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segunda-feira, 25 de fevereiro de 2013

Judgment day brings elation for five teams selected for Red Bull Youth America’s Cup in September

San Francisco, Calif., 02/24/2013

Five of the best youth sailing teams in the world have qualified for the Red Bull Youth America’s Cup following a grueling two-week Selection Series in San Francisco. The 12 crews, from 11 countries, were pushed to the limit as they fought for the right to compete in September’s races.

© ACEA 2013/ Photo Gilles Martin-Raget Download

National crews from Australia, Germany, New Zealand, Portugal and Switzerland, made the cut to advance to the Red Bull Youth America’s Cup where they will meet five crews supported by current America’s Cup teams.

Double Olympic Gold medalists Roman Hagara and Hans-Peter Steinacher, the Sports Directors for the Red Bull Youth America’s Cup, made the selections after closely monitoring the teams on and off the water during the two back-to-back selection weeks. With the high talent level and extreme motivation of the crews, there were hard choices to make.

“This has been very difficult,” Hagara said. “The level of each team is much higher than we could have hoped for, which is good. But only five of them are able to race with us in September so today’s decision wasn’t easy to make.”

Race results made up 60-percent of the selection criteria. Teams were also evaluated on professionalism on and off the water, as well as on the training programs they have set up to develop their skills further between now and September.

“We always said we were looking for the best of the best,” said Steinacher. “And that’s what we have now. I believe any of these five teams will be capable of winning in September.”

The teams proved their mettle in challenging winter conditions on San Francisco Bay, one of the most challenging race venues in the world. Cold and strong winter winds made taming the AC45 catamarans, with their towering wing sails, difficult. But the youth sailors, aged 19-24, were up to the task.

“We went into this with a plan not to let them sail in over 15 knots of wind and to keep the teams inside the Bay Bridge,” Steinacher said. “We broke both of those rules on the very first day! Fortunately, the teams have shown us they are able to handle the boats in conditions that are on the limit.”

The five teams selected today have now qualified to race in the Red Bull Youth America’s Cup from September 1-4, in a fleet that includes five additional youth crews supported by current America’s Cup teams.

In their own words:

Lucien Cujean (SUI), skipper, Team TILT: “It feels good, very good. It’s great news. Even though we won the racing portion of the selection series, that’s not the only criteria. So we were nervous about the selection.”

Bernardo Freitas (POR), skipper, ROFF/Cascais Sailing Team: “We’re excited for the announcement. Excited for September. I believed we’d have a chance. In the racing we showed we’re a good team and we have good skills on the water.”

Will Tiller (NZL), skipper, Full Metal Jacket Racing: “We’re pretty psyched. It’s about 5:00 in the morning (the team is in Oman training ahead of an X40 regatta) and we were all sitting around the phone, nervous. But we’re very happy to have made the selection. The opportunity to race the RBYAC is fantastic, but now the hard work begins. We have to put together a training program.

Philipp Buhl (GER), skipper, STG/NRV Youth Team: “It was a brilliant week. We didn’t expect to be first, but we stayed grounded through the week and kept improving. We really improved our maneuvers and team work. In the end, we learned not to talk so much. Everyone learned to do their job and just did it.”

Jason Waterhouse (AUS), skipper, Objective Australia: “It was a mind-blowing week. We learned so much. It’s our first time racing together as a crew, but we gelled well… Our preparation was sound.”

Jimmy Spithill, skipper, ORACLE TEAM USA, and a driving force behind the Red Bull Youth America's Cup: “My pathway to the America’s Cup was one of good luck. When I was a youth sailor there wasn’t a clear pathway to the Cup. But the Red Bull Youth America’s Cup gives these guys a great opportunity, and the game’s opened up to much wider participation. The level of organization from these teams is impressive.”

Russell Coutts, CEO, ORACLE TEAM USA, and a driving force behind the creation of the Red Bull Youth America’s Cup: “The Red Bull Youth America’s Cup is meant to be a way for youth sailors to show their talents and make it to the pro sailing ranks. This (on the AC45 wing sail catamaran) is some of the best and most fun racing I’ve done in years. I’m sure they’ll enjoy it too.”

