Americas Cup World Series at Plymouth, UK - Day 5

America's Cup World Series in Plymouth day 5 © Tom Gruitt / Y&Y

America's Cup World Series in Plymouth day 5 © Tom Gruitt / Y&Y

Lighter conditions allow more teams to shine

Lighter breezes brought more players to the front of the fleet on day one of the Plymouth Match Racing Championship, with Artemis Racing winning two of today’s three fleet races. With the sun beaming down on Plymouth Sound, the crowd on the Hoe was treated to a day of upsets, passing moves, and come-from-behind wins on the waters below.

The fast-learning challenger teams showed they can mix it with the best when the game moves away from the strong wind boathandling of last weekend to the more subtle, tactical game of today’s lighter and trickier breezes. And Terry Hutchinson’s team on Artemis Racing were the class act of the day, with individual displays of brilliance from a number of the newer teams.

“We're getting more confident in our starting and putting our boat in some good spots,” said Hutchinson following racing. “All in all it was just a good day. Boat speed is a good thing and it looks like we're going pretty fast.”

Energy Team led for a good portion of the first race before losing out to Artemis Racing just towards the finish. In the second race it was Team Korea’s time to shine, moving through the fleet and past Emirates Team New Zealand for a morale-boosting victory.

“We had a good sequence with the wind shifts,” Team Korea skipper Chris Draper said. “With the course boundary, if you get out of sequence it’s hard to get back into it.”

Emirates Team New Zealand blotted their copy book at the final start, crossing the line too early along with Aleph, with both the Kiwis and French forced to go back and play catch-up. Whereas Bertrand Pacé’s French team could make little impact, Dean Barker’s New Zealand crew found some great gusts and wind shifts to haul themselves right back up the fleet into second place at the finish behind Artemis Racing, in one of the more impressive performances of the day.

Surprisingly, both ORACLE Racing teams struggled on the day and sit in fifth and six place on the leaderboard. James Spithill and crew led for part of the first race but fell to finish third, in what would be their best result of the day.

The two teams who spent most of last night making various repairs to their boats ahead of today’s racing – China Team and Green Comm Racing – trail the leaderboard.

“We were happy to be back on the water after yesterday's nasty capsize and we worked as hard as we could,” said China Team skipper Charlie Ogletree. “We were a little slow today. Condition today were much different (from the weekend) and the other teams figured out better tactics to handle it.”

Also taking in the racing today was HRH Prince Michael of Kent, who observed the action from on board the Race Committee boat for the afternoon.

Wednesday Highlights Video:

The seeding races for the Plymouth Match Racing Championship continue on Thursday, with three fleet races scheduled. Racing begins at 14:10 local time (GMT+1).

All racing can be seen live on www.youtube.com/americascup

Results – Wednesday seeding races in Plymouth Match Racing Championship:

Stellar day for Artemis Racing (from Artemis Racing)

Racing was back on at the America’s Cup World Series in Plymouth today, with lighter air, yet gusty conditions, making for challenging sailing for the nine professional teams competing.

Having worked solidly to repair the damage sustained to the team’s wingsail during Sunday’s practice race, the Swedish team was the force to be reckoned with on the race course today.

Skipper Terry Hutchinson’s solid starts, combined with the crew’s excellent boat handling and good tactical decisions, saw the Swedish team put 1st, 4th and 1st place finishes respectively on the scoreboard.

By winning two out of the three races today, Artemis Racing leads the Fleet Racing seeding, two points ahead of Emirates Team New Zealand (25 points), while Team Korea (23 points) lies in third position.

Today marks only the second time that Skipper Terry Hutchinson and Tactician Iain Percy had raced together, but it proved to be a winning combination. The other newcomer to the crew on the AC45 for this event is Australian bowman Andy Fethers, who also races on the team’s RC44 and Extreme 40, as part of the team’s ongoing crew rotation programme.

“Today’s racing is a baseline to start from and move forward. We are in a building phase as a team so it’s great to have good days, they make the not so good days feel better,” said Skipper Terry Hutchinson. “I have heaps of respect for our Tactician Iain (Percy). Having someone as good as Iain onboard is a good settler as it brings confidence to the way we can sail and allows me to focus more on the boat handling. His maturity and ability to win is key.”

“It is absolutely full on out there! The racing is tight and there is plenty of tacking and gybing. There is never a second to relax. I have a bit of a chance to contribute upwind, but not as much on the downwind legs,” Iain Percy commented modestly. Percy also took the time today to meet visiting Prince Michael of Kent before dock out.

