(San Francisco, CA) - America's Cup sailors participating in this week's ACWS 2013 Season Opener in San Francisco Bay
are again having to put up with a strong contingent of past and current
J/Sailors tossing a monkey-wrench into the works. Starting with recent
Gold Medal Olympian Ben Ainslie,
he's on "training wheels" this week and progressing rapidly- having
done well on the Match Race front and learning the ropes in the fleet
racing-- a combination of dinghy and keelboat (J/109 & J/24/ IC24) experience have contributed to his open-minded approach to success. Giving Ben and others a run for the money are J/24 World Champion Terry Hutchinson directing the Team ARTEMIS program along with other J/Alumni on other teams-- perhaps the Spanish sometime soon (Iker Martinez and friends from J/80 World in Spain?). Then, don't forget John Kostecki, past J/24 World Champion as well calling the shots for Jimmie Spithill-- a formidable combo to go against in John's "backyard" (a.k.a. San Francisco Bay!).