'Racing in the America’s Cup World Series – Naples gets underway on Wednesday afternoon, with Dean Barker’s Emirates Team New Zealand crew clinging to a one point lead on the overall series leaderboard over ORACLE Racing Spithill.
Two new Luna Rossa crews, sailing on home waters, are expected to be near the front of the fleet this week, while Artemis Racing, currently third, will be keen to improve on its podium position, with ORACLE Racing Bundock trying to knock them off. Team Korea, skippered by multiple world champion Nathan Outteridge will be pushing hard, as will Energy Team, looking to consolidate on gains made in the last regatta in San Diego. China Team, with new skipper Fred Le Peutrec, is coming fresh off a training camp in Sanya, China, and could surprise here in Italy.
Championship Racing at the AC World Series in Naples runs from April 11-15.
From the opening Press Conference:
Dean Barker, skipper, Emirates Team New Zealand: (Sailing the AC45s) is great, it's a different challenge to what we've experienced in the past. The adrenalin from sailing these boats in a big breeze is very hard to explain, but coming in after a day’s sailing it's pretty hard not to have a big smile on your face.
James Spithill, skipper, ORACLE Racing Spithill: The game has changed, the racing is right next to the shore. It was exciting yesterday (Monday) to see the crowds and I think they will be even bigger next weekend. The exciting thing for the sailors is you can hear people cheering. It's like being in a stadium. That's one of the coolest things, to go around the course and hear people cheering… The Italian fans are the best in the world and they'll make this event fantastic.
Terry Hutchinson, skipper, Artemis Racing: Over the past couple of days we've had a lot of weather and rain moving through, so with the mountain behind the race course it wreaks havoc. But the forecast is more for the traditional sea breeze we were after. I think it's going to be a very challenging race course with all of the geographic effects around here. But that's part of the challenge, other than the other eight boats on the course, we have to deal with the weather. This will be one of those courses where the race isn't over until you get across the finishing line.
Darren Bundock, skipper, ORACLE Racing Bundock: We've had some very good racing in practice in San Francisco (against ORACLE Racing Spithill), a little too intense at times, as we had that collision. But now there are eight teams we have to beat. We're fourth overall so we need to get past Emirates Team New Zealand and Artemis Racing and if we can beat all these other teams here that means we've got Jimmy as well and we'd be happy with that.
Nathan Outteridge, skipper, Team Korea: I saw that Russell Coutts had posted on Facebook that ‘America’s Cup – Speed Trials’ (the iphone and ipad app) was out, so I had a spare few minutes and downloaded it. I was thinking I haven't had much practice on the real boats, so I'd practice on the game at least. I've got my time down around 31 seconds now, so I've improved about four seconds. I need to get out on the water practicing, but this is the next best thing.
Yann Guichard, helmsman, Energy Team: I hope we are ready. We didn't train on the AC45 in the winter, but individually we continued to sail in our own projects. Loick Peyron set a new record for fastest around the world. And on my side I launched the MOD70 and I've been sailing five days a week since January and there's also been an opportunity for the Energy Team crew to come and train on board the 70 foot trimaran with me.
Fred Le Peutrec, skipper, China Team: It’s a great opportunity we have to sail on these fantastic boats, against these great teams. It's only our fifth day on the boat all together. We're still a very new team, there is only one guy who was with us last year sailing on the boat so we are working step by step, concentrating on manoeuvres and our own work on board more than the results - we'll see after.
Max Sirena, skipper, Luna Rossa: I started my career working on the bow, and now I'm in the cockpit with an important role: It's a big honor for me and it's time to show if I can live up to that. It's a new era and you need the best athletes to be among the best. I was with ORACLE Racing during the last America's Cup, so I have some experience with the wing and one of my jobs is to transmit that to the crew.
Iain Murray, Regatta Director, 34th America's Cup: On behalf of all the America's Cup teams and organization, I want to thank Naples and all of the organizations who have come together to put on this event. This is a magnificent venue for sailing and we're looking forward to some very exciting racing this week. What Naples has done with the opening ceremony and the Race Village and the way the people have come out to support our event is fantastic. It's bigger and better than anything we expected.
