America's Cup- Carrie Howe on her first sail with Green Comm

by ACM on 3 Aug 2011
Top US sailor Carrie Howe, crew member of Green Comm Racing, speaks about her first day on an AC45 ahead of the AC World Series - Cascais

The Spanish challenger sailed on Tuesday for the first time.

Italian crew member Paolo Cian said they had perfect conditions for a first sail, with the wind light this morning and building throughout the day.


American crew member Carrie Howe, a multiple world champion, called the AC45 an 'incredible boat'.

'This is such a cool boat,' she said. 'Really nice design. The acceleration, in only four knots this morning and the boat is already flying a hull. I've sailed a lot of catamarans but that's a different feeling.'

Green Comm Racing is the final team to take a test session in an AC45. Although neither ORACLE Racing, nor China Team have sailed at the venue yet, both have trained previously. The late start isn't ideal, but Howe says the team is working hard to be as prepared as possible ahead of racing on Saturday.

'We had an awesome first sail today,' she said. 'The idea for (the first races) this weekend is to get around the marks, grow as a team, learn every part of the systems and what we need to do to grow as a group, and not worry about racing...'