There was a little more sun on the bay, a rising tide and also a little more breeze, which upset some tight calculations. Russell Coutts from the Oracle team had a bad time trying to sail through the starting boat, which he thoroughly failed to do. "That was tough, I didn't think it was overly risky," said Coutts, the most successful AC sailor of all time, commenting on the loud crash in which nobody was injured. His team-mate Jimmy Spithill, of all people, closed the door up there by the starting boat as the field accelerated at full speed towards the line. "Everyone has done that," said Spithill afterwards. "Sometimes there's a gap, sometimes not ... Sometimes you crash and burn, that's part of it." That was the end of the day for Coutts and the result was a drop from second to 10th place in the overall Fleetrace standings.
Spithill, who clearly enjoyed putting on a show in front of a packed crowd, remains the clear leader in the category with a 7th and a 1st place, followed by Nathan Outteridge and Team Korea, who achieved the best result of the day today with 4th and 2nd places. If they hadn't been penalised in the first race, they could have achieved even more. Third is now Luna Rossa Piranha with Chris Draper, who posted a second and a fifth, ahead of the French Energy Team, which is being skippered by Yann Guichard at this regatta, who was able to show off with 3rd and 5th places. Ben Ainslie with JP Morgan BAR is still only a marginal figure, finishing 9th and 4th.
He was very embarrassed by the missed start in the match race quarter-finals, which paved the way for Team New Zealand to an unchallenged victory. "I'm sorry, I have to get used to it all," was the succinct but humane comment from the four-time Olympic champion. Nothing was given away in the second quarter-final race of the day: Coutts, who later crashed, had to fight hard to narrowly prevail against Energy Team in the end, after the French had held the lead in the meantime. Today's semi-finals will see Artemis Racing White against Oracle Coutts and Oracle Spithill against Emirates Team New Zealand.
The event starts at 14:00 local time, which is 23:00 CEST. Live pictures are available on YouTube channel or with the new America's Cup app for iPhone and iPad (Android coming soon), which provides viewers with the latest news, results, videos, event information and live pictures. Free download in the iTues App Store.
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