CAYARD’S UPDATE – ACWS – NAPLES

A great day for racing in Napoli. The America’s Cup World Series was in full flight today with match racing and fleet racing. The winds were 8 to 12 knots from the West and there was a bit of cloud around. The rain stopped for exactly three hours and those were the three hours of racing.

I was the guest racer onboard Artemis today. It was nice for me as CEO to see my team in action from up close. The six weeks of two boat training the team has done in Valencia looks to have given them a strong base to operate from. Notwithstanding the fact that our AC45 crew is in constant rotation, the boys seemed solid and tight as a group. They won their match race against Emirates Team New Zealand, the first fleet race and were leading the second fleet race when they dropped out to be first to the crane for hauling the boat out.

This weekend was ‘practice’ racing, but still the Italian public made it down to see the action. Italy is known to be one of the most passionate nations when it comes to the Americaí¢Œ

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Artemis Racing announces line-up for ACWS – Naples

Artemis Racing, Challenger of Record for the 34th America’s Cup, will begin training tomorrow in Naples(Italy) for the fourth America’

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RC 44 Puerto Calero

Only one race today, after a lot of waiting. New wind direction, but just as tricky as all the other days.

We had a good race and finished 4th.

Nothing changed in the results since yesterday for the top three teams which meant TeamAqua won the event, the French on Aleph were second and Artemis Racing third.

Good to have a podium finish at this first event of the season. Puerto Calero and the Calero family were great hosts as usual.

Running for the airplane back to VLC.

Complete results at www.rc44.com

Paul

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Puerto Calero

Less wind, more shifts. 40 degrees was the average. Four races were held in 8-12 knots more or less from the north. The scores will show it was very tough day for all teams but Aqua who were on fire all day. They had three wins and a third!

Onboard Artemis, we had a pretty good day with 9, 2, 10, 2. Again too many ups and downs to go through.

The Dutch who led after day 1 had a really bad day accumulating 41 points. It’s just that tricky and random.

So Aqua now leads with 34, Aleph in second with 39 and Artemis is third with 45. Yesterdays leader, Peninsula Petroleum is fourth and Ceref moved up nicely to be in 5th.

The forecast for tomorrow is very light winds so should be even trickier. Still plenty of potential to move up or down the score board.

For complete results go to www.rc44.com.

Paul

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Puerto Calero

A bit less wind today but a lot shiftier. 30 degree wind shifts were the norm on the race course which is in the lee of the island. This makes for a tough day for tacticians. Three races were completed.

Team Aqua, one of the top teams in the RC44 Class, showed how tough it was by winning the first race and finishing last in the next race.

Peninsula Petroleum of Gilbraltar, with Vasco Vascotto calling the shots, had the best day with a 2, 4, 1.

Onboard Artemis, we had a bad result (12) in the second race, sandwiched by two good results, a 4 and a 3.

Our team mates on Katusha had a 13th in the first race, then a second in the second and a 5th in the third.

So, no point in going through the details. Suffice to say “it was all over the show” today. Gains and losses of five positions were happening every few minutes.

Peninsula leads the series now with 12 points and the French team on Aleph are sailing very well to be in second with 15 points.

Yesterday’s race winner the Dutch team of No Way Back with Ross MacDonald(CAN) calling tactics is in third place with 20, then Artemis Racing of Sweden with 22, followed by the Russian team Nika with 23.

Plenty of points to be won and lost in the next two days and they can go very quickly out here.

For complete results go to www.rc44.com

Paul

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Puerto Calero

It was forecast to be breezy and it was. Just one race was held today in 16-22 knots of wind.

I am filling in for Morgan Larson this week as tactician on Artemis. It is a nice opportunity for me to sail with my boss, Torbjorn Tornqvist.

After a few delays due to difficulty in setting the line in the 150meter depth, the race got underway at 12:30 local time. We were sailing on the southeast side of the island so it was a bit shifty over there.

I opted to play the left on the first windward leg and this was not good. We rounded the first mark with just 3 or 4 boats behind us.

We sailed well on the run to pass a few boats and up the second windward leg we played the right. It wasn’t as good as the first beat but we did pass my old mates on Katusha there.

At the top mark for the second time, the Dutch on No Way Back had a nice lead and we rounded in 6th just ahead of the local team skippered by Danny Calero.

We gybed early on the run, left the pack. A bit risky but we liked the pressure out that side. TT did a nice job driving us fast in the now steady 25 knots of wind.

We came into the finish line hot (the RC44’s sail at 20 knots of boat speed in those conditions) and on starboard tack and managed to pass three boats right there and finish 3rd right behind the French team, Aleph.

Good first day! Plenty more racing to go.

An earlier start time for tomorrow. The breeze is forecast to be strong again tomorrow then dropping a bit for Saturday and lighter on Sunday.

For complete results go to www.rc44.com

Paul

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CAYARD’S UPDATE – JANUARY 2012

Artemis Racing is preparing its two AC45s for an upcoming training session in Valencia. In November, we bought a second AC45 in order to create a competitive environment in-house. The two AC45s will enable us to train in the same manner as Oracle Racing currently trains, and as will Emirates Team New Zealand (ETNZ) and Luna Rossa later this month. We will have our complete sailing team and coaching staff on site by the end of January. The America’s Cup World Series resumes in April in Italy.

At the same time, our first AC72 is well underway in Sweden, the culmination of many months of research by Juan K and his talented team.

Over the holidays, there was a lot of activity with the Jury. Most importantly, the Jury ruled on the collaboration agreement between ETNZ and Luna Rossa. The ruling, which was in response to questions raised by Oracle Racing, maintains some significant limits on the Kiwi agreement.

Terry Hutchinson and some of the Artemis Racing crew have just returned from Key West Race Week. They were racing with Doug DeVos on his TP52 Quantum Racing and won the their Class. I am sure it was fun for the boys to get out on a track that they know so well and mix it up with the great fleet down there.

2012 will be a defining year for the AC teams. Most of the important activities of the campaigns will take place this year. The first AC72s will launch on July 1st and each team has a limit of 30 days to spend training. It will be interesting to see the different strategies on how to use the 30 days.

Paul

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