Fisher's View- Close…too close for comfort.

by Bob Fisher on 16 Mar 2010
Contacts, loss of control, shouting, more shouting and more flags than you see at a Coronation. That was some helluva race – the one between Artemis and TeamOrigin. It had promised to be a cracker and lived up to the promise, because there was so much at stake.

An early error saw TeamOrigin penalised and a split tack start gave Artemis the right hand side which Terry Hutchinson used to advantage, but Ben Ainslie hung on tenaciously and was close enough around the top mark to be a contender for the front running if things went right for the British boat on the run.

So much so that when Artemis was forced to defend by sailing TeamOrigin past the leeward gate, it gave Ainslie the cheap option of clearing the penalty with the tack to get back to the mark and by choosing the favoured left hand gate, went to the front when Artemis went to the right.

What looked to be the crucial moment came when the two boats approached the top mark close together with TeamOrigin having an inside overlap. Ainslie held on and Artemis was penalised. TeamOrigin led around the final turning mark, but the Artemis crew was not going down without a fight.

There was not a boat’s length separating them and Hutchinson and his team piled on the pressure. While it may have seemed an insurmountable struggle, Artemis went for an inside overlap on starboard tack as they entered the last half mile. Ainslie had to be careful.

Iain Percy, the British tactician was concerned that Hutchinson, with his instinctive knowledge of the match racing rules, might go for a double gybe and gain luffing rights and was constantly watching the Swedish boat. Just as he saw Artemis begin a gybe, he called for a matching one, but Hutchinson had sold him a dummy.

Just what happened next was clouded in dropping gennakers which screened much but not from the umpires. There was already a yellow flag (for Artemis’ error at the windward mark) and then came a blue and a red – TeamOrigin’s foul was decreed to be a 'professional' one and had to be cleared immediately. Artemis then broached, but held control.

The Brits were too busy clearing the mess around them and their gennaker, flying free, hit the rigging of Artemis; the red was dropped in favour of a second blue.

One of those cleared Artemis’ penalty and TeamOrigin had already crossed the line and didn’t return to round the buoy so that she was scored Did Not Finish. Try telling that to the crew.