America’s Cup World Series Plymouth day 1 update from Artemis Racing

by Artemis Racing on 11 Sep 2011 America’s Cup World Series second event got underway this afternoon, Saturday 10th September, in Plymouth. Thousands of spectators lined the shoreline to watch the excitement on Plymouth Sound.

Artemis Racing’s Skipper Terry Hutchinson made the call before going out on the water that today’s x-factor would be Mother Nature, but the conditions turned out to be better than the forecast.

Racing started just after 1400 BST under grey skies with gusts up to 30 knots. But by the time race three got underway, the wind had dropped to 15-20 knots and there was even a bit of sunshine to greet the fans and competitors. It was a full afternoon for the nine teams with three fleet races, followed by the speed trial.

The gusty conditions also made the mark roundings particularly exciting. 'There was one point when I was worried were going over, but we managed to sit the boat down however, we were only 100mm from the mark!' said Skipper Terry Hutchinson.

Artemis Racing sailed consistently in the fleet races with good starts to finish third, second and second. The Swedish team finished up the day in second overall with 26 points, just two points behind Emirates Team New Zealand and tied with Oracle Racing Spithill (26 points), but ahead of the US team on count back.

Commenting on today’s racing Terry Hutchinson said; 'We’re happy with our results today and our boat handling. The guys did a great job of battling out there. They are working really hard. It was also awesome to see all the spectators on the Plymouth Hoe.'

The team to beat in the speed trials was Oracle Racing Coutts who set the record at 45.35 km/hr, while Artemis Racing finished up fifth overall.

'We struggled with the speed trials in Cascais and have been working on our set up and release positioning over the last few days. Judging by today, we still have some work to do.'

Racing continues at 1300BST tomorrow.