June 23, 2012: Day One Cup update By: Judith Krimski It was a truly historic scene Saturday on Narragansett Bay, Rhode Island when the most high tech sailboats on the planet— the America’s Cup catamarans—joined classic Jboats, New York 30s and a fleet of 420 and Opti sailors on the water. As the first day of formal America’s Cup practice started teams geared up to get out in the freshening southwesterly sea breeze. Several teams, including the pair of Luna Rossa cats and ArtemisTNZ have already spent several days practicing in Newport while Team Oracle, lead by skippers Jimmy Spithill and Russell Coutts, watched their team perform final calibrations on the huge winged rig before hoisting the cats into the water. “I’ve sailed here many times,” said Russell as he watched his #5 cat get launched by a huge crane, “We’re ready to go.” Getting up close and personal with these amazing vessels is awe inspiring. While the cat platform seems small the winged mast is a towering 70 ft. above. It’s gratifying to know that the plethora of technological advances aside, these sailors still rely on good ‘ole telltales to gauge flow over the “sails” and sheets and winches to trim them. Joe Newton, headsail trimmer for Oracle comments, “You need quickness and sensitivity that sheets provide. Hydraulics just don’t cut it.” Shortly after the boats where set on their moorings Team Oracle sequestered themselves at the back of their bay to talk “local knowledge” provided by Scott Ferguson, head designer of the wing sail and Newport native. John Kostecki, Oracle’s tactician commented after the briefing, “I’ve sailed on this race course area once before and it’s a good place to race when the sea breeze is blowing. It’s a little bit tricky, there’s some current to think about, but we’re fortunate that we have a few Newport locals on our team to give us the local knowledge.” Going into Thursday’s competition ORACLE TEAM USA Spithill holds a slender four-point lead on the overall results table over Dean Barker’s Emirates Team New Zealand. With 10 points available to the winner of each of the match and fleet racing championships in Newport, Artemis Racing’s Terry Hutchinson is also within striking distance. “We’ve always just wanted to be in a position to win the championship, and now we’re there,” said skipper Jimmy Spithill from San Francisco earlier this week. “We’ll have a shot to wrap up the season and it’s obviously something we’d like to win.” Dirk De Ridder, Oracle’s wing sail trimmer, has been with the program from the beginning so has seen Oracle’s competitors grow in their knowledge of the boats and skill at sailing them. “Team New Zealand are the closest and no matter what boat you sail them in they are always tough,” say De Ridder, “When we started this off we had more hours in the boats than anyone else and it clearly showed in the first two competitions. But everyone has put a lot more time in. Now it’s pretty much a level playing field because the boats are one-design, the sails are one-design and we all look at each other to see the weaknesses so we’re all tweaking the boats the same.” The America’s Cup World Series event in Newport runs from June 23 – July 1. Racing commences on June 28th with a combination match racing and fleet racing each afternoon.
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