Strong winds trouble Chris Draper’s Team Korea on Day 2 of America’s Cup World Series
Day 2 of the 2011 America’s Cup World Series could only hold a single race due to strong and shifty weather conditions prevailing at the race site. Team Korea’s performance was also affected
by the heavy winds and skipper Chris Draper reckons they would have done a lot better if the winds had subtled down.
The weather conditions on Day 2 of America’s Cup World Series were quite strong, as the south westerly wind blew from around 25 to 30 knots over the racing area along with heavy shifty
gusts of up to 40 knots.
The Swedish team of Artemis Racing couldn’t continue, as they collapsed with Emirates team New Zealand and broke their wing. The skipper of Artemis Racing, Terry Hutchinson had to call
off the team’s participation in the race due to the severe damage.
On the other hand, French boat Aleph capsized and dismantled its wing in front of the crowd gathered along Plymouth seafront. However, the skipper helm Aleph, Bertrand Pace, told the media
that there were no injuries on the boat but the boat’s wing was completely damaged.
The Team Korea buried their bows, as the boat capsized on their way round the top mark during the race. The skipper Chris Draper and crew tried their best to recover but failed, as the
boat was completely bent on the water.
While speaking to the local media after the race, Draper said, “As we bore off around the mark boat after slowing right down, we got a big gust, couldn’t ease the wing enough in time and
so had too much pressure on, stuck the nose in and slowly went over sideways. I thought we nearly saved it, but the wind just pushed us over. Actually we got away quite lightly.”
The overall standings at the end of Day 2 are given below.
1. NZL Emirates Team New Zealand, Dean Barker 10, 8, 10, 9 = 37 points
2. USA ORACLE Racing Spithill, James Spithill 9, 10, 7, 10 = 36 points
3. SWE Artemis Racing, Terry Hutchinson 8, 9, 9, 3 = 29 points
4. USA ORACLE Racing Coutts, Russell Coutts 3, 7, 8, 8 = 26 points
5. CHN China Team, Charlie Ogletree 5, 6, 5, 6 = 22 points
6. FRA Aleph, Bertrand Pace 7, 4, 6, 3 = 20 points
7. FRA Energy Team, Loick Peyron 3, 5, 4, 7 = 19 points
8. KOR Team Korea, Chris Draper 6, 3, 3, 5 = 17 points
9. ESP Green Comm Racing, Vasilij Zbogar 4, 3, 3, 3 = 13 points
Tags: