August 24, 2012

 Photo:©2012 ACEA/Gilles Martin-Raget

From America's Cup Event Authority:

 Photo:©2012 ACEA/Gilles Martin-Raget

Coutts crashes out, Korea makes a move at the AC World Series in San Francisco

Oracle Team USA Coutts (Russell Coutts) crashed out of the America’s Cup World Series races in spectacular fashion on Friday, hitting the Race Committee boat at speed during the start of fleet race number three. 

The veteran had been trying to squeeze into a narrow gap between the start boat and his stablemate, Oracle Team USA Spithill (Jimmy Spithill), but there wasn’t enough room and a violent collision resulted. 

“I thought there might be a gap there, and there wasn’t,” said Coutts.  “It was a tough break.  I didn’t think it was that risky.  I thought they were going to turn down and start the race and they just kept turning up and shut the door.” (Click Here to watch a video of the incident)

The top performer on the day was Nathan Outteridge and his Team Korea crew.  In the first race, Outteridge battled Paul Campbell-James and his Luna Rossa Swordfish crew for the lead before penalty trouble dropped the Koreans back to fourth place.  In the meantime, the Italian Piranha crew grabbed second place and Yann Guichard’s Energy Team sailed their best race to place third. 

“It was a big day today.  There was a bit of breeze and we were usually at the front of the fleet, which is great for us,” said Outteridge, the recent Olympic gold medalist.  “A fourth and second, you’re going to take that any day.  Consistency is the key for the first three days and then on the last day you’ve got to send it pretty hard.”

In the day’s second fleet race, Emirates Team New Zealand (Dean Barker) was able to power off the starting line to lead into the first mark but on the second upwind leg, Oracle Team USA Spithill pushed into the lead to win the race.  Outteridge again performed well, stealing second place from the Kiwis on the final sprint to the finish.  Ben Ainslie had his best result of the fleet races, taking fourth place. 

“JK (John Kostecki, tactician) has spent a lot of hours on this Bay,” said Spithill.  “I don’t think anyone can know the Bay completely, but it certainly helps for him having spent a lot of hours out there.  It was incredible racing.  It feels like you’re in a stadium and I think that’s what we’ve created here.  We appreciate the support and are looking forward to an even bigger turnout over the weekend.”

The results leave Spithill at the head of fleet, with Outteridge and Team Korea vaulting into second place.  Coutts, after a strong opening day in the fleet races, tumbles down the leaderboard to 10th place. 

The afternoon started with the final two pairs of the match racing quarterfinals, and following the first match J.P.  Morgan BAR skipper Ainslie apologized to his crew after mistiming the start.  That allowed Emirates Team New Zealand to romp to an easy win and advance to the semifinals.  “Sorry about the start guys, still getting used to it,” Ainslie said when he crossed the finish line, as the most successful Olympic sailor of all-time works to find his feet on the AC45 circuit. 

The second match was closer.  Coutts won the start and led for much of the first lap.  But Energy Team’s Yann Guichard found favorable conditions offshore to cross ahead early on the upwind leg.  Coutts then regained the lead and aggressively covered his French opponent, protecting a narrow advantage to the finish line. 

Coverage of the racing (2:00 pm PDT start time tomorrow and 11:30 am on Sunday) will be broadcast live around the world on the America’s Cup YouTube channel (subject to territorial broadcast restrictions).  On television, coverage is available on Saturday throughout the Bay Area on NBC Bay Area 11.2, and in California on Comcast Sportsnet California.  The Super Sunday finale will be broadcast live, coast to coast, in the United States, on NBC from 11:30 am PDT (there will be no live coverage in the United States on YouTube). 

AC World Series San Francisco Race Day Three
Match Racing Quarterfinals Results
Emirates Team New Zealand beat J.P.  Morgan BAR, 1-0
Oracle Team USA Coutts beat Energy Team, 1-0

Match Racing Leaderboard (First to fourth still to be determined)
5.  Energy Team
6.  Luna Rossa Piranha
7.  Luna Rossa Swordfish
8.  J.P. Morgan BAR
9.  Team Korea
10.  China Team
11.  Artemis Racing Red

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From Emirates Team New Zealand:

Photo:©2012 Chris Cameron/ETNZ

Kiwis Improve on Day 3

Emirates Team New Zealand had a much better day on the water on Friday at the Americas Cup World Series San Francisco regatta. 

