 just last week, has come back to win the America's Cup over Team New Zealand.

This was after Oracle Team USA was docked last week for modifying boats in warmup regattas and had to win 11 races to retain their title.

The race Wednesday, a winner take all, was Race 19 in the competition and took place on San Francisco Bay.

Here's your highlights...
((HT: NBC Sports))

America's Cup Moves Forward After Training Death

((americascup.com))

While saying a thorough review is in order after a training accident in San Francisco took the life of British Olympic sailor Andrew "Bart" Simpson, the people in charge of this years America's Cup say the event will proceed as planned.

Simpson was killed while aboard the Artemis boat in San Francisco Bay last week capsized and broke apart in the middle of a training run.

The committee in charge of the event did feel it necessary to create a review board to look at the team training and boat safety for the event that begins on July 4th.

You can read the committee statement RIGHT HERE

While Simpson's accident was horrible and unfortunate, on the surface, there is no indication of a problem. The Cup Committee is investigating what happened as they should. And nobody, at least that we've seen, is telling them they should cancel the event.

Our Sympathies go out to the Simpson family and hopefully a thorough investigation will figure out exactly why what happened, happened.

KGO-TV in San Francisco reports on the original incident:

Artemis 72 Crash Won't Stop America's Cup... Yet...

((HT: KGO-TV))

The America's Cup is supposed to be a showcase of some of the best boatsmen in the world...

And the crash of Artemis 72 and death of Andrew Simpson is raising questions as to whether or not the sport has out-sped itself for the sake of attracting folks to the redefined catamaran racing in San Francisco Bay.

America's Cup director Stephen Barclay said he is waiting for the results of an internal inquiry before making any official race changes or adjustments. Regatta director Iain Murray is in charge of the internal investigation.

Here's team coverage...


The challenger series starts in July while the America's Cup challenge itself starts against Larry Ellison's Oracle team in August.

2-Time Medalist Dies In America's Cup Boating Accident

((HT: KGO-TV))

San Francisco Bay is buzzing with the practices of all the practicing involving the upcoming America's Cup defense by the St. Francis Yacht Club...

But the Artemis Racing team lost one of their own when their boat capsized in the bay- trapping 2-time five-ringed gold medalist Andrew Simpson for close to ten minutes before he could be rescued...

The Artemis team has raised eyebrows by not having a catamaran element called a foiled daggerboard. The daggerboard lifts yacht holes out of the water when the wind reaches high speeds. The breezes were around 25 miles per hour in the Bay Thursday. Srtemis CEO, and celebrated skipper Paul Cayard, has said that not having the daggerboard keeps the cat more stable in the water.

But this is the third time that a boat has capsized during practice for the Challenger's Series this summer...

Here's how KGO covered the saga early on...


Cayard released the following statement at an afternoon presser:

“Our prayers are with Andrew Simpson’s family, his wife and kids, and also the rest of my teammates. It’s a shocking experience to go through, and we have a lot to deal with in the next few days in terms of assuring everybody’s well being.

“The boat’s under control, but that’s not the first of our concerns. We’re focused on the people.

“That’s what we’re working with and on and we’ll give you more information when we’re able to.”