Yachting News 18th September 2011
Greetings yachties,
In this issue:
AC45 – Plymouth,
Oracle Racing Digest – latest issue here,
Spithill and crew thrive to win treacherous Fleet Racing Championship as capsizes and collisions mark the final day in Plymouth
Crowds on Plymouth Hoe were treated to thrills and spills, capsizes and collisions, as the America’s Cup World Series raced to a dramatic conclusion on Sunday.
Photo © 2011 ACEA/Gilles Martin-Raget
ORACLE Racing Spithill won the Plymouth Fleet Racing Championship after an action-packed final day of the America’s Cup World Series in south-west England.
James Spithill made amends for a lackluster Match Race Championship with an emphatic victory in today’s winner-takes-all race in the fleet racing. “It’s redemption after the match racing,” said Spithill, who seemed unfazed by the breeze that bulleted across the course. With winds gusting up to 30 knots (55 km/h / 35 mph), merely avoiding a capsize or a collision was a major challenge but Spithill commented: “I still think we had a bit left in the tank to be honest. The puffiness and change in direction made it challenging, but what a fun race!”
Other sailors might have a different perspective on today. In the anxious minutes leading up to the start, Energy Team capsized trying to avoid Team Korea, although Loick Peyron’s crew managed to get the boat upright very quickly and rejoin the race. Moments later there was a dramatic collision with Artemis Racing riding up over the back of Green Comm Racing, with the skipper Vasilij Zbogar falling off the back of the Spanish boat and suffering a minor injury to his hand. With their boat damaged in the collision, Green Comm retired without crossing the start line.
“Vasco (Vasilij Zbogar) and the entire crew are doing well, nobody has been seriously hurt and we will try to be back on the water as soon as possible,” said team Executive Chairman Francesco de Leo.
Steering clear of trouble in the pre-start, the two ORACLE Racing boats and Emirates Team New Zealand burst off the start line with other teams following behind. At the first mark China Team capsized but got up and running again. In fact when Artemis capsized later in the race, Charlie Ogletree’s Chinese team moved past and managed to cross the finish line 9 minutes and 54 seconds after the winner, just six seconds inside the finishing time limit. A great result for China Team, and a great result for Aleph who moved past Team Korea in the closing stages of the race to take 4th across the line.
With boats touching speeds in excess of 50km/h, it was a wild ride, and while the Kiwis battled hard with the two ORACLE boats, Spithill moved clear on the final lap and Dean Barker had to satisfy himself with 2nd place ahead of Russell Coutts. “Today it was racing and survival,” said Barker, the Emirates skipper. “When the wind cranked in it was full on. The hard thing was not the wind speed but the big puffs which were unpredictable. We always like to win, but nice to get past Russell and take second.”
Match Race Champions in Plymouth
We raced the final of the Match Race section of the ACWS event here in Plymouth today. We came up against Team Korea who had earlier dispatched Artemis 2 nil in their best of 3 semi. We knew we would be in for some tough racing.
We managed to win the final 2 nil although both matches were very close all the way around the track. In the multis no lead is ever safe and even though we were controlling both races, it was hard to ever get to the point of a comfortable lead.
It was very satisfying to win the Match Race event here after losing in Cascais. To sail well in the finals is always a challenge and it felt like we did that today.
Tomorrow is the winner take all final of the fleet race. One 40 minute race to determine the Fleet Race Champion of Plymouth. The forecast is for really strong breeze so should be exciting. Still not a big fan of the format for the winner takes all, but that’s the rules!
Dean
Emirates Team New Zealand win Plymouth Match Racing Championship – Team Korea vault into second place
Emirates Team New Zealand won the Plymouth Match Racing Championship after halting the rapid rise of Team Korea with a 2-0 victory in wildly variable winds on Plymouth Sound.
Photo © 2011 ACEA/Gilles Martin-Raget
“It’s nice to win the match racing here after coming second in the last one,” Barker said after the sweeping victory. “It’s pretty cool to see this many people up on The Hoe. Hopefully we’re putting on a good show, and now we’ll get ready to do it all again tomorrow. It would be nice to get the double. It’s a winner-takes-all race and anything can happen, as you saw today.”
Earlier in the day, Chris Draper’s crew on Team Korea continued their giant-killing ways with a resounding 2-0 victory over Artemis Racing in the second Semi-Final. With four of Team Korea’s crew from Great Britain, Draper’s success was very popular with the Plymouth crowds cheering on The Hoe. The wind was up and down, the sun battled to break through the rain clouds scudding across the Devon sky, but still the crowds were engaged and enjoying the action, especially Draper’s march to the final.
“We felt we learned a lot in Cascais, we’re really pleased we got it together and hope that we’ve got some energy left for tomorrow,” said an exhausted Chris Draper after sailing four races on Friday and three on Saturday – more than anyone else in the fleet.
“It’s disappointing in that we led both races at the bottom marks and then not to win them is not our best effort,” said Artemis Racing skipper Terry Hutchinson about his semi final loss. “But they sailed great races.”
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