ACWS Cascais Wraps Up

Emirates Team New Zealand proved to be the class of the first ever America’s Cup World Series event in Cascais, Portugal, which wrapped-up over the weekend. After winning pretty much all of the mini events throughout the week, the Kiwis ultimately got pipped for the match racing honors on Saturday by Oracle Racing’s Jimmy Spithill. But Dean Barker and his mates rebounded in the final fleet racing championship yesterday. A tricky race course with holes all over the place left many opportunities for passing and on the second lap of the race course, Barker found enough of a breeze advantage to slingshot around the initial leader, Spithill.
 
“For us it was fantastic,” Barker said. “It was always going to be a very difficult race, as the breeze never really established. There were big ‘holes’ in the race course, so it was about being at the right place at the right time.”

Terry Hutchinson’s Artemis Racing, was also able to work its way up to a second place finish from being back in the pack early while Spithill was forced to settle for third.
 
“The guys did an awesome job to battle us up into the race,” Hutchinson said, after climbing back from mid-fleet. “It’s probably the best we’ve gone in the entire regatta. It’s a very good finish for Artemis.”