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Photo: Guilain Grenier/ORACLE Racing |
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Photo: Guilain Grenier/ORACLE Racing |
“It feels fantastic to win. It’s good to get a couple of wins back on Deano and his guys,” said Spithill of today’s two fast and thrilling matches.
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Photo: Guilain Grenier/ORACLE Racing |
“The guys did a fantastic job today,” Spithill said. “JK (tactician Kostecki) was on fire calling the tactics and wind.”
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Photo: Guilain Grenier/ORACLE Racing |
ORACLE Racing Spithill held a slim lead around the leeward mark. On the ensuing upwind leg the two crews swapped the lead three times. ORACLE Racing Spithill was overlapped to the outside at the next mark rounding, and then overtook and sailed away from the Kiwis when they had troubles with their gennaker, the large sail at the front of the catamaran that is mounted on a roller-furling system.
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Photo: Guilain Grenier/ORACLE Racing |
The two crews were essentially even at the leeward gate, but ORACLE Racing Spithill gained control on the next leg and then sailed away to a large win of more than 2 minutes.
“The crew with the minimum amount of errors wins. We feel that we’ve ramped up through the competition,” Spithill said. “When we started last week we were missing a few things. But we’ve put it together through the week.”
The ORACLE Racing Coutts crew also advanced to today’s final rounds of the match racing championship, but was vanquished in the quarterfinals by Team Korea. ORACLE Racing Coutts, led by skipper Russell Coutts, placed fifth overall.
“We just haven’t had a great regatta tactically. It’s tough, you know,” said Coutts, the four-time winner of the America’s Cup. “Team Korea sailed a very, very nice race and got some good shifts.”
While Coutts may have lost on the water, his vision of an America’s Cup in catamarans appears a sure victory. Today’s racing for the championship was as good as match racing gets. The action was tight with plenty of lead changing.
“There’ve been a lot of comments about match racing in catamarans; guys sitting on the fence and the jury’s out,” Spithill said. “But it’s obvious that it’s going to work.”
ACWS – Cascais Match Racing Championships Final Standings
1. ORACLE Racing Spithill/James Spithill – 10 points
2. Emirates Team New Zealand/Dean Barker – 9
3. Artemis Racing/Terry Hutchinson – 8
4. Team Korea/Chris Draper – 7
5. ORACLE Racing Coutts/Russell Coutts – 6
6. Energy Team/Loick Peyron – 5
7. Green Comm/Vasilij Žbogar – 4
8. Aleph/Alain Gautier – 3
9. China Team/Mitch Booth – 3
Crew Lists
ORACLE Racing Coutts: Russell Coutts (helm), Murray Jones (wing trim), Matthew Mason(middleman), Daniel Fong (trimmer), Simeon Tienpont (bow)
ORACLE Racing Spithill: James Spithill (helm), John Kostecki (tactician), Dirk de Ridder (wing trim), Joe Newton (trimmer), Piet van Nieuwenhuijzen (bow)
ORACLE Racing Media
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