A spectacular race 8 in the Americas Cup final today with Team NZ leading early, but after some boat modifications, Oracle Team USA found another gear to win just their second race of the final series, but only after a spectacular mishap for Team NZ.

Leading off the start line Team NZ established a comfortable lead, but then for the first time in the entire finals series Oracle Team USA began to claw their way back into the race upwind with the boats being neck and neck towards the end of the work. That was until Team NZ attempted to tack just ahead of Oracle, but while doing so they had problems tacking the large wing sail which appeared to become temporarily jammed, causing the boat into a spectacular near capsize with one hull rising high into the air before slamming back into the water. Fortunately Oracle was able to take quickly evasive action, but the incident caused Team NZ to incur a right of way penalty, and by the time they had regained control of their boat, Oracle had seized the lead and went on to win the race by a comfortable margin.

If you haven’t seen the footage of the incident yet, make a point of doing so online as it is spectacular. Also spare a thought for Adam Beashel from SLMASC, who was apparently on the hull of Team NZ that rose high into the air when the incident occurred. We hope the stains wash out Adam 😉 …. and that you and Team NZ can quickly put the incident behind you and continue on your winning ways.

The second race of the day was abandonded after the start due to strong winds (above the racing limit), however at the time of the abandonment Team NZ had again taken a lead into the windward leg showing that they had been able to quickly get things sorted.

With the apparent improved upwind performance if Oracle Team USA the racing over the coming days should be nothing short of spactacular, so make sure you tune in online or on Foxtel for all the action.

Best wishes to Adam Beashel and Team NZ who just need three more wins to lift the Americas Cup and sail straight into yachting history.

Smooth Sailing guys.

Team SLMASC

Good to see a few boats getting out of the blocks quickly for the start of the season, with many others still getting sorted before starting racing for the season.

Provisional results from the first race of the season have now been posted on the yacht page of the website, and congratulations to Lakes 11 on their win today. These results will be finalised by the handicap committee on Monday evening with the results then being finalised and posted.

Our aim will be to post these provisional results ASAP after the conclusion of racing each week, once received from the host club (if a MPASC race).

Finally just a quick reminder to book your yacht in for your Category 7 Safety check by calling Doug Wilson on 0411 372 105 with the first of two prebooked inspection days being Sunday 22nd September.

Smooth Sailing

Team SLMASC

An exciting Day 3 of racing in the Americas Cup final wrapped up early this morning Sunshine time with another Team NZ victory over Oracle Team USA.

After a spectacular and close start that saw Oracle lead for the first 2 legs, Team NZ took control upwind and won in convincing style. Oracle took the opportunity after the race to play their ‘postponement card’ to postpone the second race of the day to allow them time to regroup and work on making imporvements to try to match TNZ.

Team NZ with SLMASC’s Adam Beashel on board, have now won 4 races to Oracle’s 1 race, however due to a scoring penalty incurred by Oracle before the finals series, the official series score is actually 4-0 to Team NZ (with Oracle yet to incur one further race penalty).

Things are looking promising for Adam and Team NZ, but there is still a very long way to go in this finals series and anything can happen in a yacht race as we all know. Remember that you can send Adam and Team NZ your message of support by emailing him directly at  adam.beashel@slmasc.org

Smooth sailing Adam and Team NZ ….. keep up the great work.

Team SLMASC