Phil Robertson’s Canada secured a place in Chicago’s winner-takes-all Final by consistently executing the fastest starts and being the quickest to cross the line after the gun.
Data provided by the league’s 10-strong F50 fleet shows that Canada had an average starting boat speed of 37.2 km/h - the quickest of the fleet, followed by Denmark with 35.3km/h and Australia, with 33.3 km/h.
Canada was also first across the start line, taking an average of 2.7 seconds to cross the line after the gun. The team translated these excellent starting stats into the highest Mark One position - an average of 2.4, followed by New Zealand's 4.3 and Australia's 4.5.
However, it's worth remembering that Australia's starting stats are skewed by an unforced error on the start line of the second fleet race. This saw the green and gold F50 veer away from the line at the last second after driver Tom Slingsby realized the team was too early.
Despite its exemplary starts, Canada was not always able to retain its Mark One ranking, losing an average of 1.3 positions to average a 3.8 finish by chalking up a 3-1-5-5-2 race record.
On the opposite end of the spectrum, Emirates GBR increased its Mark One rankings more than any other team - from an average position of 6.1 to an average finish of 4.5.
The worst Mark One rankings were picked up by Switzerland - an average of 7.7, and Germany with 7.3. However, Erik Heil’s German team was better at holding on to its positioning. While Switzerland lost an average of 1.6 positions to pick up an average finish of 9.1, Germany lost an average of 0.6 positions to finish 7.6.
Elsewhere, Australia was consistently positioned the closest to the line - just 11m, followed by Canada at 13.4m and Emirates GBR at 16.2. Conversely, it was Switzerland that was positioned the furthest away - an average of 65m, followed by France at 39m and Germany at 35m.
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