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Green Comm Racing

Spanish AC45 takes successful first sail

mercredi 3 août 2011Redaction SSS [Source RP]

Green Comm Racing, the 34th America’s Cup America's Cup #AmericasCup challenger, took its brand new AC45 AC45 #AC45 for her first sail on Tuesday. Vasilij Zbogar, helmsman, and the rest of the crew slowly pushed the catamaran to a speed peak of 22 knots in ideal conditions.

Conditions during the day just couldn’t be any better for a team that made its debut on the powered up AC45 AC45 #AC45 catamarans. Starting at 7am, the entire crew rolled the platform and wing out of the shed and by 10am they were out on the water sailing. The very light breeze made wing handling much easier and the first miles under sail very smooth.

As the team started building its confidence, the clouds and fog dissipated, giving way to sunny skies and a nice breeze that topped 15 knots. Despite having spent a mere three hours on its new AC45 AC45 #AC45 yacht, the crew had no problems pushing her up to 22 knots of speed.

Paul Hobson, team coach, took the opportunity to rotate the crew during the 6-hour sail, giving them the chance to test the systems and enjoy a first taste of this new generation of multihulls.

Testing and training will continue on Wednesday and with official racing starting on Saturday, every minute counts for Green Comm Racing.

Vasilij Zbogar, helmsman :

“We were very lucky today as we started with very light winds that built up in the afternoon and as result we could test the boat in ideal conditions. The entire team is very happy with how things turned out. We didn’t commit any errors and our maneuvers and boat handling were very good.

This is of course the very first time I helm an AC45 but after all it’s another boat. For sure it’s going to be tougher in stronger winds and we haven’t tested ourselves yet against the other teams but I’m confident about what we can achieve.

These boats are very fast but I, honestly, didn’t have the opportunity to check our speed. I was very concentrated and focused on steering well.”

Ed Wright :

“We were pretty lucky today with the weather. We had pretty light winds at the beginning and then a very nice breeze, so we were able to go into it nice and slowly. We are all happy with what we achieved. These yachts are fun to sail but also extremely physical and I’m sure that when the breeze really builds up it will be really tough.”

Kostas Trigonis, wing trimmer :

“Today was a great day and a fantastic experience for me. I want to deeply thank Luca Devoti for giving me this unique opportunity. The wing is extremely powerful and it’s an unbelievable experience trimming it, completely different from a soft sail. I doubt I will ever forget this day since I’ve never sailed on such a boat. Trimming the wing was also made easier thanks to the very good communication Communication #Communication between Vasilij, our helmsman, and myself. I hope I will be able to sail during the official races.

It’s true we only have four days until racing starts and there are teams that have been training for months but I have great confidence in this team. We all are Olympic sailors and our aim in this regatta is to learn and build our skills. I don’t know whether we will be able to beat Oracle in San Diego but after seeing how we did today I’m sure we will have a strong team.”

- Press info Green Comm Racing / www.greencommracing.com



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