November 13, 2011

Photo:©2011 ACEA/Gilles Martin-Raget
 

From America's Cup Event Authority:

 Photo:©2011 Guilain Grenier/Oracle Racing

Emirates Team New Zealand Claims Port Cities Challenge

Ideal racing conditions returned to San Diego on Sunday, with 6-10 knot westerlies and bright sunny skies.  Crowds poured into the America’s Cup Village to watch the racing which at time brought the boats just a few yards from the viewing points along Broadway and Navy Piers.

Emirates Team New Zealand may have been the last crew to arrive in town on Friday and skipper Dean Barker had never sailed in San Diego ahead of Saturday’s first race.  But his team didn’t miss a beat, winning the Port Cities Challenge on this opening preliminary weekend of the America’s Cup World Series. 

"The teams are doing more and more sailing, so the standard is getting higher and higher," said Dean Barker.  "I think in a venue like this that's quite tricky you'll see a lot of place changes.  So it's going to be about staying consistent."

The Kiwis were certainly that.  Despite winning just one of the six races, they had five finishes in the top three to win by a comfortable seven points over Oracle Racing Spithill.  Artemis Racing was third, one point further back

On Saturday, China Team won a race for the first time at AC World Series and on Sunday it was the French teams in the spotlight.  First it was Aleph with new skipper Pierre Pennec at the helm, who took a win in race four.  But not to be outdone, Energy Team sailed a flawless race six with skipper Yann Guichard to claim their first team win. 

“It's a fantastic day for Aleph,” said Pennec after racing.  “The wind was very shifty, but it was sunny, there was enough wind to fly the hull and we won our first race so a great day for us.”

“By the fourth race the crew was very tired,” said Guichard, describing his winning race.  “But we didn’t make any mistakes and to get a first bullet for our team is really perfect.”

Representatives of the five Port Cities were onboard the race boats during the first contest of the day.  Coast Guard Commander Michael Leo Guerrero won bragging rights for the Port City of Chula Vista on Oracle Racing Spithill, racing to a second place finish ahead of the other boats representing Port Cities, to claim the ‘fastest Port City’ designation. 

“It was awesome, just great,” said Commander Guerrero, who was representing Chula Vista for Mayor Cheryl Cox.  “The boats are phenomenal, and to go that fast, is really amazing.  We hear a lot about the technology that's behind these boats, and now I can say I've seen it in action.”

--From ACEA

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From Oracle Racing:

 Photo:©2011 ACEA/Gilles Martin-Raget

Oracle Racing places 2nd, 7th in Port Cities Challenge

On a glorious autumn day and in front of a large crowd on Broadway Pier, Oracle Racing Spithill placed second overall in the Port Cities Challenge, the tune-up regatta for the America’s Cup World Series San Diego that is scheduled to start on Wednesday. 

Skipper Jimmy Spithill and crew John Kostecki,, Dirk de Ridder, Joe Newton and Piet van Nieuwenhuijzen finished with 42 points, 7 points behind winner Emirates Team New Zealand.  Spithill, however, pointed to the crew’s performance on the start line as an area for improvement.

“We never nailed a start,” said Spithill.  “We were OK, conservative, mid-pack.  I thought the guys sailed very well in the pack.  Every time we were able to climb forward and get out of it.  Boathandling was really physical today and JK did good job on the wind.  I was happy with our damage control but we have to do a better job on the line to win races.”

Today’s weather was in marked contrast to yesterday’s steady, soaking rain.  Brilliant sunshine and a nice 8- to 10-knot westerly greeted the sailors for the scheduled start at 1:10 p.m.  Four races one of approximately 40 minutes and three at 18-20 minutes were held with the wind topping out around 14 knots in some puffs.

The weather enticed many fans to visit Broadway Pier where they had a front row seat to the action.  The leeward gate was placed right in front of the pier and fans were able to watch the sailors as they furled the massive gennakers and rounded the gate, often times within feet of each other.

Oracle Racing Coutts finished the regatta in seventh place with 33 points.  New skipper Darren Bundock, an accomplished multihull sailor, said it was an average day where nothing seemed to go their way.

“We didn’t have good starts and when we made up a bit of ground we would generally lose it,” said Bundock.  “We also had an OCS and a penalty.  I guess if you can get those sorts of things out of the way in one day that’s the way to do it; practice race is the time to get it wrong.”

Racing for the ACWS San Diego begins in earnest on Wednesday with three fleet races scheduled.  The races will help determine the seeding order for the match racing championship, scheduled Thursday through Saturday.  A final, winner-take-all fleet race is scheduled for Sunday, Nov.  20.  Speed Trials also are scheduled for Wednesday and next Sunday.

