ACWS and Moth Worlds debriefing—Sailing News from the U.S. and Beyond

by David Schmidt, Sail-World USA Editor on 27 Aug 2012 The weekend’s big-league action took place on San Francisco Bay, where the first event of the 2012-2013 Americas Cup World Series (ACWS) showed audiences both live and virtual just how cool a windy, wingsail-powered regatta can be, especially when some of the world’s best sailors are pulling the strings. Fittingly, the home teams of both Oracle Racing Coutts and Oracle Racing Spithill proved the boats to beat in both the match-racing and fleet racing (respectively) events, taking top honors in both disciplines as well as the event’s overall title.

The event’s final match race saw the master, Russell Coutts, beat-out his teammate and protégé, Jimmy Spithill, by a slivery delta of a mere second. Then, in the fleet-racing event, Luna Rossa Piranha, skippered by Chris Draper, took line honors over Spithill by three seconds, who was in turn followed across the line by 2012 49er Gold Medalist Nathan Outteridge and his Team Korea. Spithill’s second place finish was enough to win the fleet-racing section of the regatta on points, followed in second place by Luna Rossa Piranha and Team Korea.

'This is a fantastic result for Oracle Team USA, to win the match-racing, fleet-racing and overall championship,' said Spithill. 'I can’t emphasize how much the boys fought around the race track. We battled our way back to the top in each event and were rewarded for it.' Get the full media blitz inside, including veteran Cup scribe Bob Fisher’s perspective on both the weekend’s sailing and next year’s Louis Vuitton Cup, inside this issue. (And for anyone who missed it, the video of Coutts hitting the RC at ballpark 20 knots-during Saturday’s fleet racing-is a must-see!)

Meanwhile, on Italy’s scenic Lake Garda, Joshua McKnight (AUS) won the Zhik Moth Worlds by a three-point margin over Scott Babbage (AUS). Rob Gough, a third Aussie, rounded-out the podium, with American 2009 Moth World Champion Bora Gulari finishing in sixth place. McKnight sailed a nearly flawless final day, taking two bullets and a third out of three races.

'I'm pretty relieved because a lot of effort and money has been going into this program,' reported McKnight. 'I sailed a little bit more consistently when there was less breeze and Scott was a bit more unfortunate in one race where he got a 16th, but that's sailing. It's really unfortunate for him. He probably put more time into this regatta than anybody else.' Get the full multimedia report, inside.

Also inside, be sure to get the wrap-up reports from the Melges 24 North Americans, which also took place on San Francisco Bay, the Detroit Cup 2012 and the Cork Olympic Class Regatta.

And finally, check out the report on 2008 Laser Radial Gold Medalist Anna Tunnicliffe’s transition into high-speed catamaran sailing with her debut role as tactician for Team GAC Pindar at the Extreme Sailing Series Act 5 (Cardiff, UK; August 31 to September 2). Enjoy!

May the four winds blow you safely home,