ACWS Match Racing: Quotes of the Day
Wednesday
Match Racing Qualifying
August 22, 2012
Team Korea and Ben Ainslie Racing made it a close battle on Day 1.
Photo:©2012 ACEA/Gilles
Martin-Raget
America’s Cup World Series San Francisco – Day One: Match Racing Qualifiers
Ben Ainslie – JP
Morgan/BAR:
When the wind is like it was today, it’s just full on for
the guys on the team. The whole way around, it was doing maneuvers,
getting the sails up and down. As the helmsman, I’m the only one who
really has any time to look around and make decisions. It happened so
fast, and I was amazed at that. And I was amazed at how close the
racing was, since these boats are so fast. It was really exciting.
But there’s a lot we can work on. Like our starts – in our first start, we had a problem with an override, which put us in a difficult position. The second start we were late for, mostly because we just didn’t have time to get back in the current. And around the course – I think all the teams would say there are plenty of things to work on to smooth things out, because it all happens so fast. If you get on the back foot in one maneuver, it just snowballs for the next maneuver.
Next up in the draw for us is Team New Zealand, so that will be that much harder again. But if we keep learning, keep improving that’s all we can ask for.
Paul Campbell-James - Luna
Rossa Swordfish:
It’s good to have a good first day and not make too many
mistakes! The most pleasing parts of today were to get good pre-starts
and get around the course cleanly. Phil (Robertson, Team China) is
obviously a fantastic match racer, top 10 in the world, so to win in
the pre-starts was good and to beat him around the course was even
better.
It’s a tricky place to sail, but it’s a great place to sail at the same time. The tide was going downwind today, which made it a bit more passive, but last week, when the breeze was up and the tide was going downwind, it’s hard work. The tide is in our favor right now – maybe not Sunday, but the rest of the week.
It’s going to be exciting for the fleet race tomorrow, especially if the reach mark is as close to shore as it was today! 11 boats would not fit through that gap – I doubt five boats would fit through that gap. So it should be exciting!
Nathan Outteridge – Team
Korea:
It was really close racing and it was good to see that we
felt a bit rusty, but still matched up good with Ben. It was just a
few moments in our race that cost us a chance to win both of them, and
that’s what’s frustrating at the moment. For us, the match racing is
over and just the fleet racing to go, so that’s frustrating.
We had to ask the umpires on the first run how we got a penalty. If it was an OCS penalty, then you usually stop and let the other boat go, and if it’s a boat-on-boat penalty, then you need to get behind the other boat. Apparently it was a boat-on-boat penalty before the start and we didn’t get it until halfway down the run. So there was some confusion. If they make their decision on the penalty straight away, then you let them pass and then you have much more of the race to go. But by the time they got it to us, half the race was gone.
Chris Draper – Luna Rossa
Piranha:
We’ve got a really strong team – we had some new guys join,
so we’re really happy. We went into feeling that Santi (Santiago
Lange) had been working hard, training with Terry, and Terry’s
obviously very strong in the prestart, so we knew Santi would be
pretty good there. We had full respect for him around the course, in
his boat speed and his sails, we knew he had a good package so we knew
we would have a good race today.
But we did a good job in the boat of clicking in to how the wind was moving today and that was what it was all about today, the start wasn’t as important as the rest of the race. The wind was moving around so much that there were plenty of opportunities around the course – probably five or six critical moments around the course rather than the one or two that you often have. So that meant there were a lot of opportunities for us. Our boat handling was good, good speed, so we really feel as though we’re on the up this week. We’re well aware that we’re still behind a few people in experience in these conditions.
So more match racing in the morning, then the first
fleet race. It’s going to be full on with 11 boats at the first
turning mark. I think it’s going to be about getting solid scores,
rather than get the keen start that could put you in the number one
slot but could also put you in last. I think it will be about going
around the first mark in third or fourth and getting threes and fours
in the series, rather than winning some races and finishing last in
others.
--Diane Swintal for CupInfo/©2012 CupInfo.com