Selection Series Teams advancing to Red Bull Youth America’s Cup
Australia – Objective Australia
Germany – STG/NRV Youth Team
New Zealand – Full Metal Jacket Racing
Portugal – ROFF/Cascais Sailing Team
Switzerland – Team TILT

Youth crews supported by America's Cup World Series Teams
France – Energy Team/Name TBC
New Zealand – Emirates Team New Zealand/Name TBC
Sweden – Artemis Racing/Swedish Youth Challenge
USA – ORACLE TEAM USA/American Youth Sailing Force (SFO)
USA – ORACLE TEAM USA/USA45 Racing (USA)

NEWS (national and international) and selected interviews of all participating teams will be available for broadcasters starting Monday, Feb 25 at
www.redbullnewsroom.com / www.redbullcontentpool.com.

quinta-feira, 22 de novembro de 2012

America's Cup boat's capsizing sparks questions, fears

Fonte: mercurynews.com

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Oracle Team USA capsizes boat

In this photo taken Tuesday Oct. 16, 2012 and provided by Oracle Team USA, crew members hang from the mesh netting after the Oracle Team USA AC72 boat capsized on San Francisco Bay in San Francisco. The America's Cup champion syndicate is assessing the damage to its 72-foot (22-meter) catamaran, after it capsized and was swept by a strong current more than four miles (six kilometers) past the Golden Gate Bridge before rescue boats could control it.(AP Photo/Oracle Team USA, Guilain Grenier)

SAN FRANCISCO -- When Larry Ellison's new 72-foot America's Cup boat capsized on a practice run and was sucked through the Golden Gate in a crippled mess, the second-guessing and doubts among the sailing community began: Has Ellison's plan to turn the world's most famous yacht race into a high-tech white-knuckle NASCAR of the sea gone too far for speed?

"Everyone wants the fastest boat," said Richard Spindler, founder and publisher of Latitude 38, a sailing magazine based in Mill Valley. "But you can't win the race unless you finish."

Now, a month after Oracle Racing's new, custom-made USA 17 cartwheeled into San Francisco Bay, hurled its hotshot crew into the cold waters and crumpled the main sail structure, Ellison's pride is on the line as the sailing syndicate races against the clock to perform repairs and be ready to compete by September's America's Cup finals.

After winning the last Cup, Ellison was allowed to dictate the size and basic design of the boats for all the entries in this year's race. But some doubters are wondering whether the towering catamarans are too unwieldy and expensive and should follow the lead of Howard Hughes' giant flying boat, the "Spruce Goose" -- which was shelved for good after one flight.

Even America's Cup officials are talking about downsizing the catamaran for future races. But there's no time to turn back for this race.

"It's definitely a setback," Oracle Team USA skipper Jimmy Spithill

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said of the newly built boat's capsize Oct. 16. He was at the helm and blames his risky maneuvers in especially rough conditions, not the boat design, for the catastrophe. "But it's not one that will stop us from winning the Cup," he said.

The boat's wreck on only its eighth practice run has focused scrutiny on the fundamental design of the so-called AC72 -- a new class of America's Cup boat built for excitement and speed. All three challengers have launched their customized versions, and at least one competitor is already complaining that the rigid wing serving as a mast and sail is too big.

If Ellison's team loses, the event he won in Spain in 2010 and brought for the first time to San Francisco -- promising millions of dollars in economic development and a thrilling spectator experience -- would move to the winning boat's home port.

Stephen Barclay, CEO of the America's Cup Event Authority, said the 72-footers are not too dangerous for the bay, but they are being reconsidered for future races because they are so expensive and big, requiring upward of 30 people to get them in and out of the water by crane. Only three teams, New Zealand, Sweden and Italy, could afford to challenge Oracle for the trophy next

he Oracle Team USA AC72 catamaran is capsized Oct. 16, 2012, on San Francisco Bay. (Guilain Grenier/Oracle Team USA)summer, compared with roughly a dozen challengers in past years.

