Artemis Racing is back to work

Artemis Racing is back to work. We will only race if our sailing team believes they are safe racing AC72s. This confidence will be dependent on many criteria, one of the most important of which is the new safety criteria and rules changes that the America’s Cup organizers and competitors will adopt.

Regarding the accident on San Francisco Bay, Artemis Racing is still in the process of conducting its own internal review. I understand that frustration exists out there because questions remain about the accident. It was, however, a complex event. We want to give it the time, respect and professionalism it deserves, so we thank everyone for their continued patience during this process.

Paul

/by

Artemis Racing – our thoughts and prayers are with Andrew’s family

It is with immense sadness that Artemis Racing confirms the tragic death of crew member Andrew “Bart” Simpson today in San Francisco.

Simpson, a British double Olympic medalist, was one of the 11-man crew aboard Artemis Racing’s AC72 catamaran which capsized during training on San Francisco Bay ahead of this summer’s America’s Cup. All other crewmembers are accounted for.

Despite attempts to revive Simpson, both afloat and subsequently ashore, his life was lost.

“The entire Artemis Racing team is devastated by what happened,” said CEO Paul Cayard. “Our heartfelt condolences are with Andrew’s wife and family.”

Artemis Racing CEO Paul Cayard addressed the media this afternoon at the team base in Alameda and said the following regarding the capsize of the team’s first AC72 and loss of crewman Andrew Simpson:

“Our prayers are with Andrew Simpson’s family, his wife and kids, and also the rest of my teammates. It’s a shocking experience to go through, and we have a lot to deal with in the next few days in terms of assuring everybody’s well being.

“The boat’s under control, but that’s not the first of our concerns. We’re focused on the people.

“That’s what we’re working with and on and we’ll give you more information when we’re able to.”

/by

RC44 Trapani-Day 5

Trapani, Sicily

Perfect conditions for the final day of the RC44 championship here in Trapani. 14-18 knots from the north, fairly steady, nice waves and sunshine.

Aqua had a great day and stole the regatta from Cereef. The two actually tied on points and Aqua won due to more wins in the series.

Onboard Artemis Racing, we had a very good day with scores of 5, 3, 4. We gained 8 points on our friends Katusha but came up 2 shy of overtaking them for third place in the series.

I would like to thank the team that supports both Katusha and Artemis; Sarah Gundersen, coach Tom Burnham, chef Denise Wilson, Harry McGougan and Morgan Guttenkunst.

Tomorrow I will be back at work in San Francisco with our America’s Cup Challenge. Our 2nd boat was air freighted to LA over the weekend and should be in our shed in Alameda by Wednesday. Now starts a very intense period of round the clock work to re-assemble boat 2 and get it on the water as soon as possible.

We are the last team to get a foiling AC72 and arguably behind the others at this point. But as far as I know, they haven’t given out any points yet.

Our sailing team led by Iain Percy, Nathan Outteridge and Loick Peyron are proven winners and have plenty of talent. They have been doing a good job of pushing hard, training on boat 1 and our foiling AC45. Our time with our second AC72 is short but I have a lot of confidence in our team and I suspect we will be tough to dispose of.

Equally important in the America’s Cup is the shore team. Led by Chay McIntosh, our shore team is second to none. Keeping the boats on the track everyday in the strong winds of a San Francisco summer will be a competition of its own.

Now it’s down to the final preparations for racing in July. The time will go fast. The boats will too!

For complete results go to www.rc44.com

Louis Vuitton Cup and America’s Cup racing schedules here.

Thanks for following us!

-Paul

/by

RC44 Trapani-Day 4

Only two races were held today due to thunder and lightening all around the area. The clouds generated strong winds in the 16-23 knot range from the northeast.

In the first race, Artemis Racing sailed a pretty smooth race and we finished 2nd behind Cereef with Katusha 3rd.

In the second race, we were battling away in 5th most of the race. Katusha had the race in hand all the way around the 2-lap course.

Seconds after a very close finish with Aqua, and a deep downwind “shoot”, the leech of their gennaker touched our mainsail. The fault could be debated, however it’s not material, as both boats had finished. Unfortunately the umpire making the call was about 6 boat lengths to windward of the line and could not judge the fact that both had finished.

