AC45s @SF , October 2012: Spithill & crew take the entire Show

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Images sent by oracleteamusa.com. Recovering from this pitch, the hardest ever I recall on the AC45 series, to win the MR final minutes later and today coming from dead last on the final race to end winning it, marks a highlight for this team. On the long term, on a series of MRaces at the ACup final they will be the ones to beat. A bullet proof & highly trained group of sailors ready to defend the Cup on Multis.

Ben Ainslie tied on points for the fleet event, and he showed he has an additional gear, so it will be hard to Oracle to decide who is going to helm next year, but right now I would go with Spithill team all the way. Results and video below.

Full report at americascup.com
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

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2 Responses

  1. Anonymous says:
    October 8, 2012 at 3:06 pm

    Nice pictures and videos BUT ridiculos scoring system !!!
    Never heard during my catsailing life about a more than triple scoring for the first place in the final fleetrace. This way a constantly good sailor, who ended up not beeing the first in the last race has no chance for the overall win.

  2. CSN says:
    October 8, 2012 at 3:13 pm

    Agree, but the system is in place for all. Although Ben Ainslie was clearly the best all week, on the final race, where pressure counted double (or triple) like the Olympic medal Ben got in a same situation, Spithill delivered.

    BAR Racing was the best performer overall, but Ben is used to this game on the Olympics too. Hats off to him , with more time he might be helming the AC72, all just good news for Oracle as team.