Louis Vuitton Trophy Nice Côte d’Azur - Day 12

7-22 November 2009
By Louis Vuitton Trophy media 19 Nov 2009 16:03

Read article

Photo gallery

Discuss

Email to a friend

Printer friendly

Send us an event report

Photo © Christophe Favreau / www.christophefavreau.book.fr

Semi final action (Azzura vs. TEAMORIGIN) in the Louis Vuitton Trophy Nice
Photo © Christophe Favreau / www.christophefavreau.book.fr

Semi final action (Azzura vs. TEAMORIGIN) in the Louis Vuitton Trophy Nice
Photo © Christophe Favreau / www.christophefavreau.book.fr

Semi final action (Azzura vs. TEAMORIGIN) in the Louis Vuitton Trophy Nice

Azzurra opens semis with win

Light winds frustrate competitors, organisers and postpone schedule

Italy’s Azzurra opened the Semi Final Round of the Louis Vuitton Trophy Nice Côte d’Azur with a solid win, but the second Semi Final match between Emirates Team New Zealand and Synergy Russia Sailing team was postponed until tomorrow due to light winds.

Today’s lone match began in winds between 8 and 10 knots from the north, but the velocity dropped to between 4 and 5 knots at the finish of the short, 5.2-nautical-mile race.

“We were hoping to get more racing completed but there just wasn’t enough velocity,” said Principal Race Officer Peter Reggio. “The direction was consistent enough from the east, but the strength was between 3 and 5 knots. The boats might’ve been able to sail upwind in that, but they’d never make it downwind in the sloppy seaway.”

Reggio stressed the importance of having steady conditions because of the nature of the semi finals. The first crew to score 2 points wins each series.

“We don’t want these series becoming sudden death,” Reggio said.

The postponement also affected the Knockout Round matches for 5th through 8th places. The pairings – BMW Oracle Racing versus TFS – PagesJaunes and Artemis against All4One – are setback a day.

In the Azzura-TeamOrigin race skipper Francesco Bruni led his crew to a decisive victory of 1 minute, 34 seconds. The Italians played the right side of the racecourse and snuck inside the British crew at the windward mark to gain the advantage.

Azzurra held the early lead on the first leg when it tacked to starboard well above the layline to the windward mark. The British tacked to leeward and outside the Italians and made gains in a right-hand shift.

TeamOrigin skipper Ben Ainslie tried to shoot the windward mark, luffing directly into the wind, but Bruni got a late overlap and the British had to bear away and let the Italians round the mark first. The British thought they’d closed the door on the Italians.

“We felt we were safely clear ahead when we entered the circle but that was not to be their (the umpires’) decision and so we trailed into the first mark,” said TeamOrigin General Manager Mike Sanderson. “Azzurra did a lovely job thereafter of protecting their lead to take the win. At the end of the day, to win the semis, one team still has to win two races we just used our ‘get out of jail free card’ a bit earlier than we had hoped.”

The Azzurra crew led by 9 seconds at the first mark and 27 seconds at the leeward gate. The Italians protected the right side on the next upwind leg and increased their margin to 1:16 as the wind started to fade.

“It was a very important race for us and now I’m more confident on the starting line,” said Bruni, the skipper from Sicily. “During the pre-start we fought for the right and won it. We made a mistake on the first layline (by overstanding), but (tactician) Tommaso Chieffi did a good job calling the wind shifts and we regained our lead.”

Tomorrow the first warning signal has been moved up a half hour to 0830 CET. The race committee plans to start the BMW Oracle-TFS – PagesJaunes match first, followed by Emirates Team New Zealand-Synergy Russia Sailing Team and then Artemis-All4One. Additional racing is planned but will be dependent on the weather.

For detailed information about today’s matches please visit the official event Web site, www.LouisVuittonTrophy.com

Semi Final standings:

M1: Azzurra 1, TeamOrigin 0
M2: Emirates Team New Zealand 0, Synergy Russia Sailing Team 0

Knockout Round standings:

M1: BMW Oracle Racing 0, TFS – PagesJaunes 0
M2: Artemis 0, All4One 0

TEAMORIGIN falls to Azzurra in first meeting of semi finals

TEAMORIGIN fell to its opponent the Italian Azzurra team in the first match of the best of three semi finals of the Louis Vuitton Trophy in Nice today.