Artemis Racing was penalized after the finish and therefore scored last which is 13 points. All on the water umpire calls are final.

Katusha sailed very well to win the second race and coupled with their 3rd place in the first race, they won the day by one point over Cereef who also sailed very well to score 1, 4.

So after 3 days of racing, Cereef leads with 35 points, Aqua is second with 40, Katusha is third with 42 and Artemis Racing and Nika are tied for 4th with 52 points.

Tomorrow is the final day of this event and the race committee is hoping to get 3 to 4 races in tomorrow as today was a short day.

Our skipper, Torbjörn Tornqvist, is leaving us today as he has to attend to business. Sarah Gundersen will be taking his place at the helm tomorrow.

For complete results go to www.rc44.com

Paul

/by

RC44 Trapani-Day 3

Trapani

Three races today and onboard Artemis Racing, we were very consistent: 4, 4, 4 and moved up to 3rd overall with 37 points. It was not as boring as it sounds because at time we were near the back on the first leg and made some pretty big comebacks.

The conditions were very good; 7-14 knots from the northeast.

The wind was behaving really well today (steady) until the middle of the last race when the westerly from the other side of the island tried to pulse through. That collapsed the wind for 15 minutes and is was a little less than straight forward at that point. The wind went from 12 knots at 025 to 5 knots from 350. We managed to hold our own in the shuffle.

Aqua had the best day with scores of 3, 3 ,2 and now leads with 28 points. Yesterdays leader, Cereef, had a decent day but slipped to second with scores of 7, 5, 6 and 30 points.

Katusha had two good races at the end of the day and is now 4th with 38 points. The local team with Francesco Bruni of Palermo as tactician, was threatening to make a big move with 2, 1 in the first two races but then collected 10 in the third race and are now in 5th with 43 points.

It is all very tight as is typical of the RC44 fleet.

The smooth sea and mild winds were perfect for the owners who steer these boats. The water is very clear and the color is deep Mediterranean blue. The sun has be out too so it is what you would call perfect conditions for sailing.

Two more days of racing here and there will be plenty of ups and downs. The important thing is to be in the hunt on Sunday.

For complete results go to www.rc44.com

Paul

/by

RC44 Trapani-Day 2

Trapani, Italy

Four races for the RC44 fleet today in the Mediterranean Sea just off Trapani’s north shore. Winds were 7-15 knots from the north-northeast. The sun was out and it was a beautiful spring day.

The first two races were quite shifty but for the second two, the wind steadied down quite a bit and the right side of the course, along the coast, paid.

Onboard Artemis we had a decent day…nothing flash. We collected 25 points which puts us in 7th place but just 7 points separates us from 2nd place.

Katusha had a slightly better day with 22 points, 12 of those in the last race.

Many of the boats were quite inconsistent. Cereef, with Igor Lah at the helm, had the best and most consistent day with scores of 2, 5, 3, 2.

Racing continues tomorrow through Sunday. For complete results go to www.rc44.com

Paul

/by

RC44 Trapani Day 1

Trapani, Sicilia, Italia

Today was the first day of the RC44 event here and match racing was on the menu. The match racing is a rolling series throughtout the season-one day per event. A cumulative score decides the winner at the end of the season.

Today was a challenging day wind wise but race officer Peter “Luigi” Reggio managed 6 flights in the 3-10 knot breeze. The direction was anywhere between 060 and 270 as thunder clouds covered the race course all day. Tricky day for everyone.

Onboard Artemis, with Torbjorn Tornqvist, we managed to go 3 and 3. Nothing really remarkable other than every race was in question right to the finish line. Our stablemates Katusha won the day going 4 and 0 including winning the in-house derby despite being penalized at the start. Some teams had byes and others raced all 6 flights.

For the season so far, Katusha is leading the match racing series, Artemis second and Aqua third.

Tomorrow the fleet racing portion of the series begins and continues through Sunday.

For complete results go to www.rc44.com

Paul

/by