America's Cup World Series 2011-2012

[mpowlison]

April 13, 2012

ORACLE Racing Spithill closes the gap on the Kiwis while Luna Rossa places two teams in Match Race Final Four

Naples offered a new challenge to the nine crews competing in the America’s Cup World Series on Friday as light, shifty offshore winds battled an onshore swell, resulting in a race course where gains and losses were often measured in the hundreds of yards.

ORACLE Racing Spithill had the best day across the two fleet races, posting two second-place finishes. In contrast, each race winner (Energy Team, Emirates Team New Zealand) also carried a seventh place score on the day. As a result, Jimmy Spithill’s American team gained four points on the leading Kiwis, nearly cutting their lead in half over the course of the day.

“It was really hard,” said Chris Draper, the helmsman of Luna Rossa Piranha, who led his team to a consistent 3-4 performance. “The swell made it hard, surfing upwind and then straight into the waves downwind… So to get the results we did, I'm really pleased with our guys, they did a great job.”

China Team, struggling to this point, also stood out on the day. Although skipper Fred Le Peutrec’s team has yet to finish out of ninth place, on Friday their starts were outstanding and the team was among the early leaders in both races. After that however, the quality of the fleet was simply too strong for the new Chinese squad.

"Good starts, yes, but not good races,” he said after racing. “We are a bit frustrated by the wind shifts, but anyway, two good starts… Unlucky with the wind, but that's the game."

Following the two fleet races, the remaining two Match Racing Quarterfinals were completed. Emirates Team New Zealand found itself pushed deep into the standings by Terry Hutchinson’s Artemis Racing, who found the right shifts in the tricky conditions to earn a lopsided victory. While Artemis advances to the Semi Finals, the Kiwis are forced to settle for a disappointing eighth place.

“It is nice to be able to gain some points on them for the overall World Series,” Hutchinson said. “But looking at the big picture, we still have a lot of work to do.”

In the other Quarter Final, Luna Rossa Swordfish won a close match over Energy Team, becoming the second Italian crew to qualify for the Semi Finals.

“For the team, it’s a great result for both boats to be in the top four,” said Manuel Modena, the trimmer on Luna Rossa Swordfish. “I hope we can both make it to the Final. Both our crews have the ability, but I would like to win if we both make it.”

The program for Saturday starts with the Match Racing Semi Finals and Final followed by two Fleet Races. The start of the first match is scheduled for 1330 CEST.

Fleet Racing Championship - Provisional Standings Day Three (after six races):

1. Emirates Team New Zealand (Skipper: Dean Barker); 52 points
2. ORACLE Racing - Spithill (Skipper: James Spithill); 47 points
3. Luna Rossa - Piranha (Helmsman: Chris Draper); 42 points
4. Team Korea (Skipper: Nathan Outteridge); 39 points
5. Energy Team (Skipper: Yann Guichard); 39 points
6. Luna Rossa - Swordfish (Helmsman: Paul Campbell-James); 35 points
7. ORACLE Racing - Bundock (Skipper: Darren Bundock); 28 points
8. Artemis Racing (Skipper: Terry Hutchinson); 20 points
9. China Team (Skipper: Fred Le Peutrec); 8 points

Match Racing Championship – Provisional Results:

QF3 - Artemis Racing beat Emirates Team New Zealand
QF4 - Luna Rossa Swordfish beat Energy Team
Emirates Team New Zealand finishes eighth in the Match Racing Championship; Artemis Racing advances to SF1.

Energy Team finishes fifth in the Match Racing Championship; Luna Rossa Swordfish advances to SF1

See full results and format here.

[mpowlison]

April 14, 2012

Strong winds and heavy seas see racing suspended in Naples; Sunday’s racing will determine Fleet and Match Racing Champions

Heavy seas pounding into the breakwaters along the Naples sea front on Saturday morning, along with a forecast for winds that could exceed 30 knots, meant racing was suspended on Saturday.

The match race semi finals and finals will now be sailed on Sunday. Fleet races seven and eight have been abandoned and won’t be sailed, shortening the Fleet Racing Championship to seven races.

“Racing has been suspended today because of the wind as well as the big seas coming in from very strong winds in the Mediterranean,” said Regatta Director Iain Murray. “The expectation is for the breeze to build up near 30 knots and the waves will go up as well… The potential for damage to people and boats is too high today… My heart says we should be out sailing, but my head says that we need to wait until tomorrow.”

The sailors, while disappointed to lose a day of racing, agreed.