Skipper Ben Ainslie took TEAMORIGIN in from the left hand end of the start line and engaged with the Italian team straight away in a dial-up that took the pair over the line for the next couple of minutes. The low wind speeds meant that the ability to get into a controlling position from the initial left hand entry was tricky and in the final approach to the start line the TEAMORIGIN afterguard opted for a position close to leeward of the Italian team with maximum speed expecting to be in a position to be able to attack further up the course. But approaching the line the pair, both a bit late, split with the Italians on the right.

The first beat saw TEAMORIGIN chase the Italians to the starboard tack layline which TEAMORIGIN’s navigator Ian Moore found more accurately than the Italians, who overstood by a couple of lengths.

Without having crossed, the pair sailed all the way to the top of the course, TEAMORIGIN to leeward moving forwards and eventually being in a position to attack. The Italian team had overstood the weather mark allowing the pair’s tracks to converge as they approached the two boatlength circle around the first mark. The rules say that if the outside boat crosses the imaginary two-boatlength circle clear ahead of the inside boat then they are not obliged to give them space to round inside. TEAMORIGIN crossed the two boatlength circle and luffed to close the door but had not broken the overlap in the eyes of the on-the-water umpires and the Italians were therefore permitted to sneak through the gap between TEAMORIGIN and the buoy to round the first mark with an advantage of just eight seconds.

That advantage grew at every mark turn in spite of the British team’s every effort. The failing winds made it more and more of a one-sided course and increasingly difficult to stay close to the leader and get into a position to attack for the lead.

Team Director and runner-man on board Mike Sanderson summarised the day’s racing thus: “That was a disappointing way to start the semi finals for sure. We had a bit of miscommunication on board before the start which meant that we ended up late to the line. But the boys did a great job to get back into it by the top mark and at that point we unfortunately had a difference of opinion to the umpires as to when we entered the two boatlength circle. We felt we were safely clear ahead when we entered the circle but that was not to be their decision and so we trailed into the first mark. Azzurra did a lovely job thereafter of protecting their lead to take the win. At the end of the day, to win the semis, one team still has to win two races - we just used our ‘get out of jail free card’ a bit earlier than we had hoped".

The wind conditions in Nice on Thursday were not suitable for further racing and the TEAMORIGIN/Azzurra match was the only one of five scheduled matches today to be sailed. The racing schedule for Friday has not yet been published but should feature at least one race for TEAMORIGIN. Check the website teamorigin.com for details of tomorrow’s racing.

Notes on Louis Vuitton Regatta Format

The Louis Vuitton Trophy regatta format keeps all eight teams racing right up to the end of the event next weekend. The top four teams advance to a conventional Semi Final series where the top ranked boat, Emirates Team New Zealand, will chose its opponent, at the conclusion of racing on Tuesday, from amongst the teams ranked two to four for a best of three series, the remaining pair doing the same. The winner of these two matches then go to the Grand Final where they will again race a best of three series to determine the winner of the Louis Vuitton Trophy. The two defeated teams will sail each other in one match for third and fourth position.

The teams ranked five to eight will also race in a semi final series, again the top ranked team in the group, which is Artemis, will chose its opponent from the other three. In this semi final each pair will have a winner declared after just one match and these winners then go on to race for fifth and sixth place overall, the two defeated teams will race for seventh and eighth, these matches will be decided after just one race.

Related Articles:

 Dubai to host Middle East venue of Louis Vuitton Trophy - 17 Jan 2010
Dubai was today unveiled as the Middle East venue selected to host the Louis Vuitton Trophy, a two-week carnival of elite sailing which will put the global spotlight on the UAE.

 Louis Vuitton Trophy Nice Côte d’Azur - Overall - 22 Nov 2009
Even before the Louis Vuitton Trophy Nice Côte d’Azur began, Azzurra skipper Francesco Bruni spoke of his passion and honour to be leading an iconic sailing brand back into the fray after a long absence. This afternoon he could barely describe his joy.