Aleph skipper Pierre Pennec satisfied with team’s performance despite losing to Artemis Racing
France’s top AC45 sailing team, Aleph skippered by Pierre Pennec, was quite impressive from the very beginning of 2011 America’s Cup World Series at San Diego Bay. The French team finished on eighth position in the fleet races which were held to formulate
the seeding list. Due to their eighth position in seeding races, Aleph had to sail in the qualifiers to claim a place in the semi-final stage.
French AC45 yacht sailed in four and grabbed three qualifier wins against China Team skippered by Charlie Ogletree, Chris Draper’s Team Korea and Oracle Racing Coutts led by Darren Bundock, to set up an Artemis Racing clash in Qualifying Match 5. Misfortune
caught the French sailors, as they tumbled down in their ultimate qualifier and lost to Terry Hutchinson’s Swedish team.
Qualifying match results in San Diego Match Racing Championship are as follows:
Q1. Aleph beat China Team
Q2. ORACLE Racing Coutts beat Green Comm Racing
Q3. Aleph beat Team Korea
Q4. Aleph beat ORACLE Racing Coutts
Q5. Artemis Racing beat Aleph
However, Aleph skipper, Pierre Pennec, is not disappointed with his team’s performance despite losing the opportunity to play a semi-final, as he believes his team has done a great job throughout the event and has enjoyed some excellent sailing experience.
Speaking to reporters at the conclusion of the qualifiers, Pennec said, “We were leading in the first match before it was abandoned. In the second start we had a penalty, but we did well with the wind shifts to match them right up to the last mark, so it
was a good day for us. I really wanted to beat Artemis.”
The Swedish team has now moved into the semi-finals and will be sailing against top seed, Energy Team, to make their way to the finals with Emirates team New Zealand or Oracle Racing Spithill. Their semi-final encounter will be worth watching, as both teams
have performed impressively during the tournament.
Semi-final fixtures are below:
SF1. Emirates Team New Zealand vs. ORACLE Racing Spithill
SF2. Energy Team vs. Artemis Racing
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