Finals: An all American Affair!
Spithill performed exemplarily to replicate his success on the baseball pitch in the water race. His winning trail began when he beat Dean Barker’s team. The winning continued when he exhibited strong racing performance making it to the Sunday’s Grand Finale.
Spithill commented that the first fleet was the most exciting. Anxiety caused his team to break the start line before signal, a fault he laid upon himself. He however, noted the level of commitment amongst his team members in fighting for their place. He attributed his team’s success to vigor that motivated them to fight harder when left behind. The reward is ultimately a win.
In the opening fleet, Energy Team, led by Yann Guichard came from behind to steal the win from Barker and Spithill. Spithill’s chance in the first fleet was hindered by being OCS. However, he still managed to take the second place while Barker, the early race leader, settled for the third position after slowing down after the fourth mark.
Spithill team and Team Korea had a narrow escape from a pile up at the bottom gate, which ensured the two teams a leading stance.
Upon breaking free, Spithill raced away recording the most spectacular lead of the week that saw the team win the fourth race out of possible six races. Nathan Outteridge of Team Korea trailed behind Spithill by a minute margin to clinch the second place. Guichard came in third and won his team a second place in the overall standings.
Guichard was proud of his team’s performance citing challenge posed by the shifty winds. Through use of a tactical approach, his team changed the headsail and realized additional speed. He attributed the performance to good tactics and speed.
The seventh and final race of the series takes place on Sunday. The final race will highly competitive since the scoring is heavily weighted. This leaves four teams as probable winners of the championship.
The semi-finals were charged with adrenaline as Coutts of Oracle team USA battled it out with Terry Hutchinson of Artemis racing. At the top mark in the race, the boats almost came into collision prompting Coutts to sail on top of Hutchinson’s boat to clinch the win and get a hard-earned spot in the finals.
Spithill put a spirited fight to seal an all Oracle Team USA entry into the finals by winning his race against Barker of Emirates Team, New Zealand. Though barker had a perfect start, Spithill took advantage of small gains in the next leg and came from behind passing Barker at the top mark to win the race.
The race village was thronged with eager spectators considering it was a weekend. Dr. Dog climaxed racing activities for Saturday with a free concert for the thrilled fans in the AC Village of the Marina Greens.
Americas Cup YouTube channel will broadcast Sundays racing events live beginning at 11:30 AM PDT across the globe. In the United States, however, there will be no live coverage on YouTube, but the live action will be caught on NBC Television same time.