Wednesday, February 23, 2011

Terry Hutchinson Racing Fast Cats

J/24 World Champion- Terry Hutchinson- sailing Extreme 40 for Team Artemis* Past J/24 World Champion and College Sailor of the Year, Terry Hutchinson, is killing it in the "stadium" format at the Extreme 40 series off Muscat, Oman, his first major multihull series and first for Team Artemis.  After the first two days of open water courses, Wednesday was the first day of short course ‘stadium’ racing for the 11-boat Extreme 40 fleet, with their course positioned along the shore in front of the spectators and VIPs. The new team led by Terry Hutchinson and his crew on Artemis Racing had an exceptional day, posting a score line of 2-1-2-1-1 in the five races to elevate them from fifth overall yesterday to second place overall.

“We had a brilliant day on the water today, there were a lot of people on the shore line - close enough to hear them cheering on the finish line. I have never experienced something like that before. It was a first!” said  Hutchinson. “The stadium racing format delivered everything it promised - short and intense races right in front of the spectators. When you have a good day you love it, when you have a bad day you hate it, and we absolutely loved it today!”

Artemis crew Morgan Trubovich explained further:  “The story of the day was that Terry was on fire. With such short races it was critical that you had a good start and a good first beat. We did that every time. Start after start we were right on the start line, at full speed, going in the right direction.”

Moral of the story?  Simple.  Start out with dinghies, go college sailing to "learn how to sail" tactically, then jump into J/24s (or J/22s and J/80s) to learn how to apply the secret ingredients of speed, tactics and strategy! They're all inexpensive, FUN boats to sail with strong, competitive fleets worldwide. Next stop?  Extreme 40s, America's Cup or Volvo Ocean Race-- the world's your oyster! :)