“They made the right decision,” said Paul Campbell-James, the helmsman of Luna Rossa Swordfish. “Really strong wind and massive waves, which could have damaged the boats. So it was the right decision but it’s a massive disappointment.”

This is the first time racing has been suspended at the America’s Cup World Series in 25 race days.

The racing program for Sunday becomes busier now, with the Match Racing Semi-Finals scheduled to start at 1250 CEST. The AC500 Speed Trial will begin at 1350 and the final fleet race, where the winner earns a whopping 50 points (all the finishing positions are heavily weighted compared with previous races) has a start time of 1455.

Given the poor weather, many of the sailors settled for some virtual racing in the AC45 Club, where Team Korea trimmer Mark Bulkeley posted the best time down the track in the America’s Cup Speed Trials game, earning a bottle of Moët et Chandon champagne.

ORACLE Racing’s Ian Burns, who was instrumental in developing the game, said that it had been downloaded more than 25,000 times in its first week in Apple’s App Store.

“It’s been great to see the response to the game, from old and new sailing fans alike,” he said. “While it’s an easy game for beginners to play, as you can see when these guys take it on, it still gets their competitive fires burning.”


Fleet Racing Championship - Provisional Standings (after six races):

1. Emirates Team New Zealand (Skipper: Dean Barker); 52 points
2. ORACLE Racing - Spithill (Skipper: James Spithill); 47 points
3. Luna Rossa - Piranha (Helmsman: Chris Draper); 42 points
4. Team Korea (Skipper: Nathan Outteridge); 39 points
5. Energy Team (Skipper: Yann Guichard); 39 points
6. Luna Rossa - Swordfish (Helmsman: Paul Campbell-James); 35 points
7. ORACLE Racing - Bundock (Skipper: Darren Bundock); 28 points
8. Artemis Racing (Skipper: Terry Hutchinson); 20 points
9. China Team (Skipper: Fred Le Peutrec); 8 points

Match Racing Championship – Sunday’s races

SF1 – Artemis Racing vs. Luna Rossa Swordfish
SF2 – Team Korea vs. Luna Rossa Piranha

The winners advance to a one race Final.

See full results and format here.

[mpowlison]

April 15, 2012

Luna Rossa thrills crowd - wins grand finale Fleet Racing Championship at the America’s Cup World Series in Naples



Chris Draper led his Luna Rossa crew to a thrilling win in the final fleet race in Naples, Italy, collecting 50 points for his efforts to vault up the leaderboard and win the AC World Series Naples Fleet Racing Championship. The victory kicked off celebrations among the tens of thousands of Italian America’s Cup fans lining the Naples waterfront to catch a glimpse of their heroes.

“We’re very pleased with the event, with the team effort,” an excited Draper said afterwards. “We didn't have huge expectations, but to come away with a first (in the fleet racing) and a second (in the match racing) is awesome."

Conditions were light, tricky and testing on Sunday, but Draper and his crew were up to the challenge. As was James Spithill and his ORACLE Racing crew, who appeared to be dead and buried in last place early in the race, only to recover and claim an impressive second place.

“The key thing was hanging in there and looking for the opportunities, and there were plenty out there,” Spithill said. “JK (tactician John Kostecki) and the guys did a very nice job… In those sorts of conditions you can go from hero to zero in a matter of seconds. We knew we just had to hang tough and wait for the opportunities. The guys found some good ways back and got us up there.”

Earlier in the afternoon, the Match Racing Championship was decided when Terry Hutchinson and his Artemis Racing team took advantage of a pre-start mistake by Chris Draper’s team to sail away with a win in the sudden-death Final. The victory was a vindication of sorts for Artemis, who had capsized in the first race of the regatta, damaging their wing and being shut out of the points on Wednesday.

“I can't say enough about the effort from the guys on the boat and on the shore,” Hutchinson said. “After Wednesday, we’d have taken today's result, that's for sure. Our team trainer says it's not how you fall down, but how you get up. Now we have to come back in a few weeks in Venice and work on our consistency.”

No records were set in this edition of the AC500 Speed Trials, as the light winds meant the fastest runs came at the end, during a brief period of stronger conditions. ORACLE Racing Bundock was able to fend off Artemis Racing by a microscopic .02 seconds to post the fastest time.

A major story in Naples has been the enthusiasm of the city as shown by the size of the crowds in the event village. Sunday was no exception, with the crowds lined deep along the waterfront to watch the action. Much of the support, unsurprisingly, was for Luna Rossa.

