Consistency brings Oracle Racing on top on first day of 2011 RC44 Austria Cup: Sailing News
The first day of RC44 Austria Cup began with a light breeze and blue skies over Lake Traunsee and ended with Oracle Racing finishing at the top with six point lead over the runner-up, Katusha. Some new names also emerged as race winners, but consistency from Oracle Racing brought them the number one position.
The Oracle's owner, Larry Ellison, could not make it to the first day of the race to begin the four-day race, so an American patriot, Steve Howe stepped into the helm and started the fleet, racing at RC44 Austria Cup before Russell Coutts called the shots.
The breeze along the Lake Traunsee was blowing at a light six to eight knots. The tactician at the Russian Katusha, Paul Cayard did not expect the race to be an easy one on the first day.
“It requires a different strategy and tactics to an ocean course that will be the test for me, to keep calm and realise that when we’re ahead and go in to a spot with no wind, that happens, and you need to keep fighting,” said Cayard.
There were some new faces who raced brilliantly on the first day. The Dutch team, No Way Back, finished third at the end of the day, after they won the first race of the day and led second in the final race. They had a struggling first regatta at San Diego where they finished last, but they got a new tactician an Australian Laser sailor, Tom Slingsby, for the Austria Cup.
The owner of No Way Back, Pieter Heerema is quite happy with the performance of Tom.
He said, “We had a great day, it’s a bit of a shame to end on our worst race but the feeling on the boat is good, the speed is good, the communication and co-ordination of the crew is great! We came from a difficult situation in San Diego, so we changed our tactician to Tom, very young guy, super talented but also such a nice person and were having fun on the water.”
The race will resume on Saturday, May 14 with a prediction of a storm to blow through the lake.
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