Dean's Diary- ACWS - Barker downplays capsize in San Francisco
by Dean Barker on 22 Aug 2012
Emirates Team New Zealand before the start of official practice for the first America’s Cup World Series Regatta in San Francisco. Chris Cameron/ETNZ
http://www.chriscameron.co.nz
Dean Barker, Emirates Team NZ skipper and Director of www.kiwiyachting.co.nz!Kiwi_Yachting_Consultants_and_Nexus_AB, reports from San Francisco, USA from the America's Cup World Series, in which he helms Emirates Team NZ .
20 August 2012: Fast and furious becomes old hat in San Francisco
Official practice day
Today was the official practice day for this event in San Francisco. Plan was for two match races and then some fleet race starts and race. Unfortunately for us it was a short day after capsizing in our first race against Artemis.
The conditions were down a fair bit on previous days early on but built steadily during the day. We were having a close tussle with Artemis coming down to the bottom gate and in a puffing situation struggled to furl the Code 0. As we tried to get back through the gate marks the 0 unfurled and as we tried to get through the gate the boat loaded up and went over. It was a frustrating mistake but fortunately it has resulted in only a few damaged ribs on the wing and we will be back out there to sail tomorrow.
Tomorrow will be a seeding race day for the lower ranked teams for the match racing, with racing proper starting for us on Thursday. Our plan is to do some practice with Artemis prior to racing kicking off which will be good to get back in the swing of things.
All for now
Dean
To read earlier editions of Dean Barker's blog http://www.kiwiyachting.co.nz/dean-barkers-blog!click_here
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