“We sailed along the shore after the finish and it's insane to see how many people are here,” said Luna Rossa’s Draper. “As a sailor you'd never imagine having so many people watching. It's great for the sport, and great to be part of an Italian team in front of all these people. We're very proud.”

The America’s Cup World Series now packs up and moves north to Venice, for the fifth stop on the circuit in May.

The results from Naples mean there is a new leader on the overall AC World Series Championship leaderboard. ORACLE Racing Spithill has overhauled Emirates Team New Zealand to lead by a slender one point after four events. The 2011-2012 AC World Series concludes in Newport, Rhode Island on July 1, where it appears the Championship will be decided.

Fleet Racing Championship - Standings (seven races):

1. Luna Rossa - Piranha (Helmsman: Chris Draper); 92 points
2. ORACLE Racing - Spithill (Skipper: James Spithill); 77 points
3. Emirates Team New Zealand (Skipper: Dean Barker); 60 points
4. Energy Team (Skipper: Yann Guichard); 54 points
5. Team Korea (Skipper: Nathan Outteridge); 49 points
6. Luna Rossa - Swordfish (Helmsman: Paul Campbell-James); 41 points
7. Artemis Racing (Skipper: Terry Hutchinson); 40 points
8. ORACLE Racing - Bundock (Skipper: Darren Bundock); 37 points
9. China Team (Skipper: Fred Le Peutrec); 15 points


Match Racing Championship – Sunday’s races

Final – Artemis Racing beat Luna Rossa Piranha
SF1 – Artemis Racing beat Luna Rossa Swordfish
SF2 – Luna Rossa Piranha beat ORACLE Racing Bundock

See full results here

[mpowlison]

May 16, 2012

Ready for racing in Venice, despite the rain



Poor weather curtailed any thought of practice in Venice today. The morning dawned with wind approaching 30 knots, plummeting temperatures and heavy rain.

The winds eased and the sun made an appearance later in the day, but all the teams remained ashore.

I had a chance to speak to Emirates Team New Zealand's Ray Davies, in a very cold tent at the team base this morning for a longer feature story to run next week. I asked him about some of his favourite days on the water, and he pointed out how much fun the AC45 is to sail and race:

"Some of the days on the AC45 are just fantastic," he said. "Even yesterday (during the training races), wind in that 9 to 11 knot range, it's a full-on crew work battle, but everything is manageable, you're not overpowered yet. That's really nice racing."

He should get more of the same conditions on Thursday, with the forecast for sea breezes in the 7 to 11 knot range during the race period.

Racing begins in the America's Cup World Series on Thursday at 1415 CEST. You can catch all of the action live on YouTube (subject national broadcast agreements).

Two fleet races are scheduled, followed by the Match Racing Quarter-Finals.

Other news today comes from ORACLE TEAM USA. Firstly, the team has indicated the damage to the Spithill boat should be repaired in time for racing tomorrow.

Secondly, the team has hired a new General Manager, multiple America's Cup winner Grant Simmer.

- Peter Rusch

[mpowlison]

May 18 2012

Local heroes lead the way on historic day of racing in Venice



The America’s Cup World Series fleet raced on the Grand Canal of Venice Friday, the historic waters becoming a proving ground for some of the best sailors in the world. Each of the two Luna Rossa crews rose to the occasion, recording a race win, pleasing the local spectators who were out in force both on shore and on the water.

While conditions were perfect for racing, with moderate 8-10 knot sea breezes, the challenge came from the narrow, restricted race course, which was shoe-horned into the canal. This forced the boats close together and the crews were challenged to execute an unprecedented number of tacks and gybes as they zigzagged up and down the track.

"Seriously tiring, pretty out of breath. It's very hard physically," said Piranha skipper Chris Draper. "I can't say enough how hard it is for the guys on the boat."

Loick Peyron’s Energy Team retained their position at the top of the Fleet Racing leaderboard, but not without some nervous moments. The team was in dead last place at the first two marks of the second race, before making a spectacular comeback on the next leg of the course to round in second place, a position they protected all the way to the finish.

MORE TO COME - BUT NO MATCH RACING TODAY

Fleet Racing Championship – Provisional Results (after four races)
1. Energy Team…35 points
2. Luna Rossa Swordfish…31 points
3. Luna Rossa Piranha…29 points
4. Emirates Team New Zealand…29 points
5. Team Korea…26 points
6. ORACLE TEAM USA Spithill…21 points
7. Artemis Racing…21 points
8. ORACLE TEAM USA Bundock…16 points
9. China Team…8 points