Big crowds in excess of 10,000 turned out to watch the first day of racing at the AC World Series - Plymouth, and they were treated to a display of excellent racing in challenging conditions.
ETNZ Photo: © Gilles Martin-Raget/ACEA |
The race course was set up in the Sound, just meters offshore from the Plymouth Hoe, making day one of the event pure ‘stadium sailing’.
"It was pretty awesome to see a crowd like that supporting the sport,” said Artemis Racing skipper Terry Hutchinson. “There were a lot of public on the Plymouth Hoe and around the course. I don’t think anyone expected something like that. Imagine what could happen with a sunny day.”
With the wind blowing in excess of 20 knots at times, boat handling was the key skill today, combined with brave starting. Dean Barker and the Kiwis took the first race with their big rivals from Cascais, Portugal. ORACLE Racing Spithill, in hot pursuit. James Spithill’s colleagues on ORACLE Racing Coutts were disqualified for being over too early on the start line.
ORACLE Racing Coutts Photo: © Gilles Martin-Raget/ACEA |
Photo: © Gilles Martin-Raget/ACEA |
By the time ORACLE Racing Spithill was up and running again, the Kiwis were long gone. Now the race was with the other ORACLE boat, and they were shown no mercy by Russell Coutts who closed them out and sailed in front. Meanwhile Artemis had pounced on the ORACLE mishap to move into second place.
Emirates Team New Zealand’s two race wins on the day gave them the lead in the fleet racing, and Dean Barker did a fly-by for the crowds as he waved his appreciation to the people of Plymouth who had come to watch. Artemis finished the day on equal points with Spithill.
Photo: © Gilles Martin-Raget/ACEA |
Start time for Sunday’s fleet race has been moved up to 1300 local time (GMT+1).
Results – Plymouth AC Preliminaries
Place/Team/Race#1PlacePoints/Race#2PlacePoints/Race#3PlacePoints/Total Points
1. Emirates Team New Zealand 1 10, 3 8, 1 10, 28
2. Artemis Racing 3 8, 2 9, 2 9, 26
3. ORACLE Spithill Racing 2 9, 1 10, 4 7, 26
4. Aleph 4 7, 7 4, 5 6, 17
5. China Team 6 5, 5 6, 6 5, 16
6. ORACLE Racing Coutts OCS 0, 4 7, 3 8, 15
7. Energy Team 8 3, 6 5, 7 4, 12
8. Team Korea 5 6, DNF 3, 8 3, 12
9. Green Comm Racing 7 4, 8 3, 9 3, 10
Plymouth AC500 Speed Trials
Place Team Speed (km/h)
1 ORACLE Racing Coutts 45.35
2 Emirates Team New Zealand 43.72
3 Energy Team 43.48
4 ORACLE Racing Spithill 43.30
5 Artemis Racing 42.27
6 China Team 41.66
7 Green Comm Racing 40.73
8 Aleph 40.30
9 Team Korea 39.87
America's Cup Media
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