America’s Cup racing in Oman – Day 1

with great weather and a nice crowd enjoying the spectacle just offshore.

With a light breeze and warm sunshine, Al Mouj in Muscat has been hosting the Louis Vuitton America’s Cup World Series which is the first stage of competition in the 2017 America’s Cup.

Americas Cup Oman Emirates Groupama
Americas Cup Oman Emirates Groupama

The six teams will race an AC45 catamarans, a wingsail catamaran designed specifically for the event; where as for the America’s Cup they will race AC72 catamarans which are 50% larger.The teams were hoping for a 10-15 knot breeze though on Saturday it was around 7knots.

Americas Cup Oman team LandRover
Americas Cup Oman team LandRover

Entering the Oman races the teams were led by Emirates Team New Zealand, which had a 10-point lead over second placed Oracle Team USA with LandRover BAR from the UK in 3rd, Artemis Racing from Sweden in 4th, SoftBank Team Japan in 5th and Groupama from France in 6th.The races on Saturday will give the winner 10 points, second place collects 9 points, third place 8 points, and so on. Points are scored double on Sunday, when the winner of each race collects 20 points, second place 18 points, third place 16 points – making an exciting finish.

Sir Ben Ainslie (Land Rover BAR) is hoping to unveil his team’s yacht late this year and enjoy a winning position in the America’s Cup finals in 2017; he has good reason to be confident having won 4 Olympic gold medals and the America’s Cup.

Author: Tony Walsh

Book author including the current Bradt guide to Oman