ACWS Gothenburg – ORACLE TEAM USA claims daily double

Gothenburg, Sweden (August 29, 2015) – Oracle Team USA got the jump at the start of the first race of the America’s Cup World Series, Gothenburg, picking the right line to the top mark and starting at pace to lead around Gate 1, opening the page on what was to be complete domination of the six boat fleet.

In 15 – 17 knots from the southwest, ETNZ started to weather, with top four boats almost level going to first mark, Oracle team USA popped into a narrow lead in middle of the top group at the top mark for the first time. ORACLE TEAM USA used the inside lane of the starting line to round mark one with the lead and they never looked back, holding off a late charge from Land Rover BAR to win the first race.

On leg five, halfway on the 10 leg race, Oracle was 99m ahead of BAR with ETNZ third but crossed behind Artemis who came across on starboard. At the top of the course, BAR moved into second behind Oracle, with Emirates Team NZ into third. Oracle won the race by 11 seconds, the race took 27m 30 secs duration. Artemis fourth, finishing under gennaker.

Finishing position Race 1 – Points
ORACLE TEAM USA – 10
Land Rover BAR – 9
Emirates Team New Zealand – 8
Artemis Racing – 7
SoftBank Team Japan – 6
Groupama Team France – 5

ORACLE TEAM USA earned a wire-wire win in race two on Saturday for their second victory of the day. “We’ve been working really hard with our coach and been candid with ourselves and learned our lessons,” said skipper Jimmy Spithill. “The timing is split seconds if you get it wrong, so we still have room to improve.” Land Rover BAR steal past Emirates Team New Zealand for second place.

The America’s cup Defender again led around every mark on the ten leg course, and won all 20 legs sailed in racing on Day 1, in a dominating display of sailing. Oracle Team USA now take the lead in the America’s cup World series, with land Rover BAR in second and Emirates Team NZ third.

“Today was almost like a warm-up,” said Oracle Team USA skipper Jimmy Spithill. “It’s all about tomorrow when the points are doubled. It’s super Sunday. But that being said, I’d rather be in our position. We’re sailing well, we’re confident, and we’ll be ready to go.”

In the first race, Ainslie was fast off the starting line, but ORACLE TEAM USA had the favored inside position to lead at mark one. From there it was a matter of protecting a narrow lead from a hard-changing Ainslie. Spithill said, “There were a few things we could have done better in that first race. Tom got us started well and picked a few shifts, but we had some boat-handling mistakes and I put my hand up for that…”

If race one was tense, the second contest was a more dominant performance.

“The second one was a really good race. Joey and Kyle were doing a great job on the boat speed and Louis was great on the maneuvers and that really allowed Tom to get his head out of the boat and he just nailed it. It’s nice going into tomorrow seeing the team working so well.”, Spithill added.

Finishing position Race 2 – Points
ORACLE TEAM USA – 10
Land Rover BAR – 9
Emirates Team New Zealand – 8
SoftBank Team Japan – 7
Groupama Team France – 6
Artemis Racing – 5

Results after Day One of racing:
Team – Points
ORACLE TEAM USA – 20
Land Rover BAR – 18
Emirates Team New Zealand – 16
SoftBank Team Japan – 13
Artemis Racing – 12
Groupama Team France – 11

America’s Cup website – ACWS Gothenburg – Results – Facebook

Background: The Louis Vuitton America’s Cup World Series (ACWS) racing circuit forms part of the 35th America’s Cup programme, with scoring contributing to the selection of the 2017 America’s Cup Challenger. The ACWS will take place during 2015 and 2016 and will feature the one design foiling AC45F catamarans at a number of event locations around the world over the two years.