This post is part of my America’s Cup in San Francisco blog post series.

I missed the first two days of racing of the RedBull Youth America’s Cup (RBYAC) here in San Francisco, but I was very pleased to see our Swiss Team Tilt being in second place. Unfortunately, they couldn’t keep this position during races four and five as too many penalties cost them many places. At the end of day three, the were sixth in the overall standing.  Could they recover in the final two races on day four?

The race course for the RBYAC is identical to last year’s America’s Cup World Series. So I went to my favorite spot on the jetty next to the Wave Organ. Being Swiss, I was happy to find a big support team for Switzerland’s Team Tilt of parents and friends!

There can’t be an event where a team from Switzerland is participating without having some cow bells to cheer them on.

I have been watching America’s Cup races for a while now, but there is nothing better than a fleet race. 10 boats were competing in the RBYAC and all of them are fighting for the best position at the start.

The first leg is always great to see as all the boats are close together.

Difficult to see, but the Swiss got a great start and turned in second place at mark 1.

Soon thereafter, the Swiss were leading the pack.

The wind exceeded the wind limits and the start for the second race of the day was pushed back several times. During this time, the teams to advantage of having more time on their AC45s.

Eventually, the second race was abandoned and the score after race 7 became the final result:

1. NZL Sailing Team with Emirates Team New Zealand (NZL) – Peter Burling: 2-RDG-7-3-1-1-4/57 points
2. Full Metal Jacket Racing (NZL) – William Tiller: 7-1-4-6-6-3-5/45 points
3. ROFF/Cascais Sailing Team (POR) – Bernardo Freitas: 3-6-1-8-8-5-2/44 points
4. Team TILT (SUI) – Lucien Cujean: 8-5-2-2-9-7-1/43 points
5. American Youth Sailing Force (USA) – Mike Menninger: 1-7-3-5-7-4-8/42 points
6. Swedish Youth Challenge (SWE) – Charlie Eckberg: 6-2-9-1-4-6-10/39 points
7. Objective Australia (AUS) – Jason Waterhouse: RDG-10-6-10-2-2-3/38 points
8. Next World Energy (FRA) – Arthur Ponroy: 4-4-8-4-5-9-6/37 points
9. All In Racing (GER) – Philipp Buhl: 5-8-5-9-3-8-9/30 points
10. USA45 Racing (USA) – Charlie Buckingham: 9-9-10-7-10-10-7/15 points

The teams were really close together. Six of the ten teams had won a race and only 7 points separate France’s Next World Energy on place 7 and New Zealand’s Full Metal Jacket Racing on place 2. Wow! The Swiss on place 4 only missed second place by two points, or third place by one point. So close! Congratulation to Team Tilt for their strong showing!

Head’s up to Peter Burling and NZL Sailing Team for winning the series.