AC World Series: Artemis Racing, Emirates Team New Zealand through to semifinals

Racing on a relatively calm San Francisco Bay – with the wind blowing 9 to 13 knots and a flat sea – Artemis Racing – White defeated young upstart Team Korea (Peter Burling) while Emirates Team New Zealand beat Energy Team (Loïck Peyron).

The day’s racing program was interrupted after the two matches to allow the Blue Angles an opportunity to practice over the Bay for Fleet Week this weekend.

Racing is scheduled to resume later today with the first two of seven scheduled races in the fleet racing championship. The first race is scheduled to begin at 5:10 pm PDT.

Both matches were won by the more experienced crews, who opened big leads on the upwind legs after holding slim advantages through the leeward gate. In the case of the New Zealanders, they regained the lead after losing it on the downwind leg.

“We had a nice start and were going well, but we jibed in a light spot and they had a good jibe and came out quick,” said Barker. “We had a piece of them at the first cross upwind and got back in front, and from there sailed a solid leg to the windward mark. It’s never a straightforward racecourse; there are always opportunities out there.”

Hutchinson and the Artemis Racing – White crew welcomed back tactician Iain Percy in a wire-to-wire win.

“Iain brings a sound platform to throw ideas off of, particularly in pre-start. He’s one of the best sailors in the world,” said Hutchinson. “These races are good opportunities for us to develop our relationship for future.”

The two remaining quarterfinal matches are scheduled for tomorrow afternoon, with Artemis Racing – Red (Nathan Outteridge) racing ORACLE TEAM USA COUTTS (Russell Coutts) at 4:05 pm PDT and J. P. Morgan BAR (Ben Ainslie) meeting ORACLE TEAM USA SPITHILL (Jimmy Spithill) at 4:22 pm PDT.

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