RC 44 Sweden

Good sailing conditions were served up today in Marstrand. With 10-15 knots of wind from the South, Peter Reggio was able to get three races in for the RC44 fleet.

Neither Artemis Racing nor Katusha had a very good day which capped off not a very good regatta for us. Artemis finished 8th for the series and Katusha 10th.

Team Aqua rose to the occasion with a strong challenge from a much improved Ceeref. Puerto Calero sailed well in the last two days to move up to third.

Marstrand was a great host to the fleet and I would not be surprised if we’re back here next year.

Next stop for the fleet is Roving, Croatia at the end of September. I last raced in Roving in 1990 when we used to have a match race event there called the ACY Cup. Roving is a very nice little fishing village on Croatia’s West coast about three hours south of Trieste, Italy. I am looking forward to going back.

Artemis Racing will be competing the D35 event in Beaulieu, France from 1-4 September and then in the AC45 World Series event in Plymouth from 8-18 September.

For complete results go to www.rc44.com

Paul

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RC 44 Sweden

30 knots winds and 3 meter seas were waiting for the fleet this morning and forced race officer Peter Luigi Reggio to hold the fleet ashore until 1400.

Thereafter, two nice races were sailed. The first in 15 dropping to 10 knots and the second in 10 to 8 knots. The forecast had the wind moving left all day but it did the opposite.

Team Aqua had the best day with a 2, 4 closely followed by Cereef with a 5, 2.

The Artemis Racing team had a late night last night preparing for today’s racing. After the collision yesterday, the KSSS team offered their boat to Artemis for the remainder of the series as they are guests just racing in this event and Artemis is a contender for the entire season. This was a generous offer by the host club of Artemis’ entry to the America’s Cup and very appreciated.

Naturally, the crew of Artemis felt more comfortable with their mast and sails so they changed the rig last night and worked until midnight to get the boat race ready. This morning they were out sailing in the shelter of the harbor to check everything.

Artemis had a reasonable day today with a 7 and a 6 to move up to 5th overall. Onboard Katusha we did not have a great day with a 11, 12 and fell to 11th overall.

Tomorrow is the last day of racing and the forecast is for nice conditions with 8 to 12 knots and sunshine.

For complete results go to www.rc44.com

Paul

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RC 44 Sweden

It was a wet and dreary day weather wise but there was a bit of wind and the Petter Reggio and his race committee managed to get in three good races.

Katusha and Artemis both had two scores in the first two races. Katusha with a 3, 2 and Artemis with a 4, 5. The wind was 6-9 knots most of the day but very volatile as the easterly wind was coming off the land. Both teams sailed well to post those scores. Aleph also sailed well in those two races scoring one point more than Katusha.

Just prior to the start of the third race, Artemis was involved in a serious collision which took Artemis out for the day. They are assessing the damage and will make a plan tonight for the rest of the series.

Onboard Katusha, we had a poor third race. We just seemed to be on the wrong side of the shifts and ultimately finished 12th.

Katusha is in 4th place over all, just 6 points out of first place, which is just fine with two more days of racing to go. There will be more heartache and frustration out on that race track before it is all said and done. So plenty of points to be gained and lost. The top 9 boats are all within 8 points!

No Way back leads with 21 points, followed by Aleph on 22, and Aqua on 26.

For complete scores and updates go to www.rc44.com

Paul

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RC 44 Sweden

The fleet racing portion of the event got underway today. Unfortunately the wind was very fickle and only allowed for one very light wind race. There was an abundance of sunshine though which made for a pleasant day.

Artemis Racing with Torbjorn Tornqvist at the helm sailed a great first windward leg and first run to hold a commanding lead at the half way point. Up the second windward leg, Artemis went to the left side while Ceref and Aleph went to the right. In the end it was the right that panned out. Mind you this all played out in 5 knots of wind.

Onboard Katusha, we were having a bit of trouble with the fickle wind and rounded the first mark in second to last place. We battled back a bit up the second windward leg and then down the final run to finish a respectable 10th. The finish is off a castle which is at the end of a narrow channel. With the wind running straight down the channel, this made for a very tricky finish with all the boats gybing on each other and bunching up. We had a bit of luck and things went our way to pass three boats in this last little bit of the race.

The forecast for tomorrow is better, in fact there could be quite a lot of wind. Gennadi had to attend to business and left after racing today so Sarah Gunderson will be our helmsperson tomorrow and through to the end of the regatta.

For complete results go to www.rc44.com

Paul

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RC 44 Sweden

Good sailing conditions were served up today for the first day of racing here in Sweden… 11-16 knots and an oscillating breeze from 170-210. Skies were overcast and even some rain this morning.

7 flights were held but for most that means 4 races and the fleet has now grown to 16 boats and only 10 (5 pairs) can race at a time.

