America's Cup World Series:
San Francisco Saturday Day 4

Artemis Red with Nathan Outteridge put up a good showing against ETNZ, but a penalty turned the tables, ETNZ advancing to the Final.  Click image to view quotes from the Skipper.  Photo:©2012 Guilain Grenier/Oracle Team USA

Race Program:
Match Race Semi-Finals followed by Fleet Races 5 and 6, and then the Match Race Final. All Matches are single-elimination.  First Race start 4:05 pm.

Match Race Pairings: Complete

SF1: Oracle Team USA Spithill beats Artemis White
SF2: ETNZ beats Artemis Red
Final: James Spithill skippering Oracle Spithill beats Dean Barker and Emirates Team New Zealand to win the ACWS San Francisco Match Race Championship!
See Match Race Bracket and Results
 

Match Race Semi-Final 1:
Spithill started to windward of Hutchinson and sailed over the top to mark one with a four second delta at the mark. Hutchinson headed outside while Spithill headed toward shore, but the split tack doesn't help Artemis White, as Oracle Racing Spithill ahead at mark two. The two engaged in a tacking duel heading upwind, with the AC45s handling the maneuvers well. Spithill remained ahead at the third gate, while a slow tack put Artemis behind further. Spithill took the wire to wire victory to head into the finals.

Match Race Semi-Final 2:
In the semi-final between Artemis Red (Outteridge) entered on starboard and managed to avoid the hook by Emirates Team New Zealand (Barker) as they hit the line fast and ahead.  But Artemis Red could not avoid the hook at the first mark, as they copped a penalty for a touch with Emirates Team NZ, who took the lead and never looked back.

Match Race Final:
Emirates Team New Zealand had to avoid Oracle Team USA Spithill to leeward at the start, getting stuck at the committee boat as the gun fired and letting Spithill get off to an early lead.  The Kiwis were able to narrow the American team's lead to 13 seconds at the fourth gate, but could go no further, finishing second by a losing delta of 19 seconds.

Match Race Quotes:
James Spithill, Skipper, Oracle Team USA: "JK [John Kostecki] has done a fantastic job. We were in a couple of tough positions out there and he was able to find a way around. The guy knows the bay better than anyone and I’m just glad to have him with me."

Dean Barker, Skipper, Emirates Team New Zealand: " We’d like to have come away with a win in the match race, but it wasn’t to be. We just tried to do little things better today than yesterday understanding the currents, the winds, there are so many little variables going on out there.  If you get a good handle on it, you can do really well.  We definitely feel a lot more confident in our decision making out there."

Read more quotes from the skippers today at CupInfo

Pointing the wrong way, Spithill scored DNF after this Fleet Race capsize.  Click image to view more photos of the incident.
Photo:©2012 Guilain Grenier/Oracle Team USA

Fleet Race 5:
The two Oracle boats sandwiched the field, with Coutts started at the pin end and Spithill at the committee boat, both nailing the time-on-distance. But the angle didn't help Spithill, as he followed Emirates Team New Zealand around the first corner from a wide angle -- perhaps too wide an angle, as the boat dug into the chop and nearly pitchpoled, ending in a capsize.  Emirates Team New Zealand took a much-needed win ahead of a resurgent Team Korea, who finished 2nd.
Artemis White, 3rd, Ben Ainslie 4th, China Team 5th, Energy 6th, Luna Rossa Swordfish 7th, Oracle Coutts 8th, Artemis Red 9th, Luna Rossa Piranha 10th, Oracle Spithill DNF.

Fleet Race 6:
Artemis White, Oracle Team USA Spithill, and Artemis Red all got good starts right on the line, but JP Morgan Ben Ainslie racing came tearing across the fleet at a hot angle and stole the lead at the first mark -- a lead Ainslie would not relinquish, earning his third victory in five races.  But Terry Hutchinson would not let him go, so the recurring theme continued at Artemis White held the second spot for most of the race.  Spithill, recovered from his capsize, gained offshore on leg five, taking second spot, but found himself with no room on the starboard layline.  Forced to tack behind Artemis White, Spithill fouled Emirates Team New Zealand in the process. But following Ainslie's example, Spithill came around the mark and headed into the finish at a high angle, passing Hutchinson and Barker to take second place.

