SAN FRANCISCO — Team New Zealand collected another round-robin forfeit victory over Swedish rival Artemis in the America's Cup challenger series Saturday. The Kiwi crew, having already clinched the round-robin against the idled Swedish entry and Italy's Luna Rossa, sailed alone in San Francisco Bay as they have all but three times this month, defeating Luna Rossa in those head-to-head outings to start the Louis Vuitton challenger races. “We go out there to race as hard as we can every time,” Team New Zealand skipper Dean Barker said. “The level we are trying to achieve is still well above where we are now. We have a lot of development to go on the boat, which we hope continues to improve our performance around the course.” On Saturday, with replacement helmsman Glenn Ashby giving Barker a breather for the day, the Kiwi team completed the five-leg course in 30 minutes, 32 seconds, with a top speed of 33.8 knots in average wind of 13 knots. Artemis, stunned in May by a training crash that killed crewman Andrew Simpson and destroyed their first AC72 catamaran, has until August 6 before the best-of-seven semi-final challenger series begins with the winner advancing to the Louis Vuitton Cup final set to begin on August 17. — AP