One of the team’s VIP guest racers onboard the AC45 today was Stefan Rahm, Secretary General of the Swedish Sailing Federation and Tactician for Victory Challenge in the 32nd America’s Cup. Stefan thoroughly enjoyed his chance to sail on the AC45 and said: “It’s clear how the new America’s Cup is transforming sailing and this is such an important platform for Swedish sailing.”

Racing continues tomorrow to determine the seeding for the Match Racing which will begin on Friday and continue through Saturday before the World Championship race on Sunday.

A fine performance by Energy Team, who finish fourth (from Energy Team)

It was a great day for Energy Team with a fine performance enabling them to finish the day in fourth place after three fleet races in Plymouth. The French team led by Loïck Peyron, who was very encouraged after his good result on Sunday (4th), got off to some excellent starts and sailed smoothly and at speed in the light conditions. Energy Team came second in the first race, 7th in the second and fourth in the third race. Scoring twenty points, they finish the day in fourth place, just behind the two crews representing the American Defender Oracle Racing (Russell Coutts and James Spithill). Here’s a quick look at what went on in these action-packed races.

Race 1: After getting off to a very good start, Loïck Peyron and his men rounded the first mark in third place. Energy Team moved up a spot in the first downwind leg and rounded the second mark in second place behind Oracle Racing Spithill and ahead of Emirates Team New Zealand (D.Barker). During the tack to the third mark the three frontrunners were very close, but the rankings did not change. Clearly very much at ease in these light conditions, Energy Team had an excellent second downwind leg and grabbed the lead at the fourth mark, with Dean Barker just behind them. The French boat stayed on track and was still at the front as they rounded the fifth and sixth marks, in spite of Artemis making an amazing comeback. The two boats then found themselves engaged in a fantastic duel and in the end it was the crew led by Terry Hutchinson, which took over the reins at the penultimate mark. Loïck Peyron did not manage to close the gap, but did ward off the attacks from James Spithill. So he ended with a very fine second place after remaining up with the frontrunners throughout.

Race 2: Yet another great start for Energy Team. Third at the first mark just behind Emirates Team New Zealand and Aleph, the crew led by Loïck Peyron moved up a place at the end of the first downwind leg. Energy Team, then tried to catch the NewZealand boat, which was out in front, but was caught by Artemis on the first upwind leg. The French remained in third place until the second upwind leg, where they really suffered dropping back three places to be in sixth place at the penultimate mark. But there was little to choose between the boats and Energy Team was still hoping to get a place in the Top 5.Unfortunately the French team had to make do with finishing seventh in this second race, which was won in the end by Team Korea.

Race 3: As ever well placed at the start, Energy Team rounded the first mark in third place after Emirates Team New Zealand and Aleph received penalties for crossing the line too early. A new battle was underway with Artemis and the French team took the lead at the end of the first downwind leg. Second at the fourth mark just seven seconds behind Artemis, Loïck Peyron was in it to win it. But he lost ground on the second upwind leg and rounded the penultimate mark in fourth place, behind Artemis, Emirates Team New Zealand and Team Korea. And the order remained like that until the finish.

Loïck Peyron’s reaction: “Today was a fairly positive day. In general, we got off to a good start, keeping it just safe enough and working out what was going on in the fleet. Statistically, it’s incredible the number of buoys we must have rounded in second place, which isn’t bad at all. After that, we don’t always manage to keep our advantage, which shows how important it is to learn to deal with the pressure and sort out a few little details… In fairly light winds like today, we feel quite at ease. We got the speed up and had nothing to be ashamed of, in particular upwind with the new second jib we flew today, which came from our friend Jean-Bat (Le Vaillant) which is fantastic. It was exactly the range of wind for this sail today. And everyone worked well on board, with everyone understanding each other, so we’re progressing well. Our friend JS (Ponce), who has replaced Yann Guichard was not feeling that great this morning, but it worked out very well, and this evening he is over the moon about it all… And we know now where we need to progress, which is reassuring for us. There are so many areas to work on, that strangely, it’s reassuring…“

Long night and unjust penalties take toll on Green Comm Racing (from Green Comm Racing)

It has been a long and tough night for the Green Comm Racing shore and sailing crew and this was reflected on Wednesday's results. Replacing the hull doesn't just involve a piece of carbon fiber. There is a great number of gear that needs to be perfectly fitted and a long setup in order to transform two hulls and a wing into a competitive racing machine capable of beating the world's best sailing teams.

In addition, the team feels it was unjustly disqualified in the first race because of a penalty that didn't appear on the boat's electronic systems. According to helmsman Vasilij Zbogar, the boat's electronic systems never showed they were close to the course boundaries, let alone the fact they even got a penalty.