America's Cup World Series: October 5
San Francisco Friday Day 3

Preview:
Friday is a late start, with the Blue Angels taking the stage early in the afternoon over San Francisco bay. The match racing quarterfinals take off at 4:05 pm local time, with Artemis Racing Red against Oracle Team USA Coutts, and JP Morgan/BAR taking on Oracle Team USA Spithill.  See Match Race Brackets

With Ainslie earning his first fleet racing victory on Thursday, will Friday see his first match racing win? The day finishes with Fleet Races 3 and 4, starting gun at 4:50 pm.

Conditions:
Winds expected to become WSW 19 to 24 knots in late afternoon (NWS).  High Tide at 3:00 pm, Match Races will be in light ebb current, with relatively flatter seas.  Fleet Races will see the ebb increasing, but not reaching max ebb.

Results:
Quarter-Final 3:
Artemis Red (Outteridge) vs. Oracle Team USA (Coutts)
Race underway:  Light contact between boats parked in the pre-start, Artemis penalized.  Seven second lead to Coutts at the first mark, and has an early margin over Outteridge.  Coutts lets them have a separation in these 13 knots winds, but keeps a 19 second lead at the downwind gate.  Upwind, the gap remains about 100 meters as they approach the top gate.  Artemis, though trailing, gets to the starboard layline first, and is up to speed as Coutts tacks on the layline ahead of them.  Coutts moved to tack around the right hand mark, while Artemis gets a twist in their gennaker, unable to unwrap and deploy it.  Coutts should sail to an easy victory on the last downwind and the finish leg.  Coutts though rounds the wrong mark and crosses the finish line.  Artemis could still win if they can finish the course correctly.  The Principal Race Officer is showing Coutts as DNF.  Artemis finishes and wins the point to advance to the Semi-Finals on Saturday, where they will face Emirates Team New Zealand.

Quarter-Final 4:
The second Match Race virtually ended before it began, as a windward Ben Ainslie got into the side of a leeward Jimmy Spithill at the starting gun.  Ainslie attempted to get into the fresher breeze on the outside of the race course but couldn't make inroads on Oracle Team USA's lead.  Oracle Team USA Spithill advances to the Semi-Finals on Saturday where they will face Terry Hutchinson and Artemis White.

Fleet Race 3:
Complete. Nice start from Coutts timing the line and jumping in on the downwind, but up-current end.  OCS penalty for China.  Coutts around the first mark with a nice set and heads for the offshore side, seeking better wind.  Ainslie, Artemis White, and LR Piranha are next around.  Boundary penalty on Piranha.  ETNZ has dropped well back.  At the bottom gate, Ainslie is first around, Artemis White second, and Coutts in third follows Ainslie turning left.  Ainslie is holding his lead.  Coutts on port approaches a cross with Hutchinson on Artemis and has to duck the Swedes.  Artemis comes back from the shore boundary and crosses just slightly behind Ainslie, closing in on the leader.  Ainslie continues to hold on, though, staying 9 seconds ahead of Artemis White at the windward gate and 13 seconds ahead of Artemis White at the second downwind gate.  Piranha, Coutts, and Artemis Red running 2-3-4.  Final Windward gate coming up, Ainslie keeping a cover on Artemis White.  Ainslie rounds, Hutchinson 11 seconds back, then Piranha and Coutts.

Ben Ainslie will win Fleet Race 3!  Artemis White is 2nd, Luna Rossa Piranha 3rd, Artemis Red 4th, ETNZ 5th, Oracle Team USA Spithill 6th, Energy Team 7th, Oracle Team USA Coutts 8th, Luna Rossa Swordfish 9th, Team Korea 10th, China Team 11th.

