Spain executed flawless tactical decision-making to beat season leaders New Zealand and three-time champions Australia in Bermuda’s three-team, winner-takes-all Final.
Data provided by Oracle Insights pinpoints crucial moments throughout the race which contributed to Diego Botin’s stunning victory.
First up was Spain’s impressive, inch-perfect start. Speaking live on broadcast ahead of the race, wing trimmer Florian Trittel revealed the team’s intention was ‘not to be the furthest windward boat’.
This is exactly what the Spanish orchestrated by hanging back and making a last minute sprint to the start line, snaking behind Australia and New Zealand to secure the all-important inside line to Mark 1.
The tactics paid off in speed - Spain’s 57.4 km/h starting speed was over 20km/h faster than Australia’s 36 km/h, while New Zealand clocked a starting speed of 44.8 km/h.
This set Spain up for a dominating start, despite the team being positioned furthest from the start line (21.3m versus Australia’s 2.3m and New Zealand’s 1.9m respectively). Spain also took longer to cross the line after the gun (1.4 seconds versus Australia and New Zealand’s 0.3 seconds), but this too was cancelled out by the boat’s supercharged speed.
The stunning start meant the crew secured the tactical inside position at Mark 1, putting them in first place and in a position to defend hard against New Zealand.
As the race progressed, Spain minimized maneuvers and speed loss, undertaking just one maneuver on every downwind leg compared to New Zealand and Australia’s three.
Strong defense from the Spanish forced New Zealand to undertake extra maneuvers and split from Spain at every opportunity, forcing them onto the less favorable side of the course.
This meant Spain sailed a shorter distance than both other teams - 9.2km compared to New Zealand’s 9.3km and Australia’s 9.5km - and performed a total of 9 maneuvers while New Zealand and Australia’s performed 11 apiece. Spain also had a perfect 100% fly time, matched by New Zealand, while Australia was just shy with 98%.
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