America's Cup- Outteridge and Jensen go again with Artemis Racing

by Sail-World on 12 Dec 2013
Artemis Racing has announced that 2012 Olympic Gold medalists Nathan Outteridge and Iain 'Goobs' Jensen are continuing with the team, which is currently preparing its bid for the 35th America’s Cup.

Nathan and Goobs will be once again joining forces with existing sailing team members triple Olympic medalist Iain Percy and legendary grinder Chris Brittle. This combination of sailing talents will serve as the foundation of Artemis Racing on the water and will work closely with designers to develop a winning boat, says the team.

'With Iain, Nathan, Goobs and Chris all on board, Artemis Racing has a core of talent and experience that will drive us toward the next Cup,' said Artemis Racing owner Torbjörn Törnqvist. 'They have individually and together already achieved very much and I believe in their potential as a team. We look forward to seeing what the 35th America's Cup will bring.'

Nathan served as helmsman and Goobs as wing trimmer in the 34th America's Cup, giving them invaluable experience on AC72s. The pair have sailed together from childhood and have achieved numerous victories, including a Gold Medal in the 49er class in the 2012 Summer Olympics - a feat which they look to repeat during the 2016 Olympics in Rio.

In an America's Cup Panel staged as the highlight of a 300 seat gala dinner in Melbourne last week, Nathan Outteridge and Iain Jensen were non-committal, saying they were balancing a 2016 Olympic Campaign with looking at America’s Cup options.

'Torbjörn and Perce are great to work with and are truly passionate about wanting to build a strong, youthful team capable of winning the Cup,' said Nathan, in the release from Artemis Racing. 'They fully support our Olympic ambitions and have made it very clear that Goobs and I are the right people to be leading this team.'

Added Jensen: 'I feel a lot of loyalty towards the people involved with Artemis Racing. Towards the end of the last Cup, we had something very special. We had our backs against the wall, and the shore team, the designers and the sailors were able to work miracles in those last few months. This gives me a lot of confidence going into the next cycle, and I'm very excited to see what will be achieved in the coming years.'

Artemis Racing continues to assess the criteria for the next America’s Cup, and is in the meantime building a winning team based on experience, talent and collaboration, the team says.

None of the Australian sailors from the 2013 America's Cup campaigns have yet announced that they are joining the Iain Murray led Hamilton Island Yacht Club team, which has been accepted as the Challenger of Record. At the function in Melbourne, wingsail Glenn Ashby trimmer announced that he was signing with Emirates Team NZ, and Tom Slingsby had previously announced that he was re-signing with Oracle Team USA. Winning skipper, Jimmy Spithill has not made any formal announcement as to which team he will join for the next America's Cup.

Earlier Murray told The Australian newspaper that Hamilton Island YC would stay out of the current bidding way for America's Cup talent and would instead run with a younger team centred around Australia's Olympic and other talent new to the America's Cup.