America's Cup World Series - Cascais Day 7: Match Racing Championsip

America's Cup World Series Cascais: Day 7

August 12, 2011

On this page: ACWS Cascais Day 9 - Match Racing Championship - Team Statements
Artemis Racing: Teamwork and Perseverance Under Pressure
America's Cup: Sensational Six Qualify for Match Race Championship
Oracle Racing: Oracle Racing’s crews feature in riveting match races
Korea: Team Korea Qualifies for Match Racing Finals
Emirates Team New Zealand: Third Straight Winning Day at Cascais

From Artemis Racing:

Teamwork and perseverance under pressure

Perfect conditions for the Americas Cup World Series racing today in Cascais. Three fleet races, followed by three match races were the order of the day.

Artemis Racing was in good form on the race course with second place finishes in the first two races, followed by a fourth in the final fleet race.

These results put the Swedish team in a tie with event leader Emirates Team New Zealand, yet third in the seeding based on count back, which meant match racing against three-time Americas Cup winner Russell Coutts Skipper of Oracle Racing 5.

Skipper Terry Hutchinson had an excellent start in the match race, locking out Oracle Racing Coutts to cross the start line with a five second lead. But a twist in the gennaker on the first run saw Oracle Racing fly by the Swedish team and unfortunately, there was not another chance to get by them.

“It was an awesome team day. Boat handling and crew work were excellent although we are still struggling with our starts. I can’t say enough about the work that the crew are doing it is great to have this type of support,” said Skipper Terry Hutchinson.

Tomorrow will see Artemis Racing line up against Frances Energy Team in the first match race of the day. Chairman Torbjorn Tornqvist arrived today in Cascais to support the team and will be guest racer onboard the AC45 tomorrow. Racing starts at 1400 GMT.

From America's Cup Event Authority:

Sensational Six Qualify for Match Race Championship

Six teams have qualified for the Cascais AC Match Race Championship on Saturday, following a day of close, compelling competition on the waters off Cascais.

On Friday, James Spithill and his Oracle Racing crew won all three fleet races, but their good work was undone in the ‘all or nothing’ match race for first place, when Emirates Team New Zealand made a pass on the second lap of the course to secure the match, and victory on the day. It was the third consecutive day of scoring maximum points for the Kiwis, who now proceed directly to Saturday’s semi finals.

“It starts again tomorrow,” Barker said. “The last three days don't matter too much. We've learned a lot in both match racing and the fleet racing. It hasn't been smooth, these boats are challenging to sail well and if you make a mistake you get penalized badly, so it will be case of minimizing mistakes to keep sailing around the track.”

Spithill’s disappointment at losing the match race will be tempered by his second place seeding heading into Saturday; he also earns a bye into the semi finals.

“These have been some of the best match races I’ve ever done,” Spithill said. “It’s physical, and with the onboard footage, I think people watching are getting a real understanding of how high-pressure these decisions are and how hard it is. And I think that’s great.”

Four teams will be fighting on Saturday for the other two semi final positions. Sixth placed Energy Team will take on third placed Artemis Racing, while Oracle Racing Coutts faces off against Team Korea. Both matches are ‘sudden death’ with the winner advancing to the semis and loser going home.

“We are really happy to learn and very happy to make the cut - to be in the top six and to be match racing tomorrow,” said Energy Team skipper Loïck Peyron. “It’s a chance to race against the best.”

“We’ve been over the moon with how we’ve been sailing,” said his counterpart with Team Korea, Chris Draper. “We still feel we’re making some silly mistakes I think we could have had a couple of top three finishes today, but it’s a whole new game and we’re really pleased with how it’s been going so far.”

The bottom three teams on the leaderboard following Friday’s racing GreenComm Racing, Aleph and China Team will not be competing on Saturday.

But they will return to competition on Sunday with the AC World Series Cascais Championship, a winner takes all fleet race that will determine the winner of the first stage on this new global professional circuit.

The AC World Series continues with events in Plymouth, England in September and San Diego, California in November. And today, it was announced that Newport, Rhode Island will host the closing event of the 2011-12 AC World Series, from June 23 to July 1, 2012.

From Oracle Racing:

The crews get a good night's sleep in advance of the Match Racing finals, but the boats are always sailing.
Photo:©2011 Gilles Martin-Raget/americascup.com

Oracle Racing’s Crews Feature in Riveting Match Races

A pair of riveting match races that featured Oracle Racing’s two crews has fans anticipating tomorrow’s final day of the America’s Cup World Series Cascais Match Race Championships.

Oracle Racing Spithill placed second and Oracle Racing Coutts third in today’s racing, which included three fleet races to determine a ranking order for the match racing.

Helmsman James Spithill and crew were firing on every cylinder when they won all three fleet races to gain the daily top seed with 30 points. Old foe Emirates Team New Zealand finished second with 25 points.