Fleet Race 4:
Underway!  Four OCS penalties, Korea, Artemis Red Outteridge, Luna Rossa Swordfish, and China.  Oracle Spithill rounds Mark 1 first, followed by Artemis White and Ben Ainslie.  Artemis White and Ainslie take the inshore and gain, Spithill drops back.  France gains nicely on the inshore and edges into second behind Artemis White as they round.  Ainslie is third and China 4th.  Upwind, problems with China's headsail, halyard appears to have broken or come loose.  Wind shift will skew the upwind gains, hurting Energy, helping Artemis, who rounds just a length ahead of Ainslie as they turn right and head downwind.  France rolls a tacking ETNZ at the mark to round in 3rd.  Ainslie and Hutchinson head offshore and then tack shortly, Ainslie determined to press the Swedes.  Hutchinson works to keep a cover on BAR about 70 meters behind. 

At the final downwind gate, Ainslie trails by 16 seconds, then Energy Team 21 seconds back and Spithill 34 seconds off the lead.  The boats head onto the final upwind leg.  No change in the lead.

Artemis White will win Fleet Race 4!  Ainslie is 2nd, Energy 3rd, Artemis Red 4th, Spithill 5th, ETNZ 6th, Coutts 7th, Korea 8th, China 9th, LR Piranha 10th, LR Swordfish 11th.

Two days of fleet racing put Ben Ainslie Racing atop the leaderboard with 43 points, 9 points ahead of second place Artemis White skippered by Terry Hutchinson.

America's Cup World Series:
San Francisco Thursday Day 2

Race Program October 4:
The Match Race Quarter Finals 1 and 2 begin at 12:25 pm local (3:25 pm ET). 

Conditions:
The NWS forecasts winds WSW 10-15 knots early, becoming 15-23 knots for the later races, with gusts to 29 knots.  A small craft advisory for the area notes that winds may be higher in the vicinity of the Golden Gate. Light overcast and cool with temperatures in the 60s and 70s.  High Tide at 2:18 pm, low tide at 9:02pm. The Match Races will be sailed in a moderating flood tide, with seas becoming flatter, and the Fleet Races in a building ebb tide, with seas increasing.

Quarter-Final 1 pits Team Korea versus Artemis Racing White, to be followed by Quarter-Final 2 with Energy Team versus Emirates Team New Zealand.  Each QF is expected to last 13 minutes.  The second pair of quarter-finals will be sailed tomorrow

 After the match racing, America’s Cup World Series San Francisco will stand down and share the Bay with an even faster set of winged ships when the US Navy Blue Angels arrive at 1:00 pm local (4:00 pm ET). 

 Racing resumes at 5:15 pm local (8:15 pm ET) with Fleet Races 1 and 2.

 Today the Match Races will be shown in replay, but not live.  Live streaming online begins with Fleet Racing on the dedicated America's Cup YouTube channel. Locally in the San Francisco market, NBC Bay Area will carry live Fleet Racing on channel 186 (Comcast) and 11.2 on over-the-air digital and tape-delayed Match Racing.

Results:
Quarter-Final 1:
Good early start for Korea as newcomer Peter Burling rounds ahead of veteran Terry Hutchinson, with a 4-second delta.  Downwind, it's close all the way to the bottom mark, and Artemis gains, rounding 5 seconds ahead.  The teams split, with Korea heading offshore, Artemis staying close to the breakwater going up the course. On the cross the the Swedes have opened their lead.  Korea stays on starboard tack and Artemis tacks into a loose cover and follows them to the left.  Both boats continue upwind, favoring the left-hand side and tacking back mid-course.  At the top, Korea takes two extra tacks and slips back further, 37 seconds behind.  Downwind Artemis White has a healthy lead at the turning mark, wins over Team Korea by 53 seconds, and advances to the Semi-Final on Saturday.

