AC-45 Auckland

A great day for Artemis Racing on the water here in New Zealand. Match racing in 15 knots from the East was on the menu and the team won three out of the four races to ‘win’ the day.

The racing a very demanding physically for the five crew onboard. The average heart rate for wing trimmer Sean Clarkson is 150 with peaks at 180 during the 30 minute heat.

No capsizes or collisions today, but it was very close racing.

There is just one maneuver in the three minute prestart but the lead/push game for the final minute and a half is very similar to what we are used to from monohulls.

Our team of 25 people from Artemis Racing have been working very hard for eight weeks on this AC45. AC45 Project Manager Phil Jameson has done an excellent job in preparing the boat not just for these trials but for the World Series which starts in August in Portugal.

I have been in Auckland for three days with the team and I am very pleased with how the entire team is working together.

Tonight I am heading back to California and onto Valencia Sunday where another 40 people are doing great work on designing and building our AC72 which will launch early next year.

This America’s Cup is a very busy one indeed! No one is lacking something to do.

Paul Cayard