“We finally put the package together today starts, tactics and really, really good boathandling and speed,” said Spithill. “It felt nice because every day we have gone out and done something well but were missing something else. The big goal for today was to put it all together and we did.”

Spithill singled out relentlessly slick crew work as vital to success in the AC45 class. “Piet (van Nieuwenhuijzen) really led the charge today. It really helped us step away from the pack.”

For the second time in three days Oracle Racing Spithill met Emirates Team New Zealand in the daily match race final, but this one had viewers glued to their monitors and many shoreside spectators watching in excitement as both crews paced each other boat-for-boat while hitting speeds in excess of 42 kph/26 mph on the offwind legs.

“Everyone witnessed a fantastic race,” said Spithill.

Oracle Racing Spithill held the early advantage, but the skipper later said they made an error at the leeward gate that ultimately allowed Emirates Team New Zealand to gain the lead and score the victory.

“We got off the line well again, and couldn’t believe they didn’t get a penalty on the entry,” Spithill said. “But we really handed the lead to them in a fundamental error down at the bottom of the downwind leg. It’s good to learn that now because our crew and the Kiwis were going to be 1st and 2nd going into the semifinal. It highlights how quickly opportunities for passing come and go.” The crew made a late jibe to make a starboard rounding, which let Team New Zealand escape the cover with a port rounding.

“Because of the speeds the boats are traveling the decisions come much faster,” said Spithill. “We lost our lead in no man’s land down there. It was frustrating, but we might as well learn it now. We still have some work to do.”

Oracle Racing Coutts placed 8-4-3 for 18 points in the three fleet races and met Artemis Racing, the Challenger of Record for the 34th America’s Cup, in a match race for third and fourth.

In another exciting heat, helmsman Russell Coutts and crew were on the back foot off the start line, trailing Artemis by nearly one boat length. On the first downwind leg, Oracle Racing Coutts beat Artemis to a jibe and rolled over the top when the Swedish boat had troubles clearing the massive gennaker around the headstay.

It was only a slight miscue, but that’s all an opponent needs to overtake in these turbo-charged catamarans.

“We couldn’t get the maneuvering right at the start, but after we got in front we sailed quite a bit better,” said Coutts. “We just need to set down and get all of the basics to a lot higher standard. If we do that we’ll sail a lot better.”

All four crews, as well as Team Korea and France’s Energy Team, advance to tomorrow’s final day of the match racing championships. By finishing first and second, Emirates Team New Zealand and Oracle Racing earned a bye into the semifinal round.

The other four crews will race the quarterfinal round with Oracle Racing Coutts taking on Team Korea in a one race, sudden death sail-off. The semifinals are also one race. In the final, the winner of the America’s Cup World Series Cascais Match Race Championships will be the first to score 2 points.

Asked about the prospect of meeting Team New Zealand for the championship Spithill simply said, “Bring it on.”

Crew Lists:

Oracle Racing Coutts: Russell Coutts (helm), Murray Jones (wing trim), Matthew Mason (middleman), Daniel Fong (trimmer), Simeon Tienpont (bow)

Oracle Racing Spithill: James Spithill (helm), John Kostecki (tactician), Dirk de Ridder (wing trim), Joe Newton (trimmer), Piet van Nieuwenhuijzen (bow)

From Team Korea:

Team Korea Qualifies for Match Racing Finals -
Paired Against Russell Coutts

The fairytale start to Team Koreas Americas Cup campaign continued today, as their top class performance continued at the first World Series regatta in Cascais, Portugal, finishing 5th in three straight fleet races, and then continuing their unbeaten record in Match Racing, qualifying for the Match Race finals tomorrow.

However, having qualified for the next stage of the regatta, fate has played a perhaps ironic hand, as they are paired against Russell Coutts of Oracle Racing, the most successful Americas Cup sailor of all time, who was in Seoul just a month ago, together with both the Americas Cup trophy and the Louis Vuitton Cup for a press briefing. Standing shoulder to shoulder on stage next to Kim Dong-Young, Team Koreas CEO, and his new skipper Chris Draper, none of them could perhaps have imagined they would now be facing off in the quarter finals of a new format competition, that has now truly come to life in Cascais.

It was an almost perfect afternoon of racing, some difficult shifts early on, but the breeze settled towards the end for the match racing and offered spectacular images for the audience watching online around the world, as these extraordinarily fast and powerful AC45 catamarans powered around the course at top speed. Korea sailed well against the older and more experienced teams, having been together little over three weeks now, mixing it up with the leading group in the freshening winds, but still suffering from the occasional mistake and dropping places. In Race 2 Korea was on the edge of pitch-poling over the top as they bore off with too much power on, the port bow burying into the water and sending shudders through the boat with the impact, as Draper struggled to correct and keep the boat upright, a moment sure to make the TV highlights packages this week...

