It was the day of the warm-up. In slightly lighter winds and the cool summer temperatures for which San Francisco is notorious, the young and newcomers, six in all, had to battle it out in the match race qualifiers for three places in the quarter-finals, where the five seeded teams awaited. In the first two pairings, the two Luna Rossas won easily 2-0 against China Team and Artemis Red respectively, but everyone was eagerly awaiting the first appearance of four-time Olympic champion Ben Ainslie with his team JP Morgan BAR and a crew borrowed from Oracle.
Their opponents were the cheeky Koreans, who since the end of last year have no longer been skippered by Chris Draper but by the current 49er Olympic champion Nathan Outteridge from Australia. Ainslie had to pant behind twice, but twice he crossed the finish line first. In the second run, however, with the help of a penalty imposed on KOR, which was later contested but upheld by the jury. "We still have a lot to learn," said Ainslie self-critically afterwards. "We had a few problems but these guys did an excellent job to get us through." Outteridge saw it differently. "In the first race we made a mistake that gave them the opportunity they were waiting for. Then in the second race we got penalties for seemingly no reason and had to let them pass. We're a bit confused, to be honest."
With a bit of imagination, Outteridge's comments could be interpreted to mean that someone wanted to make sure Ainslie played in the quarter-finals. At least the good bloke now knows what footballers feel when they moan about a home referee. Korea asked for the penalty to be cancelled and the match to be rescheduled. This request was rejected by the jury, as the rules did not provide for compensation.
Today will be interesting because the top teams will be involved. First there are two quarter-final pairings, namely Luna Rossa Swordfish against Artemis White, followed by Luna Rossa Piranha against Oracle Racing Spithill. This will be followed by two fleet races with all 11 teams.
The first match race pairing will start at 14:05 local time, which is 23:05 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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