Conditions today were in complete contrast to Sunday's brisk and fresh breeze. The winds on Plymouth Sound were much lighter and definitely trickier. At times the breeze was so shifty that two boats could be close together and just have a different wind.

The day's first race was marked, for Green Comm Racing, by the penalty received for crossing the course boundaries, even if on the yacht's electronic systems it appeared the closest they got was approximately 90 meters. The crew was not aware of the penalty and so went on sailing a great race. They were always in the mix and managed to cross the finish line in fifth place, one second ahead of Russell Coutts.

In the second race, Green Comm Racing had another penalty in the prestart. As the yacht slowed down the rest of the fleet took off and Green Comm Racing crossed the line trailing behind.

In the final race of the day, Green Comm Racing had a start in the middle of the fleet and managed to fend off the attacks by Aleph and China Team, finishing 7th.

Thursday will be another day for the Spanish team and Vasilij Zbogar and the rest of the crew will, again, try to give the best of themselves. The schedule is similar to today's with one 40-minute fleet race, followed by two 20-minute shorter fleet races.

Quotes of the day:

Vasilij Zbogar, helmsman: “In the first race we actually sailed pretty well, we crossed the finish line in fifth place, just ahead of Russell Coutts but we got disqualified because of a penalty we didn't see. According to our onboard monitor we weren't even close to the boundaries. The closest we got was around 90 meters and we find it strange to get a penalty. In fact we weren't even aware we were given a penalty! So, we think that finishing fifth, ahead of Coutts, is a good result.
In the second race, we got a penalty at the prestart, so we had to slow down and started last. Finally, in the day's last race we had a disagreement onboard in the prestart and we got off the starting line at the back of the fleet but we again managed to climb and finished with two boats behind us.
We still need much more practice, especially our mark roundings. That's our biggest problem and that's where we fall behind. We had good speed upwind and we need to work a little bit more downwind. We learned a lot today and all the guys did very well, despite being very tired.”

ORACLE Racing in seeding races at ACWS Plymouth (from ORACLE Racing)

Before today’s beginning of the America’s Cup World Series Plymouth Match Racing Championships, ORACLE Racing Coutts tactician Murray Jones predicted it would be a “tricky ol’ day.”

Little did he know how tricky.

ORACLE Racing’s two crews in the ACWS were tripped up on Plymouth Sound in streaky and shifty winds. ORACLE Racing Coutts placed fifth after the three races and ORACLE Racing Spithill placed sixth.

The winds were far different from what the crews experienced during the windy practice races last weekend. But in winds around 10 knots the fleet is wide open, as evidenced by the constant place changes in each race.

ORACLE Racing Spithill led the day’s first race, which got underway on time but in a light, 6- to 8-knot breeze. The crew had a good start, led at the first reach mark and then maintained that advantage over the next two-plus legs.

On the second full run France’s Energy Team rode a puff across the bows of ORACLE Racing Spithill and into the race lead. Emirates Team New Zealand also got past on that leg and ORACLE Racing Spithill would place third in its best finish of the day.

“Very average performance from everyone on the boat, to be honest,” said skipper James Spithill. Despite that first race Spithill and crew had troubles on the start line today, where it is vital to slingshot off the line to ensure a strong position at the first turn. In a fleet where the competition is stacked with top sailors, the chances for coming back are diminished when you’re in the pack.

“We only really got off the start line well once,” Spithill said. “We made tactical errors. We made boathandling errors, and we just weren't sailing that fast. When you put that together you end up in the back of the pack.”

ORACLE Racing Coutts also had troubles on the start line. But the crew took advantage of its opportunities in the shifty conditions.

“Today was all about sailing the correct direction, because the breeze was very shifty. If you got on the wrong side of shift, the losses were huge,” said skipper Russell Coutts. “The boats that did well, generally, sailed the legs in-phase.

“We started poorly today. That was our biggest weakness. Other than that, we had a reasonable day,” Coutts said.

Today’s fleet racing, plus three more on Thursday will determine the seeds for the knock-out match racing championship, which begins on Friday.

The top three teams at the end of tomorrow’s racing advance directly to the semifinal round of the match racing championship, while the rest of the teams engage in a qualifying round. So long as a team wins, it moves on.

“Following feedback from the teams, we’ve made some tweaks to make all of the races meaningful for each of the teams,” said Regatta Director Iain Murray. “Everybody will sail in the important seeding fleet races (today) and Thursday, and then we’ll have the final match racing on Friday and Saturday. This is a more exciting format for teams and fans alike.”