Americas Cup Series at Cascais , Day 5

Photo: Gilles Martin Raget



Photo: Gilles Martin Raget



Photo: Ricardo Pinto



Photo: Gilles Martin Raget



Photo: Gilles Martin Raget



Photo: Gilles Martin Raget



Photo: Gilles Martin Raget



Photo: Gilles Martin Raget



Photo: Gilles Martin Raget



Photo: Gilles Martin Raget

Copyright: All Photos Gilles Martin Raget and one from Ricardo Pinto – www.americascup.com

Another great day of fleet racing dominated by Oracle 4 (won all 3 ) and a super match race between Barke-Spithill (O4) won with class by TNZ.

GreenComm and Aleph with their best performance so far, with GC reaching the match race finals of the day.

China was sailing another course today, they had the speed but making several tactical errors. Then I read that Mitch is having a hard time with the boundaries, in any case today was not what they expected for sure.

This is a learning process, and some teams still need to lear how to sail/race a Cat and we’ve seen smooth conditions so far, today was not that windy and some pitchs were seen, Korea almost went over.

Energy and Korea rounding a consistent week will participate on the MR scheduled for tomorrow.

Chris Draper showing that his 49er experience plus an experienced X40 crew can do the job too.

The AC45s, designed by the Oracle Racing Design team is just a speed machine,today peaking +45kms. Besides their performance they have some sleek looks, a real weapon.

Congrats to Mike Drummond and his team.

Still some 20knot racing to come, but today Coutts used a smaller gennaker for his match race against Artemis, (some pitchs on the bareaways today for many) they gain more control and didn´t lose any speed, as Oracle 5 won his match race against the Swede team led by Hutchinson.

So it is wise move for future windy days as with the Wing you have enough power already.

Coutts barked to Murray Jones today saying he needs more racing time… quite competitive guys and friends, but chill out! If I was Murray I would reply: “You wanted to race this freaking multi machines, don´t blame me, wtf do you want me to look at , if I’m out of breath and arms trimming this Wing, besides all hard work, you need some A-Class lessons from Ashby too….mate!” The onboard live sound is just really good, studio sound like, the whole broadcast is superb , but they need to put back the resolution options on the yt bar again asap.

TNZ is already performing over the fleet (along Spithill) and just dominating the Match Races, the Kiwis are the best sailors on earth, but their secret weapon I think has a lot to do on their quick adaptation and final performance on the ac45.

Still don´t get how team Oracle let Glenn Ashby walk away, well they and the other teams still have Bundock and Steve Clark available….

– Replays and Live racing for tomorrow at

https://www.youtube.com/americascup

Full results and more info at

https://www.americascup.com/en/Events/2011-2012-world-series/2011-cascais-portugal/Results-and-Highlights/

Day 5 Full Replay