Race 3 was typical for Korea, after racing well to score fifth place twice in succession on the day, when a well timed start saw them flying a hull to third position by the end of the second leg, and holding it after a solid beat upwind, and then forced Coutts to a debatable port-starboard moment rounding the mark. Without doubt, the team are fast on the windward beat, Draper and his crews fleet racing experience paying off and gaining places almost every beat. Rounding the windward mark third, the White Tiger was crawling all over Coutts now just ahead. It was another mistake that cost them however, as Coutts wriggled free, then Artemis from Sweden overtook, leaving the team to cross the line 5th again, finishing fifth overall, and equal on points with Coutts. His sailing partner James Spithill clearly enjoyed the stronger conditions, winning every race and leaving Emirates Team New Zealand struggling with 2nd and third positions on the day, second overall in the three races ahead of Artemis the big boys showing their form.

Having made it through to the match racing in the afternoon, Korea now faced GreenComm Racing from Spain, who enjoyed their best result of the regatta so far in sixth. Chris Draper and his crew didn’t put a foot wrong this time against the Spanish team, leading from start to finish, and maintaining their 100% success record in match races in the AC World Series, now two from two.

Draper said afterwards, we did pretty well overall, but every error is penalized at this level, and the guys who have been sailing these boats the longest make the least. I honestly think wed have a couple of twos or threes to count otherwise, as we can hold the pace with these guys in these conditions. Dean Barker of Team New Zealand beat James Spithill of Oracle in the final, while Coutts outwitted Terry Hutchinson’s Artemis in the 3rd/4th place play off.

Already progressed to the semi-finals are Oracles Spithill and ETNZ, and so Team Energy of France take on Sweden’s Artemis, while Team Korea square up to Oracles Coutts in their quarter final a situation that CEO Kim Dong-Young could only have dreamt of in Seoul last month. This is fantastic he said, to be sailing against one of the legends in the sport after I joked with him in Seoul, that we would kick his ass on the water! I may have to buy him a beer if he beats us now...but what an achievement for our team. We are battling the very best teams in the world, it is really quite unbelievable.

When asked how he felt about the match, Skipper Draper answered, well, excited. Who wouldn’t be? I haven’t anywhere near as much match racing experience of course, but we’ll certainly give it our best shot. This is a different kind of match racing I think from what he’s used to, but he can draw on many years and four Americas Cup wins. It will be interesting....

It will take a remarkable performance by Team Korea for victory over Coutts, though to reach the semi-finals at their first attempt, would certainly add another chapter to this ongoing fairytale for the team. The first to score two wins advances to the semi-final stage, and then faces one of the favorites, Emirates Team New Zealand, which just about everyone in Cascais believes would be an impossible task for Team Korea to overcome, given the kiwis boat speed and performance this week.

Tonight though, thoughts are focused on the first major hurdle ahead, in the shape of Russell Coutts and his team of Americas Cup winners, as all five crew on his boat have experienced the ultimate success in sailing with winning teams. Between them they have won the Cup 19 times, and while it is certainly the same trophy, there is no doubt the game has changed, even if the end requirement remains the same: finish first...

From Emirates Team New Zealand

Third Straight Winning Day at Cascais

Emirates Team New Zealand has emerged from Day 5 of the Cascais AC45 World Series with its third straight winning day.

With 10 points from three fleet races and a single match race, Emirates Team New Zealand won the day, followed by Oracle Racing 4 on 9 and Oracle Racing 5 on 8.

After trailing Oracle Racing 4 (James Spithill) by five points at the end of fleet racing Barker with Glen Ashby, Winston Macfarlane, James Dagg and Ray Davies engaged them in a tight, tense and thrilling match race to decide the days winner.

It was classic Americas Cup match racing just as it was in the monohulls of 2007 and before... a close start, close racing and tacks and gybes aplenty which put a premium on tactical decision-making. There was even a dial down and several lead changes.

It was even at the start. Both boats crossed the line at speed with Oracle 4 to leeward and slightly ahead. Barker was 2s adrift at the first mark. The boats split, came together and split again. On the first upwind leg, Spithill tried a dial down to shake off Barker.

Barker slipped around behind him and headed for the right side of the course to set up for an attack. Barker stormed into mark 3 at speed, Oracles final approach was slower and Barker got around first.

Then followed several lead changes but there was nothing in it. At Mark 4 Barker was 2s ahead. It was not until the 5th leg that Barker started to feel even a little comfortable. At the finish the delta was 37s.

Earlier in the day Barker emerged from the three fleet races in second place. Oracle 4 was at the top of the leader board with 30 points, having had three straight wins. Barker with a 3, 3, 2 record had 25 points and Artemis (2, 2, 4) was also on 25. A count back on the third fleet race gave second place to Emirates Team New Zealand.

Additional Links and Info:

Visit Official America's Cup website

CupInfo Home

Inquiries please contact: