America's Cup 2013 - America's Cup Final: Day 6 Post-Race

America's Cup 2013: Day 6 (Races 9 and 10)
Second Win in a Row for USA, and NZL Bounces Back

Quotes and Wrap-Up: Oracle Gets Another Win, But NZL Closer to Cup
Oracle Team USA Wins Race 9, ETNZ Fights Back to Win Race 10

San Francisco, September 15, 2013

Dean Barker, Skipper, NZL:
"It was very important to bounce back after Race 1 and the Oracle guys sailed a great first race, and let us know there were no opportunities for us, at all. On the second one it was very close going across the first reach. They had one little touch-down which gave us the inside at the mark, and we felt we were in a pretty strong position at the bottom. And they sailed, again, a good upwind and they were right there at the top. I think if you didn’t enjoy today’s racing out there, you probably should watch another sport."

Ben Ainslie, Tectician, Oracle Team USA:
"It was pretty close on that final run into the finish. I think in the situation that we were, if we gybed before NZL they would have been in a strong position to just defend that with two more gybes in and so we elected to go behind them and try to set up where we might be able to get a piece on starboard when they gybe back and it’s really hard to judge that right when you’re going along at almost 40kts but we didn’t do too bad of a job, but it wasn’t quite enough to get back into it."

Jimmy Spithill, Skipper, USA:
"We wish we’d made them about a year ago to be honest, then we might have found a few more. No, look, this is the name of the game. This is a development boat, and like any racing sport, whether it be Formula 1 or MotoGP, you’re constantly learning, you know, at a race mode. And we finally get to the race now and this is the most we’ve learned, really, just lining up against these guys. And I’m sure they’re the same. Look, hindsight’s a beautiful thing, but the important thing is how you react and how you go from here on. Even after today we’ve got a heap of stuff we’d like to do with the boat."

Glenn Ashby, Trimmer, NZL:
"It's a good old-fashioned windy ding-dong battle. The difference with these boats is that you can't back off for a second. You have keep the foot flat to the floor the whole time, and I think both teams did a great job at that today. If you back off just for a few seconds, you know the other boat will be right there with you."

Commenting on Ray Davies role as Tactician on an AC72: "In the old days you had so much more time to make decisions as to what you want to do, and what comes down the course, and what’s the other boat doing, but now you don’t have any time. Sometimes we have a few seconds to make a critical decision in the race that could affect the outcome massively, and you have to organize 10 other guys on the boat. So it’s a massive issue, trying to get enough time to set up the next maneuver, and making sure the rest of the team is on the same page and knows what to do. Both teams have done a great job at that, and a small slip up, as we saw yesterday -- there’s going to be trouble"

About relief on winning the second race today: "There’s always a sense of relief when you cross the finish line and you’re ahead of the other boat, and every single race proves that there’s a sort of a sense of relief getting the boat across the line in one piece".

"We look at every day as every day. It’s a long regatta and an endurance event. Each race is different, and the game can change really quickly. I think at the end of the day you've got to look at each individual race and, as I said, things can change quickly upwind, downwind, at the start. Yesterday was a good example of things going wrong quickly."

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