Quarter-Final 2:
Nearly even start for Energy Team and Emirates Team New Zealand.  Downwind, the boats are right on top of each other for Leg 2 in a drag race on port.  French skipper Loick Peyron pulls a nifty move and pulls ahead on the gybe.  At the bottom gate, Energy turns right and ETNZ turns left.  The offshore hasn't been paying, so ETNZ quickly tacks. On the first cross, ETNZ gets better wind and passes slightly ahead on starboard tack.  They tack back again shortly and ETNZ has gained again.  The Kiwis must feel they are the faster boat, and let Energy get separation out to the starboard layline.  The Kiwis keep pulling away, though, and round 40 seconds ahead at the top mark.  The lead holds and ETNZ will advance to the Semi-Finals, beating Energy Team.

Fleet Race 1:
Nice early jump for Nathan Outteridge on Artemis Red, leading downwind.  Ben Ainslie in close second and Oracle Coutts third.  Ainslie just two seconds behind Artemis Red at the bottom mark, with Ainslie going for more pressure instead of favorable current on the upwind, and finding it, pulling into the lead.  ETNZ pulls up into third and then second. Upwind the battle continues, but Ainslie is holding on to his lead, and Artemis Red is now 4th behind ETNZ and Oracle Coutts.  Downwind, a split between inshore to duck the current and offshore to get better wind.  Ainslie keeps a 14-second lead at the second bottom mark,  ETNZ second, and Coutts third as they onto the final upwind leg.

Ainslie rips around the top mark and looks to have an extra gear compared to everyone else.  Barker second follows 15 seconds back and delta to Coutts is now 32 seconds.  With the final mark coming up, Ainslie looks to have it wrapped up. 

Ben Ainslie wins Fleet Race 1! ETNZ is second, Oracle Coutts third, Artemis Red 4th, Team Korea 5th, Energy 6th, China Team 7th, Oracle Spithill 8th, Luna Rossa Piranha 9th, Artemis White 10th, and Luna Rossa Swordfish 11th.

Fleet Race 2:
Race Two started in 16 knots of breeze and more chop from the ebb tide.  ETNZ was OCS penalty on the start  with China also penalized for hitting the committee boat.  Oracle Team USA Spithill and Artemis Red with Nathan Outteridge at the helm were neck and neck early, with Ben Ainslie again taking the left side looking for fresher breeze.  Spithill led Outteridge around the first mark, with Ainslie third.  Spithill increased his lead at the second mark, with Outteridge and Ainslie in second and third.

By Gate 3, Spithill's lead was 28 seconds, with Ainslie now second and Terry Hutchinson, helming Artemis White, in third leading teammate Outteridge around the mark in fourth.  Energy had a precarious moment at the rounding as the bow dug in before the gennaker was deployed, but the French team avoided a capsize.  Ainslie split the two Artemis cats as he headed to his usual spot on the outside of the course on Leg 5, setting himself up to join the two Swedish boats heading for the mark together.  Hutchinson blanketed Ainslie, who was overlapped, and managing to keep his momentum, followed Spithill across the line to finish 37 seconds behind the winner.

Oracle Team USA Spithill wins Fleet Race 2!  Artemis White (Hutchinson) is 2nd, Ben Ainslie 3rd, Artemis Red (Outteridge) 4th, Oracle Coutts 5th, Luna Rossa Piranha 6th, Energy Team 7th, ETNZ 8th, Team Korea 9th, China Team 10th, Luna Rossa Swordfish 11th.

Quotes of the Day:
Ben Ainslie, Skipper, BAR/J.P.Morgan Racing: "It was quite a tricky race course -- there was a tidal gain on one side and a breeze gain on the other so you had to weigh out what was actually going to work."

James Spithill, Skipper, Oracle Team USA #4: "We made a lot of mistakes in the first race and it’s easy to just sit there and analyze every single thing, but the fact is, you can’t change it. We took the lessons and moved forward. The guys are pretty fired up, they want to get a good result in the second race and it was great to see them pull it off."

Russell Coutts, Skipper, Oracle Team USA #5: "I’m a little jealous of Ben, I’m here to win and he’s ahead of me right now!"

