Land Rover BAR breaks wing, ETNZ take two, Japan and Sweden one each

by Nic Douglass on 6 Jun 2017 An unexpected day eventuated for the first day of Louis Vuitton America's Cup Challenger Play Off Semi Final racing in Bermuda.

A breakage for BAR that resulted in effectively two non-results was the story of the day, while SoftBank Team Japan lifted to challenge known performers in breeze, Artemis Racing.

More with the Regatta Director, Iain Murray and then each of the skippers after racing below.

A catch up with the Regatta Director before racing

Our behind-the-scenes chat with Iain Murray, Louis Vuitton America's Cup Regatta Director after our daily race briefing. Looking like 12-15 knots of breeze for today, 5 June, up to 18 knots potentially! Will be a fast day on the water - and we will definitely get in the first two matches for the LVAC Challenger Play Off Semis!

We spoke to the Big Fella about how far the teams will push it today, there is a lot at stake, and a lot of risk involved in these conditions.

Keep track of today's action and the adventures so far by heading to our blog - www.nicdouglass.org/ac35.

It's also looking like racing on Wednesday 7 May might be too windy - we will keep you posted on whether we will loose another reserve day due to weather!

Today's interviews with the skippers

All of your interviews from the first day of the Louis Vuitton America's Cup Challenger Play Off Semis with all of the helmsman!

An overview of the day with me in the media centre, before we head to the 'Mixed Zone' to chat with Ben Ainslie on Land Rover BAR's damage today to a wing component that resulted in a retirement in the first race, and then a DNS. Peter Burling of Emirates Team New Zealand was up next and even though the team are happy with two points from today, we spoke about how it is never a good thing to see your fellow competitors have to retire.

I also spoke with both Dean Barker of SoftBank Team Japan and Nathan Outteridge of Artemis Racing who scored one point each in their matches against one another today. Dean seemed to have the speed upwind, and used that to his advantage along with two good starts, and Nathan was quick downhill and was the first team to leverage the boundary in their tactics. While we haven't seen this in the regatta we spoke about how Dean has used this move against Nathan in training.

Land Rover BAR should be able to make repairs to their wing this evening and make it out for racing tomorrow, and no doubt we will see more great racing with an expected increase of pressure both tomorrow Tuesday 6 May, and then again on Wednesday 7 May (perhaps too much to race by Wednesday).

For all of the updates including our live radio stream, photos, television shows and other videos so far for the 35th AC, head to our blog - www.nicdouglass.org/ac35.

For more adventures head to www.AdventuresofaSailorGirl.com, or subscribe to 'Adventures Weekly', and for live action, be sure to tune in to our social medial channels; Facebook, Twitter and Instagram @sailorgirlHQ.

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