Still, the capsize exposed the fundamental dilemma of the America's Cup: How extreme can a boat design be when it is racing in the bay's already extreme conditions with the most competitive sailors on the planet intent on going as fast as possible?

Along with wearing crash helmets and sharp knives strapped to body suits, Spithill's crew will now tuck into their chest pockets mini oxygen canisters. If sailors end up trapped underwater, they'll have 10 to 15 breaths to cut their way out from beneath the netted trampoline that spans the twin hulls.

"We have to plan for the worst," Spithill said. Still, "I think the boat has to be a challenge. It needs to have all the horsepower and risk. If you can only race to the top of first gear, it's boring. You need to be pushed."

He was pushing the limits a month ago in 30-knot winds clashing with the strongest ebb tide of the year. No one was injured when the boat pitch-poled end over end. But the rigid wing became a battering ram on the helpless hulls as it was flushed through the rough waters of the Golden Gate and then collapsed. Pieces of the wing are still washing up at beaches.

Spithill received a call from Ellison, his billionaire boss who founded Oracle, the next morning. —‰'Champions get through this. I have no doubt you'll get through it,' " Spithill recalls Ellison saying. "It's what I needed," Spithill said, "that outlook and attitude."

But the capsize spooked competitors. So far, Team New Zealand has had little trouble navigating its AC72 in strong winds, but when it heard the news of the capsize while out sailing off the New Zealand coast, it immediately "buttoned back," said Richard Gladwell, who covers the team for Sail-World.com in Auckland.

When Sweden's Artemis Racing launched its 72-footer out of Alameda last week in similar tidal conditions, "we didn't go anywhere near that part of the bay," said CEO Paul Cayard.

There is no fatal flaw to the AC72, Barclay said. But he acknowledges that "decisions were made early to make these boats exciting," including choosing a larger, faster 38-meter wing sail over a slower 32-meter one.

Cayard is already questioning the wisdom of that decision: "We would have been better off with a small wing."

The America's Cup has always been as much a test of sailing skills as a design competition -- and the history of the Cup is littered with examples of teams pushing the limit. . In 1995, One Australia cracked like an egg during a challenger series and sank in seconds.

"If nobody takes risks there will be no progress. Howard Hughes did that. So did Boeing," said Dirk Kramers, Oracle's chief engineer who led the design of the AC72. "Whatever lessons are learned from one cycle will be applied to the other. That's what's kept this game alive for 100-and-some-odd years."

quarta-feira, 17 de outubro de 2012

AC72 - Team Oracle Capsize - All Story

Já está o AC72 Oracle 17, mandou um capsize. Algo que já se esperava com a intensidade dos treinos e aumento do risco das manobras.

A asa ficou destruída, e desmanchada, o salvamento do AC72 alongou-se até à noite.

Copyrights: Chris Ray

UPDATE:

View more videos at: http://nbcbayarea.com.

UPDATE 2:

View more videos at: http://nbcbayarea.com.

Update 3:

fonte: Oracle

SAN FRANCISCO – ORACLE TEAM USA 17 – the team’s AC72 racing yacht – capsized during training on Tuesday, Oct. 16, at approximately 3 pm PT on San Francisco Bay. All crew are safe. It was the boat’s eighth day on the water since the launch in August.

“We did something we had hoped we would never do, and that’s capsize an AC72,” said skipper Jimmy Spithill. “The most important part is that all the crew are safe, and no injuries.

“A big thank you goes to our shore team, our support crew and the U.S. Coast Guard as they were standing by,” Spithill said.

The team was training throughout the afternoon in San Francisco, with winds slowly building as the day progressed.

“We called for a bear-away as we were out training,” explained tactician Tom Slingsby. “The winds were blowing about 25 knots, and there was strong ebb current at the time. We started the bear-away, and as the boat accelerated it pitch-poled.

