Louis Vuitton Cup - Artemis Racing to compete in semi finals

by Artemis Racing on 6 Aug 2013 Tomorrow Artemis Racing, representing the Royal Swedish Yacht Club, will make its Louis Vuitton Cup debut. The team will face Luna Rossa in a best-of-seven Semi Final series scheduled to start at 1:15PM PST.

The winner of this series will race against Emirates Team New Zealand in the Louis Vuitton Cup Finals beginning August 17th.

In the past two months, Artemis Racing's shore team has worked seven days a week preparing and testing the team's second AC72, 'Big Blue', which was launched on July 22, 2013. A new wing was also completed to accompany the new boat. 'It has taken an extraordinary commitment by the shore team to put Big Blue on the race track tomorrow. I have huge admiration for them,' commented Paul Cayard, CEO of Artemis Racing.

Since its first sail on July 24th, the sailing team has been working on sailing and foiling techniques with their new boat. 'As a team, we recognize that with just eight days of training in the AC72 we are miles behind our competitors in practice time,' said Skipper Iain Percy. 'But these last few days of sailing have been some of the best days we’ve had and it has gone better than we ever could have hoped. We will continue to focus on safety and will review our participation on a day-by-day basis. In our hearts we are all competitors and look forward to getting out there and racing.'

In honor of fallen teammate Andrew 'Bart' Simpson, a ribbon will be worn on the sleeve of the sailing team uniform and be displayed on the AC72 wing and support boats.