--From Oracle Racing

Photo:©2011 Guilain Grenier/Oracle Racing

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From Team Korea:

 Photo:©2011 ACEA/Gilles Martin-Raget

Team Korea represents Imperial Beach in Port Cities Race

With San Diego turning up the heat after yesterday’s torrential rain, the crowds flocked to watch today’s four races of the Port Cities Challenge this afternoon, enjoying the spectacle and the more normal, glorious California weather in 6-10 knot winds.  Team Korea finished 6th overall for the weekend having suffered poor results in the light airs and miserable conditions Saturday, but took great encouragement with a solid days racing on a day when the smaller teams thrived.

Having been adopted by the nearby city of Imperial Beach for the Port Cities Championship, the team started well in Race 3 of the weekend, rounding the first mark in 3rd place after an exciting short reach off the line.  This was what the crowds came to see, AC45s at speed and flying hulls, even in the light winds, and reaching off downwind within the confines of the tight course boundaries in what has become known as stadium sailing.

Emirates Team New Zealand continued their superb form to lead the course with Oracle Racings Jimmy Spithill pressuring behind, with Team Korea 3rd ahead of Energy from France.  It was an entertaining race, exactly what organizers had hoped for as the fleet spread out across a San Diego Bay bathed in sunshine.  ETNZ took the honors ahead of Oracle/Spithill, but on the final downwind the French team sailed an excellent leg to overtake Korea just before the last turn mark, Energy enjoying the final short reach to the finish line and 3rd.

Race 4 started with controversy as ETNZ were squeezed out of the start line and into last place, with all of the usual top teams off the pace this time.  It was another exciting race with close calls and penalties, Korea suffering two through the race, one for infringing Artemis at the first gybe, and another for sailing out of the course boundary, but remarkably the White Tiger managed to claw back to finish 2nd behind the French Aleph team, who were delighted to score their first bullet in an ACWS race. 

There was more joy for France over the afternoon as Energy matched Alephs feat by also taking their first win in race 6, lifting them to an excellent 4th place overall for the weekend, illustrating just how quickly the standard of sailing is improving from regatta to regatta.  Team Korea skipper Chris Draper commented afterwards, “I think it’s apparent that the fleet is getting a little bit deeper, and other teams have been training a lot since Plymouth, and made a few crew changes which have made them stronger.  It was a lot harder to sail through the fleet like we have been able to in the past, and we’re having to wait for the opportunity to pass boats now.”

Team Korea CEO Kim Dong-Young said, “Today was a fantastic day in San Diego with the weather and lots of people here.  Our boys did a very good job, and caught back up to our usual pace after yesterday, but I was a little surprised by some of the umpire decisions and the penalties on us.  Even so, this has been very good training for the Championship races which start Wednesday.” 

Draper agreed, “We were actually a little disappointed to drop to 6th overall in the event as we sailed some good races today, but unfortunately in the final one we had a boat handling error when the spinnaker sheet was tangled which slowed us down and affected the final results.  Apart from that we feel a lot happier with how we sailed compared to yesterday and we’ve learnt a lot from this weekend.  I think we’ve proven that we’ve got some good pace, we are very pleased with one of the new Doyle sails, and were looking forward to the rest of the regatta.”

The seeding races for the ACWS San Diego Match Race Championship begin on Wednesday.

Americas Cup World Series - San Diego
Port Cities Challenge Final results
 

1. Emirates Team New Zealand 49 Points

2. Oracle Racing - Spithill 42

3. Artemis Racing 41

4. Energy Team 40

5. ALEPH 36

6. Team Korea 35

7. Oracle Racing - Coutts 33

8. China Team 32

9. Green Comm Racing 22

--From Team Korea

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From Artemis Racing:

Artemis won for the second day in a row Sunday, but struggled in the final race of the weekend.  Photo:©2011 ACEA/Gilles Martin-Raget
 

Artemis Third in Port Cities Challenge

Racing got underway this afternoon under bright blue skies, with 8-10 knot winds out of the West, a welcome change from yesterdays downpours.

The winds were fickle and the French teams showed the most consistency on the race course.  Protests, penalties and course boundaries caught up with just about every team today.

Artemis Racing finished up 3rd overall in the Port Cities Challenge, with 6th, 9th ,1st, and 5th place finishes today, a mere point behind Oracle Racing Spithill in second place, while Emirates Team New Zealand claimed victory.

Sailing onboard as a guest for the first race of the day was Mayor Ron Morrison of National City, Artemis Racings adopted Port City.  Having had the new Artemis Racing AC45 hull outfitted and painted at Brad Fitzgerald’s facilities in National City, it was the perfect match for the Swedish team.

Commenting on today’s racing Tactician Iain Percy said “It was a great day for the Port Cities Challenge.  We thoroughly enjoyed ourselves.  The winds were tricky inside the Bay and things didn’t always go our way.  But we fought our way all through the day and are certainly sailing better than we were at the beginning of the week.”

Racing resumes on Wednesday afternoon when the America's Cup World Series officially commences.

--From Artemis Racing

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