“We didn’t know what was going to happen with the new boat,” Slingsby continued. “When the nose went down, the wing hit and a few guys went in the water. We were unsure if the wing would snap, so we all climbed off the boat. Luckily, everyone is accounted for and no one was hurt. The wing is pretty badly damaged.

The boat and crew safely returned to the team base at Pier 80 early Wednesday morning, Oct. 17. ORACLE TEAM USA support boats were on hand throughout the training period, and they towed the AC72 from the capsize area near the Golden Gate Bridge back to the team base. The team is now assessing the damage.

“There’s no question this is a setback,” Spithill said. “It’s going to be a big test for this team. But, I’ve seen this team in a similar situation in the last campaign, before we won the America’s Cup. A strong team will bounce back, and this won’t stop us from winning the America’s Cup. Obviously, we’ve got a lot of work, and we have to look at our plan now. I’m still confident in the team we’ve got and we can go out and win again.

Update 4:

Update 5:

domingo, 7 de outubro de 2012

ORACLE TEAM USA SPITHILL wins second consecutive America’s Cup World Series San Francisco

ORACLE TEAM USA SPITHILL (Jimmy Spithill) rebounded from last place at the first turning mark of the “Super Sunday” fleet race finale to win the America’s Cup World Series San Francisco Championship.

Spithill and crew Dirk de Ridder, John Kostecki, Jono MacBeth and Joe Newton were “dead last” off the start line, but fought their way back through the fleet. They rounded the last windward gate first and held on for a 17-second win over teammates ORACLE TEAM USA COUTTS (Russell Coutts).

Spithill won 40 points for the race and totaled 79 points for the series. That put the crew in a tie with J.P. Morgan BAR (Ben Ainslie) for the series championship, which placed fourth in the final race. Spithill won the championship based on the final race finishes.

“The difference is the four guys on the front of the boat,” said Spithill, referencing his crew. “We were dead last off the start line but it didn’t faze these guys. We have a real team of fighters here. We’re really, really happy.”

ORACLE TEAM USA SPITHILL put an emphatic stamp on this regatta. Yesterday the crew won the Match Racing Championship after capsizing and breaking frames in the wingsail during a fleet race. The crew also won the August AC World Series San Francisco Championship by 1 point, previously the closest finish at an AC World Series event. The tiebreaker surpasses that mark.

“We’ve always said we need to be able to come from behind and overcome adversity,” said Spithill, who skippered the team to victory in the 2010 America’s Cup. “I thought I gave them that yesterday with the capsize, but it's really a sign of a strong team. The shore crew, our coaches, it's been a fantastic team effort.”

Artemis Racing – White (Terry Hutchinson) placed third in today’s race and finished third overall. Emirates Team New Zealand (Dean Barker) placed fourth overall and ORACLE TEAM USA COUTTS fifth.

AC World Series San Francisco Fleet Racing Championship (After 7 of 7 races)
1. ORACLE TEAM USA SPITHILL (Jimmy Spithill) 8-1-6-5-DNF-2-1 – 79
2. J.P. Morgan BAR (Ben Ainslie) 1-3-1-2-4-1-4 – 79 points
3. Artemis Racing – White (Terry Hutchinson) 10-2-2-1-3-3-3 – 72
4. Emirates Team New Zealand (Dean Barker) 2-8-5-6-1-4-7 – 57
5. ORACLE TEAM USA COUTTS (Russell Coutts) 3-5-8-7-8-10-2 – 56
6. Artemis Racing – Red (Nathan Outteridge) 4-4-4-4-9-8-5 – 52
7. Energy Team (Loick Peyron) 6-7-7-3-6-7-6 – 47
8. Team Korea (Peter Burling) 5-9-10-8-2-5-10 – 40
9. Luna Rossa Piranha (Chris Draper) 9-6-3-10-10-6-9 – 36
10. China Team (Phil Robertson) 7-10-11-9-5-11-8 – 28
11. Luna Rossa Swordfish (Iker Martinez) 11-11-9-11-7-9-11 – 20
(Scoring, Races 1-6: 1st = 12 points, 2nd = 10, 3rd = 9, 4th = 8, 5th = 7, 6th = 6, 7th = 5, 8th = 4, 9th = 3, 10th = 2, 11th = 1; Race 7: 1st = 40 points, 2nd = 25, 3rd = 20, 4th = 16, 5th = 13, 6th = 11, 7th = 10, 8th = 9, 9th = 8, 10th = 7, 11th = 6)

