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34.America's Cup 2013 - Cascais
www.americascup.com - Übersicht 34.A-Cup
Gesendet: 11.08.2011 23:37:20
An: info@1080media.org
Betreff: Team Korea Press Release - Cascais August 11
Please find attached our release and photo thanks.
Do check have a look at our videos and photo’s at www.americascup.com http://www.americascup.com Teams.
It was another remarkable day for Team Korea
at the America’s Cup World Series regatta in Cascais, Portugal, as they not only showed their surprising pace and class again in the fleet races, but also qualified for the secondary stage of the contest, creating yet another slice of history by then winning the first match race the team has ever engaged in.
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First Match Race Victory for Team Korea at America’s Cup World Series
Photo’s Gilles Martin-Raget/ACEA
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However it was also a day full of incident and excitement for the crew through the three fleet races, which determined the qualifiers for the match racing staged late in the afternoon. In the first race, skipper Chris Draper from the UK timed his start to perfection, and streaked to the first mark in a close second place behind Russell Coutts on ORACLE Racing 5. With the hull flying down the run, the Doyle sails gennaker with its spectacular tiger eyes and the bold round ‘Taggu’ of Korea, saw them overtake the most successful America’s Cup sailor in history, to round mark two with a slender lead over him.
But the elation quickly turned to disappointment as Sweden’s Artemis Racing, with Terry Hutchinson helming found their speed and overhauled them on the next leg, when the wind dropped on Korea’s side of the course, and gradually by the end of the race, the team had slipped back to fourth position as both ORACLE Racing teams overtook them. A week ago the team would have been delighted with a fourth place, and while this was still a good result, it was not quite good enough for the crew given what could have been...
Race two saw another good start, and a solid first two legs, but slowly the ‘big guns’ of Emirates Team New Zealand and ORACLE Racing once again overtook, and Korea finished the race sixth having been even further back, but again their upwind speed kept them in contention overall.
The start of race 3 was perhaps the most dramatic yet here in Cascais, as the teams converged together at speed. China Team got a flyer to lead, but both ORACLE yachts were over the start line early, as were Korea by just a few centimetres, forcing all three to turn around and restart. Korea began this first leg in a disastrous eighth position after that mistake, but yet again were fast enough and smart enough around the course to claw their way back, as the White Tiger closed with the leading group to finish an astonishing fifth, good enough to enable them to qualify for the next stage of the contest, as one of the top six overall.
Team Korea’s skipper Chris Draper said, ‘’everyone dug in really hard in that last race as it was critical to us, and to get a fifth from it was fantastic as we made it through to the match racing stage now, however when you are pushing that hard, and you have to push that hard at this level, then sometimes mistakes do happen as we slightly misjudged our timing on the start’’.
The team finished fifth in the fleet racing after three races on 18 points, behind the big budget teams of New Zealand, Artemis and ORACLE Racing, which meant they were paired against the rapidly improving Energy Team from France in sixth, and were the first match to be staged after the fleet racing concluded.
Despite limited match racing practice, and facing Loick Peyron, one of the most experienced French skippers in the sport, Team Korea entered the start box on time to begin the team’s opening Match Race battle, another milestone for them in this America’s Cup World Series event.
Unfortunately for the French team, they struggled with their ‘head’ sail which jammed, forcing them to slow down as Korea streaked away into the lead. Korea then managed to make an unforced error by going out of bounds on the course, handing a penalty to the French. Slowing down quickly to the required two boat lengths to offset the penalty, the gap between them and the French was still wide enough for Korea to almost cruise home, flying a hull as they crossed the finish line in celebration, winning this historic match.
Chris Draper commented, ‘’we need to make sure we keep learning everything that happens from the mistakes we make, gradually iron them out, and turn them into positives, though we’ve been saying that for the past few days. We’re pleased with how it’s going generally, looking forward to more racing, and hope we can keep improving and getting some good results’’.
Despite a relatively easy win due to Energy’s difficulties, Team Korea’s CEO Kim Dong-Young was still smiling, naturally delighted, ‘’I am very proud of our team, they are working hard and beating the best of the best at times, this, after just three weeks of sailing the boat. Financially we know we are not in the same league as the teams leading here yet, but that is not stopping us trying to beat them. We honestly didn’t anticipate being in this position, it is much better than we hoped before we came here, but people in Korea may not understand just how high the standard of competition is and what the team are achieving. I am worried that everyone back home is starting to expect this kind of performance from us now, and if we start to fall back over the final three days, the disappointment is going to be that much greater. Korean’s want to be the best, look at our business and economy, and now we are setting very high expectations in the America’s Cup. I hope we can manage these and try to explain what a surprise this is for everyone – me included! ’’.
Emirates Team New Zealand again dominated the day, winning the fleet racing despite mistakes of their own, compounded with faulty electronic equipment which saw them unfairly penalised by the umpires on the course. They shrugged this off though, and went on to win the match race final against Artemis of Sweden, and are looking invincible on this showing with a perfect 20 point score after two days of racing, ahead of Oracle 4 skippered by James Spithill, three points adrift in second place.
Overall Team Korea finished the day nudging up against the more experienced teams in a superb 4th place on 14 points, just one point behind Artemis in third. The points determine the seeding for the Match Race finals on Saturday, but as one of their opponents quipped after their inaugural success today, ‘there are not many countries that can say they have a 100% success rate in an America’s Cup match racing event! Go Korea!’
Cascais ACWS Overall Standings on day 2 (6 races)
1.Emirates Team New Zealand New Zealand 20 points
2.Oracle Racing/James Spithill USA 17
3.Artemis Racing Sweden 15
4.Team Korea Korea 14
5.Oracle Racing/Russell Coutts USA 12
6.Energy Team France 12
7.China Team China 7
8.Aleph France 7
9.Green Comm Racing Spain 6
About Team Korea
Team Korea is the newest nation to enter the America’s Cup, representing the Sail Korea Yacht Club based in Seoul. Fondly known as the ‘White Tiger Challenge’, the White Tiger is a revered and ancient Guardian God of the west, the only god based on a living creature, a potent and powerful beast. The team recently hosted a visit of the America’s Cup trophy in Seoul for the first time in history, courtesy of Brooks Brothers Korea. The prestigious Louis Vuitton Cup was also presented to the press at the same time in Seoul on a very significant day in the continued development of Team Korea. Sponsors of the team include Sail Racing high performance clothing.
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