Published Jun 7, 2017 at 8:00 am (Updated Jun 6, 2017 at 11:07 pm)

Falling away: Artemis Racing lost both races to SoftBank Team Japan (Photograph by Blaire Simmons)

Dean Barker had to draw on his vast experience as he steered SoftBank Team Japan to back-to-back wins over Artemis Racing in rough conditions yesterday.

With both boats being battered by the high winds, it was Barker who rose to the challenge to open up a healthy 3-1 lead in the race to first-to-five points in their semi-final.

Bits were flying off both boats during the first race as Team Japan crossed the finish line moments before Artemis confirmed their retirement from the contest.

We had a bit of a stuff just before the start of that first race and blew out a bunch of the fairings, Nathan Outteridge, the Artemis skipper, said.

We spent a lot of time just trying to bandage up the boat and it just shows how fragile these boats are.

It was a disappointing day but you just have to keep chipping away. It was pretty tough but now the boat is back in the shed and we are doing all the checks, and Im sure it will be good for tomorrow.

There was some hastily reupholstering to both boats before the second race, Barker showing his skill with another strong start to give his team an early advantage.

Artemiss woes were further compounded after incurring two costly penalties, awarded against them for sailing out of the racecourse boundary on leg three after avoiding a collision.

Iain Percy, the Artemis tactician and grinder, was left fuming at Richard Slater, the chief umpire, who issued the sanctions that all but ended the Swedes challenge.

Do your f***ing job, the British double Olympic gold medal-winner roared at Slater, before adding: This is ridiculous; you get ready for when I am back on shore.

Percy already had reason to be upset at Slater after he issued the Swedish team with a penalty that cost them victory against Emirates Team New Zealand in the double round-robin stage. That time, Slater admitted that he had got it wrong.

Outteridge said he feared his boat was at risk of a pitch-pole capsize, much like Team New Zealand did in the next race, had he not veered out of bounds.

I saw Team New Zealands incident and we had plenty of close moments ourselves, Outteridge said. You would have seen in the second race how close we got to Dean when we had a little nose stuff.

We bailed out of that situation, turned up and that eventually put us out of bounds. I was a bit nervous that we were going to do something like Pete [Burling] did and we would have gone right on top of [Team Japan].

Although more measured in his criticism of the umpires than Percy, Outteridge also feels his teams treatment was unjust.

When we re-entered the racecourse, we had to lose two boat lengths from SoftBank Team Japan, he said. From what I understand, the umpires decided it was a deliberate intention going out of bounds.

So they added a second penalty and we had to lose four boat lengths.

Outteridge said that most of the damage to Artemiss boat was surface-related and that he had no real concerns.

I was talking to Dean and he said they had little issues with their boat as well, Outteridge added.

Most of the stuff was cosmetic, but there were one or two other bits and pieces that were holding us back as well.

See the article here:

Barker and Team Japan ruling the high seas - Royal Gazette