Match Racing Championship:
Regatta Day 6 - Second Seeding Day

Thursday Racing: ACWS Plymouth

China finished third in Race 3, their best placement of the regatta in Plymouth to date. Photo:©2011 ACEA/Gilles Martin-Raget

Sept 15:
First scheduled start 2:10pm Plymouth/8:10AM ET. Weather: SE 8 knots (WindFinder). SE 11 knots  (UK Met Service).

Thursday is the second of two seeding days, consisting of three fleets races, the first one 40 minutes long, the second two 20 minutes long.
Read more about Plymouth Format

Riding with the Swedes: Yachting World's Matthew Sheahan got a chance to experience the onboard intensity of Artemis first-hand and survived to tell about it: "Hearing skipper Terry Hutchinson's urgent shouts, almost screams, for the wing to be dumped as we were luffed on one of the downwind legs reinforced the urgency of the situation as our windward hull lifted to an alarming height above the water's surface. When the sound of the water rushing past the leeward hull disappears, you know it's time to worry."
Read more at Yachting World

Race #3: Complete
Final Race of the day underway at 3:50 PM.
Coutts opens a big lead, breaks Artemis's streak to win the last race of the day.  Artemis second, China third, ETNZ fourth, Korea fifth, Energy rolls Aleph to take sixth at the line, Aleph 7th, Spithill 8th, GreenComm 9th.
 See overall standings and more results

 

Artemis rang up another two wins Thursday, dominating the seeding fleet races. Photo:©2011 ACEA/Gilles Martin-Raget

Race #2: Complete
Start on the hour. Underway with Korea OCS, and Artemis in the lead again followed by Energy. The French and Swedes split at the first downwind gate.  Oracle into second, big split, Artemis hanging on to their lead on the 5th leg, ETNZ splitting left.  Still not enough, Artemis wins again, 4 out the last 5 races!  ETNZ again second and Oracle (Spithill) again 3rd.

Placing: Artemis Racing 1st, Emirates Team New Zealand 2nd, Oracle Racing Spithill #4 3rd, Energy Team 4th, Oracle Racing Coutts #5 5th, Team Korea, White Tiger 6th, GreenComm Racing 7th, China Team 8th, Aleph Equipe de France 9th. See Results

Race #1: Complete
Artemis leading barely over ETNZ, followed by Oracle (Spithill) and Aleph. Some great close sailing.  Energy makes big gains on Leg 4 upwind, climbing to second ahead of ETNZ, with Artemis still leading.

ETNZ into second, threatening Artemis, but the Swedes get the right to position at the mark, and stay just ahead, winning a good one, and making it three first place finishes in the last four starts. 

Placing: Artemis Racing 1st, Emirates Team New Zealand 2nd, Oracle Racing Spithill #4 3rd, Energy Team 4th, Oracle Racing Coutts #5 5th, GreenComm Racing 6th, Aleph Equipe de France 7th, Team Korea White Tiger 8th, China Team 9th.  See Results