After emphatically winning the match race quarter-final against JPM-BAR, the team showed improved form in the fleet racing, taking a fifth and third place. 

But skipper Dean Barker was still far from satisfied with the day on the water.

The day started well.  Winning the quarter-final against Ben Ainslie when we have not done much match racing lately was a good result.

We are disappointed that we did not finish the job on the second fleet race.  We had the opportunities to really nail it and we did not execute it well enough.

The sun was shining and the breeze was up at San Francisco.  The fog dissipated early creating ideal conditions for the breeze to strengthen as the day progressed.

Dean Barker and crew James Dagg, Glenn Ashby, Ray Davies and Derek Saward cleaned out Ben Ainslie in the start of the quarter-final and were never seriously threatened.  ETNZ's winning margin was 33sec.

Today's first fleet race provided drama aplenty.  A collision at the start Oracle 5 slammed into the committee boat and retired and many lead changes in the course of the 23-minute race.

Yesterday's big winners finished down the field Oracle 4 (Spithill) 7th, Artemis White 6th, Artemis Red 8th.

Emirates Team New Zealand improved finishing fifth, after having had a share of the lead at least twice.

All teams fancied or not - made dramatic gains and losses, always in a remarkably short space of time. 

On leg 3, Artemis White gained five places to round the mark in second place.  Korea lost three and Oracle 4 lost five.  On the next leg, Emirates Team New Zealand suffered the same fate, losing five places.

The drama continued in the second race of the day.  Barker started well and led for a large part of the race. 

But the lead was never comfortable.  There were big gains and big losses to be had on the short-tacking upwind legs. 

The tidal currents make it a very one-way track and no lead is ever big enough. 

Tomorrow ETNZ faces Oracle 4 (Spithill) in the match race semi-final and Artemis White faces Oracle 5.

Two fleet races are scheduled.

--©2012 Emirates Team New Zealand

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From Artemis Racing:

Photo:©2012 ACEA/Gilles Martin-Raget

America's Cup World Series - San Francisco - Day 3 24 August 2012

It was a stunning day for racing out on the San Francisco Bay, with 15-20 knots of breeze and sunny skies. 

The afternoon started off with the two remaining Match Racing Quarter Finals, won by Emirates Team New Zealand and Oracle Team USA Coutts respectively. 

Terry Hutchinson (USA) and the crew onboard Artemis Racing White will now line up against Russell Coutts Oracle Team USA on Saturday afternoon in the Match Racing Semi-finals.

In the two fleet races that followed, the competition was intense.  An issue with the code zero halyard on Artemis Racing White in the first race lost the team valuable places, to finish sixth while Artemis Racing Red finished eighth.  In the second race, Artemis Racing Red was over early at the start but fought their way through the fleet only to incur a boundary penalty on the penultimate leg.

"It was a tough day, but you take the good with the bad.  As easy as you go up (the leaderboard), you can go down and we've seen that with all the teams," said Hutchinson.

"We need to get used to the tight racing and boundaries," said helmsman Santiago Lange.  "We were weak on that.  It's a new system for me.  It was a pity as it was a good opportunity to for us to catch up."

Racing continues tomorrow through Sunday.

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From Oracle Team USA

James Spithill leads the Fleet Race Standings after Day 3 at ACWS San Francisco. Photo:©2012 Guilain Grenier/Oracle Team USA
 

Oracle Team USA Coutts Wins Match, Follows With Collision; Oracle Team USA Spithill Wins Second Fleet Race To Stay On Top Of Leaderboard

Oracle Team USA had a roller coaster day on the water Friday, Aug.  24, during Day 2 of racing in the America’s Cup World Series in San Francisco.  Oracle Team USA Coutts opened with a match racing win, but was later forced to withdraw from the fleet races after a collision with the committee boat.  Oracle Team USA Spithill bounced back from a middle-of-the-pack first fleet race to win the second and hold on to the top position on the leaderboard.

Skipper Russell Coutts and crew took a controlling position off the start in the second of two match races on the day, defeating Energy Team to build upon a successful first day in San Francisco.  It was the second round of racing the fleet races when emotions shifted.  Oracle Team USA Coutts was left without a gap across the start line in the first fleet race, forcing a head-on collision with a race committee boat.

“We started the day well, but we lost points today,” Coutts said.  “We thought there would be a gap opening up, but we didn't expect our teammates to shut the door on us and we had a collision with the committee boat.  So, we'll pull the boat out, do some repairs and get back out there tomorrow.

“The front foot of the hull has to be replaced and there’s a few other bits of rigging that got damaged,” said Coutts.  “The problem with a collision like that is you don’t know what other stress has been put on the boat.  So, the boat builders are looking at it.”

Oracle Team USA Spithill sailed an “ordinary” first fleet race, according to skipper Jimmy Spithill, and finished sixth.  For the start of the second race, the crew was early across the line to force a penalty turn.

Despite the penalty, Spithill remained in contention and was vying for second by the third leg on the race course.  The turnaround continued as they moved ahead of Emirates Team New Zealand on the fifth leg and opened up a gap on the fleet.  Oracle Team USA Spithill crossed the line in first with a time of 21:27, 15 seconds ahead of second-place Team Korea and holds on to the top spot on the leaderboard.

“The second race we broke the start my fault – then it was just a matter of staying cool, making good decisions, and slightly chipping away,” Spithill said.  “We made some really good decisions around the race track, pulled off maneuvers well, and JK [John Kostecki] sailed a fantastic race full credit to him in that second race to get us up there.  To come back from that and win a race is a real sign of strength, and it gives us a lot of confidence moving forward.”

Spithill described the start of the second fleet race and the Coutts collision: “We didn’t see them, and we thought we’d be locked out by the French team.  Right at the last second, they opened the door and we had to hold up or we would have been early.  Then with about 3 to go, we look up and hear this bang.  It’s a real shame.”

Both Coutts and Spithill advanced to Saturday’s match racing semifinals.  Oracle Team USA Coutts is first off the line, facing Artemis Racing White at 2:05 PM PDT.  Oracle Team USA Spithill follows vs.  Emirates Team New Zealand at 2:22 PM PDT.  A pair of fleet races close out the day, beginning at 2:50 PM PDT.

Tune in to race action throughout the week on the America’s Cup YouTube channel (subject to territorial broadcast restrictions).  On television in the U.S., coverage is available Thursday through Saturday in the Bay Area on NBC Bay Area 11.2, and in California on Comcast SportsNet California.  The Sunday finale will be broadcast live, coast to coast in the United States, on NBC from 11:30 AM PDT.

CREW LISTS

Oracle Team USA Spithill Jimmy Spithill (skipper/helmsman), John Kostecki (tactician), Dirk de Ridder (wingsail trimmer), Joe Newton (headsail trimmer), Piet van Nieuwenhuijzen (bowman)

Oracle Team USA Coutts Russell Coutts (skipper/helmsman), Murray Jones (wingsail trimmer), Shannon Falcone (trimmer), Kinley Fowler (trimmer), Sam Newton (bowman)

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From J.P.Morgan/Ben Ainslie Racing

Photo:©2012 Jon Nash/J.P. Morgan/BAR

Ben Ainslie blog: The most exciting racing I’ve tried

Today was the toughest day for us so far.  The schedule itself kept us busy with a match race against the Kiwis and then two fleet races in a fair bit of breeze, so it was always going to be a demanding day.

We had to beat the Kiwis to stay in the match racing as this is a knockout series.  But of course Dean and his crew are among the most experienced and proficient in the fleet, so beating them was always going to be tough.  Even so, it was pretty disappointing to mess up the start and end up down tide of the line which then made us late.  I was really hoping to have a bit more of a battle with Dean, but from that position it was always going to be tough to get back in contention.

Having said that, we did close the gap from around 100m to a couple of boat lengths by the first leeward gate rounding, but then we pushed on just that bit too far into the shore to get out of the tide, but also out of the wind.  I hold my hand up to that one too.  I know I keep saying it, but you really don’t have to make much of a mistake to be punished hard.  From just a couple of boat lengths to over 100m in less than thirty seconds.  We never recovered from that.

The fleet racing was equally tough.  We had a reasonable start in the first race but then struggled to find clear air and a lane on the downwind leg and dropped back deeper into the pack.  It’s really difficult to fight back from here.  The usual issues of dirty air are compounded by the speed differentials between boats that are on the boil and those that are struggling to break free.  For every second you are struggling at 10 knots or less after a tricky tack or gybe, the front runners are hammering along at 25 knots.

The second fleet race of the day was much better though.  We got another reasonable start and managed to maintain that position at the bottom gate.  With the tide running against us for the beat it did make the course a bit one sided, but so long as you keep clear wind you can hang in there and pick the shifts.

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