America's Cup- Emirates Team NZ blow through the new wind limits
by Emirates Team NZ and Sail-World on 30 May 2013
Emirates Team New Zealand take NZL5 out on on the bay for the fourth day of testing and practice in San Francisco. 29/5/2013 Chris Cameron/ETNZ
http://www.chriscameron.co.nz
Emirates Team New Zealand completed its fourth day sailing the AC72 on San Francisco Bay today in a wide range of breeze and conditions.
The team ran through some training exercises and a couple laps of the America’s Cup race course in what tactician Ray Davies described as 'near perfect conditions'.
'We had a really nice 22 knots of breeze blowing on the course area and it all just felt like perfect conditions to be racing the AC72s. The boat felt really good.'
With the practice racing completed, the AC72 and following chase boats relocated down to the South Bay to continue with the testing program where the breeze offered a brief example of the volatility of the wind in San Francisco.
'While we were a long way down in the South Bay, one minute it was 14 knots the next it was 30 knots, so it got a little hairy,' said skipper Dean Barker, 'But we kept things under control and got the boat back to the dock with no issues at all, so we are happy.'
As with each day sailing before, the team continues to learn more about the boat and the venue with each hour on the water.
(Wind limits that are being recommended for the Louis Vuitton Cup and America's Cup match are in the range of 20 to 25kts and the winds today were in excess of these limits.)
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