BMW ORACLE Racing has won the match racing regatta at the RC 44 Austria Cup, topping the table with a 7-2 record. Equal on points with Team Aqua, a win in the head-to-head match put the Ellison/Coutts combo on top.
"This has been a great Series for us and we are very happy," Coutts said after racing today. "We’ve been practicing well before this regatta, and Larry - who was steering - did a great job. Our match against Team Aqua was key, and both teams knew this. On such short courses the starts are essential and so is crew work. This put a lot of pressure on everyone, but the guys handled it well."
(All images from Gilles Martin-Raget/BMW ORACLE Racing)
Coutts went on to say that while the series win was a nice reward, the process was of equal importance to the final result.
"It feels great to get out racing again," he said. "That's what we love doing, so it's been fantastic to get out on the water. I think any racing we do, it doesn't matter the type of boat at this point, any racing is valuable. Working together as a team and spending time together is important. We've got to figure out how our team will work in the future and these regattas give us an opportunity to begin thinking about that."
Jimmy Spithill's RC 44 Challenge didn't get the results they were looking for today and finish the match racing portion of the regatta in sixth place.
"This is a brand new team that I'm working with," Spithill said. "We have a lot to improve on, but that in itself is a nice challenge. It's fun to put a new group together and bring it along. It's challenging at the start but when it comes off it's quite rewarding."
The RC 44 Austria Cup continues over the weekend with fleet racing. Full results and more available on the event website here.