AC World Series San Francisco Match Racing Championship
1. ORACLE TEAM USA SPITHILL,

2. Emirates Team New Zealand,

3. Artemis Racing – White,

4. Artemis Racing – Red,

5. ORACLE TEAM USA COUTTS,

6. Energy Team,

7. J.P. Morgan BAR,

8. Team Korea,

9.China Team,

10. Luna Rossa Piranha,

11. Luna Rossa Swordfish

terça-feira, 21 de agosto de 2012

ACWS SAN FRANCISCO FEATURES 11 CREWS, 55 SAILORS AND A NEW FORMAT

Fonte: ACWS

Featuring a new team, more boats and more sailors the second season of the America’s Cup World Series is scheduled to begin Wednesday, Aug. 22, at ACWS San Francisco.

The entry list of eight teams includes Artemis Racing (SWE), China Team (CHN), Emirates Team New Zealand (NZL), Energy Team (FRA), J.P. Morgan BAR (GBR), Luna Rossa Challenge 2013 (ITA), ORACLE TEAM USA (USA) and Team Korea (KOR).

The fleet now numbers 11 boats with Artemis Racing, Luna Rossa Challenge and ORACLE TEAM USA each fielding two crews, and the return of China Team. At this regatta there are 55 sailors competing from 12 countries. (View the event crew list at ACWS San Francisco Crew List.)

“With a new team, more boats and more sailors, ACWS San Francisco should be an outstanding regatta,” said America’s Cup Regatta Director Iain Murray. “The racecourse will certainly be more intense than we've seen before, and the consistent strong winds and current-driven chop will keep the competitors on their toes. We’ve already seen a few capsizes in training, but we know everyone will be on their game when the starting gun fires.”

The first day of the new season will see six of the teams contesting a series of match racing qualifiers with the three winners advancing to the Quarterfinal Round, scheduled Thursday and Friday, where they’ll meet the top five seeds based on the standings from the 2011-12 ACWS Match Racing Championship.

One of the qualifier teams is newcomer J.P. Morgan BAR, skippered by Ben Ainslie. Ainslie recently won his fourth consecutive Olympic gold medal – his fifth medal overall – and joins the ACWS fleet with the long-term goal of leading an America’s Cup challenge.

“As a kid growing up I really wanted to be part of the Olympics and do well at that and also to be part of an America’s Cup team that could win,” said Ainslie. “This is the next stage in my career and I’m really excited to be a part of the Cup.”

ACWS San Francisco will also see the debut of a second yacht from Artemis Racing, the Swedish Challenger of Record for the America’s Cup. Artemis Racing Red will be helmed by Santiago Lange of Argentina, a two-time Olympic bronze medalist in the Tornado class, and is entered alongside stablemate Artemis Racing White, led by team skipper Terry Hutchinson.

Hutchinson’s crew is the No. 1 seed based on last season’s match racing championship.

“We were certainly happy to win last season, but that’s done and dusted,” said Hutchinson. “Racing on San Francisco Bay might be the most challenging of all the venues we’ve visited.”

Wednesday’s racing schedule features No. 6-seed Team Korea vs. No. 11 J.P. Morgan BAR, No. 7 Luna Rossa – Piranha vs. No. 10 Artemis Racing Red and No. 8 Luna Rossa – Swordfish vs. No. 9 China Team. Each match is a best-of-three.

Racing continues Thursday with two pairs of the match racing quarterfinals and the first two fleet races. View the racing lineup at ACWS San Francisco Regatta Format and additional event information at the ACWS San Francisco event page.

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