Coutts: No clear favorite as AC trials near

QUOTE-UNQUOTE: "The America’s Cup trials start two weeks from Friday on Bermuda’s Great Sound, and the man in charge of sailing’s marquee regatta doesn’t believe there’s an overwhelming favorite, not even two-time defending champion Oracle Team USA. Russell Coutts has been watching practice races between the 50-foot, foiling catamarans. He said he’s impressed with Oracle Team USA, Artemis Racing of Sweden, SoftBank Team Japan and Emirates Team New Zealand, the hard-luck loser in the 2013 America’s Cup on San Francisco Bay. 'I actually don’t think there is a clear favorite right now,' Coutts, CEO of the America’s Cup Event Authority, said in a recent phone interview. 'I think it’s really close between these teams.' –Bernie Wilson, in the AP story he filed this afternoon with a long interview of RC.

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