The new RC 44 Artemis, with Dean Barker at the helm, sailed for the first time yesterday and won two races today. What better way to start a career? Image copyright Guilain Grenier.
by Bernard Schopfer
The RC 44’s managed to complete two more flights Wednesday. BMW ORACLE Racing, Cro-A-Sail, Ceeref and Artemis are the winners of the day. However, with only three flights completed the contest is not valid. The fleet regatta starts tomorrow.
The weather was fairly promising in the morning despite the massive high pressure centred over Trieste, with a pleasant 5-7 breeze and nice sunshine. Unfortunately, the conditions didn’t allow completing enough races to validate the event.
Some beautiful matches took however place, including an important dual between the two leaders of the Class, BMW ORACLE Racing and Ceeref. Larry Ellison and Russell Coutts lost the start but attacked throughout the first beat, taking the lead at the windward mark to win the race.
Cro-A-Sail also had an excellent day, winning two matches against Team Organika and Team Hiroshi – Città di Milano.
Finally, Artemis – who sailed for the first time yesterday – got two bullets today and started its career in the best possible way.
They said:
Dean Barker, helmsman, Artemis: “We just made it to the starting line, so we are obviously very pleased to have won our two first races today. Our speed was great and the crew work went well; however the light conditions helped us. The real test will be tomorrow, in the fleet regatta.”
Morten Henricksen, helmsman, Cro-A-Sail: “I made a little mistake during the pre-start against Hiroshi; however, we managed to fight our way back and control them during most of the race. The second regatta was great: We dominated the pre-start, had an excellent speed and were in a position to control the favoured right hand side of the course.”
Results: With only three flights completed, the contest is not valid.
RC44 website
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