Katusha and Artemis had average days each scoring 2 win and 2 losses. The two wins for Katusha were enough to move her into second place in the Match Racing standings for the season after Oracle had a bad day with just 1 win. Artemis won the “inter-family” derby.

Onboard Katusha we Jonas, our pit man, was down with a back injury. So we brought in a new recruit in the form of Danny Cayard. He filled in as offside tailer alongside Robbie “Battler” Naismith. It was a lot of fun to race with my son..something I will never forget.

I wont go into all the details of the racing but suffice it to say there were some things we could have done better.

The big winner of the day was Islas Canarias with 4 wins and many teams on 3 wins: AEZ, No Way Back Synergy, Peninsula Petroleum, Cereef, Aqua and Nikka.

Tomorrow the fleet racing is starting and our skipper Guenaddi is in town and ready to go.

For complete results go to www.rc44.com

Paul

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America’s Cup World Series – Cascais

The first racing of the new America’s Cup is now in the record books. In yesterday’s only and final race, there were three lead changes, the top boat speed was 24 knots, the course had 6 legs, and the race took 40 minutes and was within .5 miles of the shore. Everything that had been promised was delivered. Cascais delivered perfect conditions all week with wind between 8 and 18 knots.

For those who thought catamaran racing would be dull and boring, this past week has been a wake up call. The final of the match racing yesterday between Emirates Team New Zealand and ORACLE Racing Spithill was classic match racing with the competitors even tacking on each other at upwind speeds of 15 knots.

Artemis Racing did well here this week. On this final weekend, Skipper Terry Hutchinson and his crew finished third in the match racing and 2nd in the fleet race. Emirates Team New Zealand was the top team with a win in yesterday’s fleet race and a second place in the match racing to ORACLE Racing’s Jimmy Spithill and his team. While our performance here is a good start, our sights are set on winning in Plymouth in less than one month’s time.

Chris Drapper and his Team Korea had a great showing in the match racing defeating Russell Coutts in the 1/4 finals. Team China had moments of brilliance and the least prepared team, Green Comm improved dramatically as the week went on. The internationalism of this fleet is very cool.

There is much to learn in racing these boats. New strategies for starting, course management, sail trim and boat handling. These boats are extremely physical for the crew. I was looking at the heart rate data of one of our crew for a race the other day and his average heart rate for the 25 minute race was 91% of his maximum. His minimum heart rate was 82% and he hit 100% three times! Athletics has finally hit sailing!

It was fantastic to see this new sailing “product” rolled out in such a convincing way. The live internet coverage of the racing was very well done with graphics that show the course boundaries like a basketball court. Other graphics for the “zone” around the marks. The replays of critical moments along with commentary were cool. Sure, all this can be improved still and will, but it is such a huge leap forward from past coverage of sailing.

All in all, it was very exciting to witness and to be part of. Onward and upward. I am heading to Sweden today for the RC44 racing in Marstrand this week.

For complete results and video please go to www.americascup.com

Paul

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Artemis Racing on the eve of action

Today was the final shakedown for the nine teams competing in the first America’s Cup World Series regatta, which starts tomorrow and runs through 14 August in Cascais, Portugal.

In a steady 8-15 knot breeze, Artemis Racing lined up against the competition for three short practice fleet races. It was just a glimpse of what is to come in the next eight days as the world’s top teams battle it out in AC45 catamarans.

“We have a new team and we are learning a lot of things about ourselves, catamarans and multihulls in general. We’ll use the scorecard here as one measure of success, but performance increases each day will be another measure, regardless of results. It’s a strong fleet and promises to be an exciting week of racing,” said Terry Hutchinson, Skipper of Artemis Racing.

This is the first regatta on the road to the 34th America’s Cup and will include match racing and speed trials, plus the winner takes all championship race next Sunday.

Skipper Terry Hutchinson’s crew onboard the Artemis Racing AC45 includes Kevin Hall (camber), Julien Cressant (bow), Sean Clarkson (wing trim) and Morgan Trubovich (trim).

Today also saw three practice races for the Artemis Racing crew onboard the Extreme 40 in Cowes (UK), helmed by double Olympic medallist Santiago Lange. The Extreme Sailing Series – Cowes also starts tomorrow and Lange’s crew includes sailing team members Andy Fethers, Michele Ivaldi and Phil Jameson.

“Today was our third day of sailing and we are improving everyday. We are learning heaps and it is showing in our crew coordination. Given our stage of preparation this is OK. We know what we have to do,” said Santiago Lange, Helmsman and Design Team Liaison for Artemis Racing.

Racing starts at the America’s Cup World Series – Cascais at 1400 BST and will be streamed live on www.americascup.com.

Fans can also follow the Extreme Sailing Series – Cowes live on www.extremesailingseries.com.

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