America's Cup- Two wins in fleet racing for Emirates Team NZ

by Warren Douglas on 21 Apr 2013
Day 3 of racing on Naples Bay, Italy, for the America’s Cup World Series was about everything coming together for Emirates Team New Zealand which dominated the fleet racing, winning both races of the day.

The breeze was in blowing 12-13 knots with a challenging sea state which made for a demanding day on the water. 'It was really lumpy out there today, which made for some really physical, tough sailing,' said tactician Ray Davies.

Skipper Dean Barker noted yesterday if they could get their stuff together then they would be very dangerous. Today his words proved prophetic.

He got the boat off to two clean starts, putting the premature starts of yesterday behind him in resounding fashion.

'The key for us today was not only getting strong starts in both races but sailing the first upwind and down wind legs well to get your nose in front of the fleet,' Davies said.

In race one the New Zealand boat led throughout the race slowly building its lead and finishing 100 metres ahead of Oracle and third placed Luna Rossa Piranha.

In the second race Barker was in a close third spot by the first mark, they gybed early on to a perfect lay line to round the second mark in second place and by the time the fleet reached the bottom mark the next time Emirates Team New Zealand had edged out in front again.

It was a complete and satisfying day on the water for the whole team, including the shore crew who had worked most of the night to repair the damaged boat from a collision yesterday.

The team hit their straps and have put themselves five points clear on top of the leaderboard going into what will be the winner takes all race tomorrow.

Derek Saward : 'The moral of the story for us is if we can get a decent start we are away. From the five fleet races so far, the three we have been on the right side of the start line we have got the gun at the end of it, so the package is pretty simple.'



America’s Cup World Series Naples Standings?

(Provisional, after 6 of 7 scheduled races)?
1. Emirates Team New Zealand (Dean Barker) – 60
2. ORACLE TEAM USA (Tom Slingsby) – 55 points??
3. J.P. Morgan BAR (Ben Ainslie) – 52?
4. Luna Rossa Piranha (Chris Draper) – 50
5. Energy Team (Yann Guichard) – 42
6. Luna Rossa Swordfish (Francesco Bruni) – 40?
7. Artemis Racing White (Charlie Ekberg) – 31?
8. HS Racing (R. Hagara/H.S. Steinacher) – 26?
9. China Team (Mitch Booth) – 22 ? ?