The 8th

Louis Vuitton Cup The Louis Vuitton Cup is the name of the Challenger (America's Cup), Challenger Selection Series sailing competition from 1983, named after its Sponsor (commercial), sponsor, Louis Vuitton. The winner of the competition became the Challenger (A ...

was held during July and August 2013, in

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. The three contenders were Artemis Racing (Sweden), Emirates Team New Zealand (New Zealand), and Luna Rossa Challenge (Italy). After a preliminary round robin to determine seeding, Artemis Racing was eliminated in the semi-final round by Luna Rossa Challenge by four races to none. In the final, Emirates Team New Zealand beat Luna Rossa Challenge by seven races to one, and went on to challenge Oracle Team USA for the

2013 America's Cup The 34th America's Cup was a regatta, series of yacht races held in San Francisco Bay in September 2013. The series was contested between the defender Oracle Team USA team representing the Golden Gate Yacht Club, and the challenger Emirates Team ...

The teams

Twelve yacht clubs applied to challenge the America's Cup before the deadline, though their names were not originally disclosed. They included: * Club Nautico di Roma (the original challenger of record, withdrew) * Kungliga Svenska Segelsällskapet * Circolo della Vela Sicilia * Royal New Zealand Yacht Squadron * Aleph Yacht Club (withdrew) * Yacht Club de France (withdrew) * Měi Fán Yacht Club * Real Club Náutico de Valencia * Club Canottieri Roggero di Lauria (failed eligibility) * Sail Korea Yacht Club On August 2, 2012, the America's Cup Event Authority announced that, following withdrawals or failure to meet the eligibility criteria, only four challenging teams would compete: Kungliga Svenska Segelsällskapet's Artemis Racing, Royal New Zealand Yacht Squadron's Team New Zealand, Circolo della Vela Sicilia's Luna Rossa Challenge and Sail Korea Yacht Club's Team Korea In March, 2013, Team Korea withdrew, leaving three challengers. Shown in the order in which they applied, they were:

Artemis Racing (SWE)

The Challenger of Record, Artemis Racing represented the Royal Swedish Yacht Club and was led by skipper Iain Percy, helmsman Loïck Peyron and America's Cup veteran Paul Cayard as tactician and CEO. The crew included Rodney Ardern, Magnus Augustson, Stuart Bettany, Curtis Blewett, Chris Brittle, Sean Clarkson, Juliean Cressant, Rodney Daniel, Andy Fethers, Thierry Fouchier, John Gimson, Kevin Hall, Phil Jameson, Iain Jensen, Santiago Lange, Andrew McLean, Craig Monk, Nathan Outteridge, Troy Tindill and coach Andrew Palfrey. Tom Schnackenberg was in charge of performance & design.

Emirates Team New Zealand (NZL)

Led by Grant Dalton and skippered by Dean Barker, Team New Zealand won the America's Cup in

1995 1995 was designated as: * United Nations Year for Tolerance * World Year of Peoples' Commemoration of the Victims of the Second World War This was the first year that the Internet was entirely privatized, with the United States government ...

and

2000 2000 was designated as the International Year for the Culture of Peace and the World Mathematics, Mathematical Year. Popular culture holds the year 2000 as the first year of the 21st century and the 3rd millennium, because of a tende ...

and the Louis Vuitton Cup in

and

2007 2007 was designated as the International Heliophysical Year and the International Polar Year. Events January * January 1 **Bulgaria and Romania 2007 enlargement of the European Union, join the European Union, while Slovenia joins the Eur ...

Luna Rossa Challenge (ITA)

Funded by Patrizio Bertelli, the Italian team previously won the Louis Vuitton Cup in

and were runners-up in

. The crew included skipper Massimiliano Sirena, helmsman Paul Campbell-James, Chris Draper, Giulio Giovanella, Benjamin Durham, Pierluigi De Felice, Dave Carr, Giles Scott, Nick Hutton, Matteo Plazzi, Alister Richardson, Simone de Mari, Emanuele Marino, Manuel Modena, Marco Montis, Wade Morgan, Francesco Bruni and Olympian Xabier Fernández. Steven Erickson was the team's sailing co-ordinator and Umberto Panerai was a trainer.

Round Robins

The three yachts were scheduled to race ten times each, match-racing each competitor five times on a seven-leg course, with the winner of the Round Robins advancing to the final and the other two advancing into the semi-final. On May 9, 2013, Team Artemis Racing's main boat capsized in strong winds, resulting in the death of crewmember Andrew Simpson. Artemis Racing forfeited its ten Round Robin races, entering the competition in the semi-finals stage. Per rules 60.5 and 44.1c, the Artemis boat was deemed to have abandoned each race after the event had run for 10 minutes. While the Emirates and Luna Rossa boats earned black flag victories against Artemis, both boats chose to run a five-leg course for some (Luna Rossa) or all (Emirates, including one seven-leg) of these black flag races. Emirates and Luna Rossa only raced nine times, each forfeiting their final race against the missing Artemis as it could not change the final first-second standings of the Round Robins. Emirates Team New Zealand won the Round Robins with nine points (4 race wins, 5 forfeit wins) to Luna Rossa Challenge's four points (4 forfeit wins) and Artemis Racing's zero points.

Semi-finals

The semi-finals were a best-of-seven event held over the seven-leg course and won 4-nil by Luna Rossa Challenge over Artemis Racing.

Finals

The finals were a best-of-thirteen event held over the five-leg course won by Team New Zealand over Luna Rossa.

References

{{Use mdy dates, date=July 2013 Louis Vuitton Cup

Sports in the San Francisco Bay Area

2013 America's Cup Sailing competitions in California