Oracle Racing Spithill’s James Spithill surges into semi-final: 2011 America’s Cup World Series
World’s top nine AC45 crews gathered at the San Diego Bay to commence the seeding races of 2011 America’s Cup World Series. The nine-boat fleet lined up in San Diego on the opening day of the third ACWS leg and sailed in three races to formulate seeding
positions.
France’s Energy Team skippered by Yann Guichard, Emirates Team New Zealand led by Dean Barker and James Spithill’s Oracle Racing Spithill hit the top three podium spots in the overall standings of the races and made it to the semi-final stage of the match
racing championship.
Energy Team grabbed a third, fifth and first position in all three races to finish first with 24 points and occupy top seed. Emirates Team New Zealand could not win any race but with a convincing 2, 3, 5 combination, they managed to take the second spot
with 23 points, while the Oracle Racing Spithill were placed on number three position with 22 points after a moderate score line of 5,4, 2.
Spithill is happy with his team’s performance and believes that they had a good time on San Diego waters on the opening day.
He spoke to the media and said, “We had pretty much every light going off in the boat today, from OCS to penalty. I thought Christmas had come early, to be honest, just without any presents. Obviously we struggled off the start line. Out of the three races
we broke two starts and found ourselves in last position twice around the reach mark.”
The skipper added, “But I think one thing we really focused on was being able to sail well from behind. That certainly wasn't my game plan today but we were able to put it into play and it came off. We've done a lot of work with our sails. I felt we were
fast but just a very ordinary day for me on the start line, really.”
Overall seeding race standings:
1. Energy Team, Yann Guichard (FRA) 3, 5, 1 - 24
2. Emirates Team New Zealand, Dean Barker (NZL) 2, 3, 5 - 23
3. ORACLE Racing Spithill, James Spithill (USA) 5, 4, 2 - 22
4. Artemis Racing, Terry Hutchinson (SWE) 7, 1, 4 - 21
5. Team Korea, Chris Draper (KOR) 4, 2, 8 - 19
6. ORACLE Racing Coutts, Darren Bundock (USA) 1, 8, 6 - 18
7. Green Comm Racing, Vasilij Žbogar (ESP) 8, 9, 3 - 14
8. ALEPH, Pierre Pennec (FRA) 9, 6, 7 - 12
9. China Team, Charlie Ogletree (CHN)6, 7, 9 – 12
AC 500 speed trials results:
Emirates Team New Zealand - 21.22 knots
ORACLE Racing Spithill - 21.10 knots
ORACLE Racing Coutts - 19.86 knots
Artemis Racing - 19.65 knots
Energy Team - 19.36 knots
Team Korea - 19.18 knots
China Team - 18.54 knots
ALEPH - 18.33 knots
Green Comm Racing - 17.91 knots
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