America's Cup World Series:
San Francisco Wednesday Day 1

Race Program October 3:
Qualifying Match Races, 7 matches total, 1 race per match.  First Race start 4:05 pm.  Seeds #4 to #11 compete to see which five teams advance to the Quarterfinals on Thursday and Friday. 

Conditions: NWS shows expected winds Westerly to 26 knots, gusting later to 30-32.  The course is already seeing strong conditions, with fog increasing.  The NWS has also issued a Small Craft Advisory from 1:00 pm onward.  High tide 1:42 pm, low tide 8:19 pm.  Races will be run in a strong ebb tide. Strong wind against tide will bring choppy seas.

Pairings:
Q1:
Team Korea defeats Luna Rossa Piranha
Q2: Energy Team defeats China Team
Q3: ETNZ defeats Artemis Red
Q4: Ben Ainslie Racing defeats Luna Rossa Swordfish
Q5: China Team defeats Luna Rossa Piranha
Q6: Artemis Red defeats Luna Rosa Swordfish
Q7: Q5 Winner vs. Q6 Winner
See Match Race Results in Full Bracket

Results:
Q1: Team Korea gets an early lead, but LR Piranha creeps back and gennaker problems let the Italians catch them at the last mark, but Korea pulls out to finish ahead by one second.

Q2: Energy Team stalls early, but reels China back to a boat length at the leeward mark and passes upwind, opens a 28-second lead around the top mark, defends downwind, and wins handily.

Q3: Slight early lead for ETNZ which holds to the downwind mark.  Upwind Artemis splits and goes inshore, big separation doesn't pay though, and it's 28 seconds around the top mark for the Kiwis ahead of Outteridge and Cayard.  Things get no better for Artemis Red and ETNZ wins by 51 seconds.

Q4: Six second lead early for Ben Ainslie, extending to 18 at the downwind mark. Boundary penalty on Luna Rossa heading upwind.  Ainslie's lead extends, 39 seconds with BAR more than halfway to the final mark as LR is rounding, and the final margin after another LR boundary penalty is BAR by 1 minute 15 seconds.

Q5: Late start from Piranha, but China stalls and LR pulls even.  Luffing attempt brings a no penalty call, but port-starboard does bring a flag for Luna Rossa.  Still, the Italian boat recovers to hold a 9-second lead around the downwind mark, and a stable 75-meter lead back upwind until LR blows a tack in building seas and China passes.  China turns left and Luna Rossa has to bear away and turn right.  China wins by 6 seconds. UPDATE: Post-race report is that China's wing is damaged, breaking ribs, a problem since they are supposed to meet the winning of Q6 shortly in the Q7 Match.

Q6: Artemis Red off to a small early lead over Luna Rossa Swordfish.  Boats split downwind and Artemis Red gains offshore, Outteridge gaining 10 seconds to lead by 15 over Swordfish.  Huge separation on the upwind, though Artemis still leads, opening to 23 seconds at the windward mark.  Artemis Red will round and bring home another win.

Q7: China will not be able to race. Artemis must sail the course to count the win.  They do, and advance to the Quarterfinals.

Preview:
Opening Wednesday sees an all match-racing format.  There will be some relief from the second-chance bracket of this opening round, but also serious demands on the teams trying to race head-to-head in difficult sailing conditions with winds that will be unforgiving of mistakes like late easing of sails and wing at the marks, or sharp bearaways.  The balance for skippers will be between pushing the edge in trying to win versus protecting the boat from damage and the crew from injury, hoping to survive to sail another day in San Francisco.

There are several good pairings, with the Match of the Day likely being Artemis Red versus ETNZ in Q3.  Artemis is now skippered by rising start Nathan Outteridge, with America's Cup veteran and Artemis CEO Paul Cayard making his AC45 racing debut. Cayard brings tactical skills and local knowledge to the boat, while Outteridge and crew help their boss adapt to multihulls.  Outteridge is adjusting to a new boat while opponent Dean Barker and his ETNZ team have been trying to get back into the consistently winning form they showed last season.  The match should help measure the progress of both.