BMW ORACLE Racing skipper Jimmy Spithill and the crew of 17 – Skip Baxter, Jonas Hviid-Nielsen, Kyle Langford, Joey Newton, Bryce Ruthenberg, Piet van Nieuwenhuyzen and Matt von Bibra – have captured the gold medal in the match racing portion of the RC 44 World Championship for the Islas Canarias Puerto Calero Cup.
It is the first match racing victory for Spithill on the RC 44 circuit this year. Previously in 2005, Spithill won the ISAF World Match Racing Championship.
Spithill and 17 began their march towards the championship yesterday when they won the first race of the final against Terry Hutchinson and the Artemis crew in a light-air race.
They completed the job today in continuing light winds by winning the second race on the finish line for a 2-0 victory. 17 trailed for a good portion of the race, but approaching the finish line 17 held the starboard-tack advantage and soaked low to poke its bow across 1 second before Artemis.
The team’s second entry at the world championship, BMW ORACLE Racing led by Russell Coutts, won the bronze medal.
Coutts and crew – Juan Jose Calero, Dirk de Ridder, Ryan Godfrey, Ross Halcrow, Colin Orsini, Revelin Minihane and Chris Schirmer – also scored a 2-0 victory with a win over Paul Cayard and Katusha.
Coutts has previously won the ISAF World Match Racing Championship three times (1992, 93, 96).
