AMERICAONE CAPTURES WIN IN THIRD RACE OF ROUND ROBIN 2 AGAINST FAST 2000
Tragedy Strikes Young America
AUCKLAND, New Zealand, November 9, 1999 -AmericaOne, the San Francisco-based St. Francis Yacht Club’s America’s Cup 2000 challenger, won its second race on day three of Round Robin 2 for the Louis Vuitton Cup. Despite the gloomy weather, whitecaped swells and winds ranging upwards of 18+ knots the AmericaOne crew defeated FAST 2000’s be hAPpy (SUI 59) by 3m 29s. During the Nippon vs. Young America match, Young America suffered serious structural damage when their boat buckled and nearly sank forcing them to retire from the race.
Off of the starting line, Cayard and the AmericaOne Team won the preferred right hand side of the race course. Although AmericaOne followed slightly behind FAST 2000’s Skipper Marc Pajot, when the starting gun sounded, SUI 59 quickly lost ground. It was evident that AmericaOne had equal speed but pointed closer to the wind and was able to quickly establish a comfortable lead. As the race drew to a close the winds built to 20+ knots, waves increased and visibility diminished. AmericaOne held and maintained a large lead and demonstrated its superior pointing ability in heavy air wind conditions.
“We’ve never sailed in this much wind before,” remarked AmericaOne Grinder Jim Nicholas. “So it was good to see that our boat handling and mechanical equipment performed well. We consider ourselves lucky that things didn’t break on our boat today.”
Deteriorating weather conditions are expected tomorrow, which may postpone racing until Thursday.
RR2/Race 3 Starting Line-Up: Greg Prussia of Oroville, CA, bow; Curtis Blewett of Los Angeles, CA, mid bow; Bill Bates of San Diego, CA mast/sewer; Josh Belsky of Hood River, OR, pit; Jim Nicholas of San Diego, CA, grinder; Mike Howard of Malibu, CA, grinder; Matt Welling of Bay Shore, NY, grinder; Morgan Trubovich of Newport, RI, upwind trim; Russ Silvestri of San Francisco, CA, downwind trim; Gavin Brady of Annapolis, MD, runner; Paul Cayard of Kentfield, CA, helmsman; John Kostecki of Fairfax, CA, tactician; Morgan Larson of Capitola, CA, traveler; Terry Hutchinson of Annapolis, MD, mainsheet; Sean Clarkson of Middletown, RI, main assist, and Lexi Gahagan of Wilmington, DE, navigator. The 17th crew person was Mr. Pat Campbell.
Final Scores To Date:
Prada /22 points
AmericaOne /16 points
Young America /16 points
Nippon Challenge /13.5 points
America True /10 points
Spanish Challenge /9 points
Stars & Stripes /8.5 points
Abracadabra 2000 /8 points
Le Defi Francais /6 points
FAST2000 /4 points
Young Australia /1 point
Other Delta Results:
Prada Challenge over Young Australia 2000/ 03:34
Abracadabra 2000 over Stars & Stripes/ 00:03
Nippon over Young America/ YOUNG AMERICA WITHDREW DURING RACE
Spanish Challenge over Le Defi Francais/ 00:19 BYE: America True
Round Robin 2 AmericaOne’s schedule for the remainder of Round Robin 2 is as follows:
