Louis Vuitton Cup Centre Reports: Press Conference Quotes
Courtesy of www.louisvuittoncup.com

Jochen Schümann, of be hAPpy : "When we are in a free position we are holding speed sometimes which is a good thing for us. Still, it's real difficult to handle the manoeuvrability in the pre-starts. We feel very limited still there."

Torben Grael of Luna Rossa on why the mainsail was pinned amidships on the last two spinnaker runs: "After we gybe, after hoisting the spinnaker, the leg was on starboard tack. We had a broken topmast. Either, we had to make some adjustments in a hurry [or pin the main on the centreline]. We decided to put the main in the middle to save the mast."

Ken Read of Stars & Stripes on the heavyweights in the back of the boat: "This was clearly a kind of victory for them, with Peter Holmberg and Peter Isler and Tom Whidden as a kind of afterguard. None of them really have kinda set defined jobs as per a navigator or tactician or strategist. The three of them are trying to find themselves and how to work together and communicate and today they did it really well. When they do it well, I probably do my job better and the crew do their job well so it's better all around."

Thierry Peponnet of Le Défi on boat performance: "Bertrand did a great job at the start. We had an advantage but we misread the first shift after the start. We maybe gave too much opportunity to Stars & Stripes on the right and he got a ten-degree wind shift. It was good for him and we lost the lead but we are quite happy with the speed of the boat."

Jochen Schümann of be hAPpy on steering two appendages: "I still have the big rudder in my hand, that's the aft one. But as I told you the story might change. It's still difficult to keep the balance on the boat, and in the pre-start it is very difficult, but we are learning. I think the practice days with the Spanish helped us a lot and we proved to ourselves that it goes better and better."

Ken Read of Stars & Stripes on winning: "Tom Whidden said you can't win them all if you can't win the first one!"

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