Kiwis take control of Youth America’s Cup

San Francisco, CA (September 3, 2013) – Sailors from New Zealand and Australia are fierce rivals and today they brought that aggression to the Red Bull Youth America’s Cup on San Francisco Bay. The rivalry was illustrated by the NZL Sailing Team with Emirates Team New Zealand and Objective Australia, which placed 1-2 in the day’s two races, but behind them there was action aplenty: place changes, numerous penalties and one man overboard that resulted in a safe recovery with no injuries.

The Aussie crew, led by skipper Jason Waterhouse had its best day of the regatta. The team has been plagued by problems with the gennaker halyard, but today the sail stayed hoisted and allowed them to chase Peter Burling’s leading New Zealand crew. The Aussies even passed the Kiwis at one mark rounding, but Burling’s crew was too fast today and won both races.

For the American Youth Sailing Force crew, the day might’ve gone better had crewman David Liebenberg not fallen overboard in the first race. Liebenberg, the tactician, is the forward-most crewman and he missed the hiking strap coming out of a tack sailing upwind in the first race. American Youth Sailing Force was battling it out for third at the time, but fell back in the fleet and finished seventh.

“That was kind of a setback,” said skipper Mike Menninger. “It’s hard to sail these boats with five guys. Our maneuvers weren’t as crisp and our boatspeed took a dip.”

In the overall standings, however, it’s New Zealand holding 1-2 with NZL Sailing Team leading Full Metal Jacket by 11 points, which is tied with the American Youth Sailing Force.

Provisional Standings
1. NZL Sailing Team with Emirates Team New Zealand (NZL) 2-RDG-7-3-1-1, 50 points
2. Full Metal Jacket Racing (NZL) 7-1-4-6-6-3, 39 points
3. American Youth Sailing Force (USA) 1-7-3-5-7-4, 39 points
4. Swedish Youth Challenge (SWE) 6-2-9-1-4-6, 38 points
5. ROFF/Cascais Sailing Team (POR) 3-6-1-8-8-5, 35 points
6. Team TILT (SUI) 8-5-2-2-9-7, 33 points
7. Next World Energy (FRA) 4-4-8-4-5-9, 32 points
8. Objective Australia (AUS) RDG-10-6-10-2-2, 30 points
9. All In Racing (GER) 5-8-5-9-3-8, 28 points
10. USA45 Racing (USA) 9-9-10-7-10-10, 11 points
(RDG = redress awarded by International Jury)

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NOTE: Late on Monday, the International Jury awarded redress to NZL Sailing Team for race two due to an error with the penalty light. The team is scored equal second place with the Swedish team. There is to be a redress hearing for Objective Australia on Tuesday regarding equipment failure in race four.