America's Cup - Emirates Team NZ in contact with the leaders on Day 1

by Sail-World.com NZL on 30 Aug 2015 Emirates Team New Zealand ended the highly anticipated first day of racing in Gothenburg in a solid third place overall.

Proving again, that Glenn Ashby and crew can mix it up as one of the ‘big’ teams at the front end of the fleet.

“We are really pleased with the way our guys have sailed today, so it was nice to mix it up with the guys who have been doing a hell of a lot of sailing over the past 18 months.” Said Ashby

In 12- 14 knots, Emirates Team New Zealand got back-to-back third places behind Oracle team USA and Land Rover BAR in both races respectively.

In the first race of the day, with Pete Burling on the helm, the Emirates Team New Zealand boat hit the windward end of the line at pace rounding the first mark just 0:03 seconds behind Oracle Team USA and Artemis Racing.

“We certainly had the throttle fully planted off the start line in race one, pretty happy with where we were there tactically but it’s a long way around starting from that end of the line and just missed rounding in the lead', said Burling.

“From there we didn’t make too many mistakes, the other guys sailed really well, but we were happy with that in the first race.'

After a tussle off the line with Artemis Racing, race two became a battle with the Brits for second place. With no less than four lead changes between the two teams, it was the final overtake which Land Rover BAR got their nose in front in the final 100 metres to take second place again.



The difference came down to the British team opting for the Code Zero in the easing breeze, which allowed them to roll over Emirates Team New Zealand right on the finish.

“We made the call not to put he Code zero on, and really it was only the last couple of minutes of the race that it would have paid to have up, but the BAR guys had it right just as we sailed into the lighter pressure right at the finish.” said Glenn Ashby
“You could have thrown a blanket over both boats the whole race, and they just got there in the end.”

Helmsman Peter Burling summed up the day as a whole, “All things considered we are pretty happy with the day, our speed was good and we improved a lot.”

“You can’t win these regatta’s on the first day but you can definitely lose them. We fully feel like we are in the hunt and in good form for tomorrow’s double points race.
We are expecting a lot lighter breeze for tomorrow, so it will be a different kettle of fish for Super Sunday tomorrow.”

The forecasts for tomorrow is for a light 5-10 knots which along with the double points races will provide as many dangers as opportunities for all of the teams in the hunt to win this Louis Vuitton America’s Cup World Series event in Gothenburg.

Overall points after Day 1 of Racing
Oracle Team USA - 20
Land Rover BAR - 18
Emirates Team New Zealand - 16
SoftBank Team Japan - 13
Artemis Racing - 12
Groupama Team France - 11