From : America's Cup
Credit : G Martin Raget / ACEA
Two new Luna Rossa crews, sailing on home waters, are expected to be near the front of the fleet this week, while Artemis Racing, currently third, will be keen to improve on its podium position, with ORACLE Racing Bundock trying to knock them off. Team Korea, skippered by multiple world champion Nathan Outteridge will be pushing hard, as will Energy Team, looking to consolidate on gains made in the last regatta in San Diego. China Team, with new skipper Fred Le Peutrec, is coming fresh off a training camp in Sanya, China, and could surprise here in Italy.
Championship Racing at the AC World Series in Naples runs from April 11-15.
From the opening Press Conference:
Dean Barker, skipper, Emirates Team New Zealand: (Sailing the AC45s) is great, it's a different challenge to what we've experienced in the past. The adrenalin from sailing these boats in a big breeze is very hard to explain, but coming in after a day’s sailing it's pretty hard not to have a big smile on your face.
James Spithill, skipper, ORACLE Racing Spithill: The game has changed, the racing is right next to the shore. It was exciting yesterday (Monday) to see the crowds and I think they will be even bigger next weekend. The exciting thing for the sailors is you can hear people cheering. It's like being in a stadium. That's one of the coolest things, to go around the course and hear people cheering… The Italian fans are the best in the world and they'll make this event fantastic.
Terry Hutchinson, skipper, Artemis Racing: Over the past couple of days we've had a lot of weather and rain moving through, so with the mountain behind the race course it wreaks havoc. But the forecast is more for the traditional sea breeze we were after. I think it's going to be a very challenging race course with all of the geographic effects around here. But that's part of the challenge, other than the other eight boats on the course, we have to deal with the weather. This will be one of those courses where the race isn't over until you get across the finishing line.
Darren Bundock, skipper, ORACLE Racing Bundock: We've had some very good racing in practice in San Francisco (against ORACLE Racing Spithill), a little too intense at times, as we had that collision. But now there are eight teams we have to beat. We're fourth overall so we need to get past Emirates Team New Zealand and Artemis Racing and if we can beat all these other teams here that means we've got Jimmy as well and we'd be happy with that.
Nathan Outteridge, skipper, Team Korea: I saw that Russell Coutts had posted on Facebook that ‘America’s Cup – Speed Trials’ (the iphone and ipad app) was out, so I had a spare few minutes and downloaded it. I was thinking I haven't had much practice on the real boats, so I'd practice on the game at least. I've got my time down around 31 seconds now, so I've improved about four seconds. I need to get out on the water practicing, but this is the next best thing.
Yann Guichard, helmsman, Energy Team: I hope we are ready. We didn't train on the AC45 in the winter, but individually we continued to sail in our own projects. Loick Peyron set a new record for fastest around the world. And on my side I launched the MOD70 and I've been sailing five days a week since January and there's also been an opportunity for the Energy Team crew to come and train on board the 70 foot trimaran with me.
Fred Le Peutrec, skipper, China Team: It’s a great opportunity we have to sail on these fantastic boats, against these great teams. It's only our fifth day on the boat all together. We're still a very new team, there is only one guy who was with us last year sailing on the boat so we are working step by step, concentrating on manoeuvres and our own work on board more than the results - we'll see after.
Max Sirena, skipper, Luna Rossa: I started my career working on the bow, and now I'm in the cockpit with an important role: It's a big honor for me and it's time to show if I can live up to that. It's a new era and you need the best athletes to be among the best. I was with ORACLE Racing during the last America's Cup, so I have some experience with the wing and one of my jobs is to transmit that to the crew.
Iain Murray, Regatta Director, 34th America's Cup: On behalf of all the America's Cup teams and organization, I want to thank Naples and all of the organizations who have come together to put on this event. This is a magnificent venue for sailing and we're looking forward to some very exciting racing this week. What Naples has done with the opening ceremony and the Race Village and the way the people have come out to support our event is fantastic. It's bigger and better than anything we expected.
From : America's Cup
