Louis Vuitton Cup - Day 15

Desafío Español 2007 beats +39 Challenge by just one second on day 15 of the Louis Vuitton Cup © Fabio Taccola

Two victories for AREVA Challenge on day 15 of the Louis Vuitton Cup © Franck Socha / AREVA Challenge

China Team takes down the leader

It was a day of close racing and surprise finishes at the Louis Vuitton Cup where the bottom ranked China Team earned its first win of the competition over the leader, BMW ORACLE Racing, when the American team lost its headsail on the first upwind leg.

That wasn't the only upset of the form guide however. The French Areva Challenge, disappointed with its Round Robin One performance, went out and won its first two matches of Round Robin Two, while +39 Challenge suffered two devastating losses in matches that were desperately close right up until the finishing line.

Conditions on Monday were excellent for racing, with sea breezes of up to 15 knots on both race courses. The wind eased later in the day, but never dropped below 9 knots.

Flight 2:

Few would have expected BMW ORACLE Racing, leader after Round Robin One, to fall to the bottom ranked boat, China Team. But after showing better speed in the pre-start and early up the first beat, the headsail pulled out of the headfoil on the American boat. The BMW ORACLE Racing team eventually solved the problem and raised a genoa for the second upwind leg, but by then the deficit was too great, and China Team picked up an unexpected two points.

The French Areva Challenge led Mascalzone Latino-Capitalia Team for the entire first beat rounding just 8 seconds ahead at the top mark. Just short of the leeward gate, Areva helmsman Sebastian Col luffed Mascalzone hard and in the process managed to put a penalty on the Italians for failing to keep clear. The Italians slipped around in the process, but were down a penalty. Areva had just pulled ahead by the weather mark where the Italians attempted to get rid of their penalty by luffing the French but the Umpires judged both boats clean. On the final run Mascalzone pulled ahead but not far enough to carry out their penalty turn in time, Areva earning a welcome win.

At the helm of +39 Challenge, Iain Percy did a great job locking Desafío Español 2007 out at the committee boat in their pre-start. The Italian team started ahead and after a prolonged tacking duel up the first beat, +39 sailed the Spanish off to the right side of the course rounding the weather mark 23 seconds ahead. +39 were looking comfortable with a 29 second advantage at the leeward gate until they broke their headsail sheet early on the next beat allowing the Spanish to regain ground. The Italians remained ahead but rounded the top mark for a second time with a precarious 9 second advantage. On the run, the Spanish were able to roll past +39 Challenge within sight of the finishing line to take the win by just one second.

Team Shosholoza got ahead of United Internet Team Germany on the first beat and extended around the course to finish 1:23 ahead. Similarly after edging ahead of Victory Challenge on the first beat Luna Rossa managed a comfortable win, ahead by 27 seconds when they crossed the finishing line.

Flight 1 - Matches 4 and 5:

The final matches from Flight 1 were held following Flight 2 on the south race course. In the race between Emirates Team New Zealand and Mascalzone Latino - Capitalia Team there was a massive tacking battle up the beat, the two boats evenly matched, until the New Zealanders benefited from a shift to help them around the weather mark. Emirates Team New Zealand extended down the run but almost lost their advantage on the second beat when a shift caused the Italian team to draw level. The New Zealanders rounded the top mark 33 seconds ahead and were safe for their victory when the spinnaker pole broke on the Italian boat, knocking a crew member overboard. He was grabbed and hauled back on board and the team proceeded to follow the Kiwis across the finishing line.

+39 Challenge had its second close race of the day, this time against the French Areva Challenge. The two boats were neck and neck up the first beat with +39 pulling ahead to round 17 seconds ahead at the weather mark, a lead they maintained at the leeward gate. But following a tacking duel on the second beat Areva pulled ahead to round the weather mark 7 seconds in advance. +39 kept it close on the run and in the latter stages managed to roll past to windward. After both boats put in a hasty final gybe for the line, the halyard came loose on +39's spinnaker causing it to bulge forward in front of the boat, dragging across the back of FRA 93, resulting in the Italian team picking up a penalty. But by this stag, close to the finishing line, the race already belonged to the French.

Louis Vuitton Cup - Monday's Races:

Flight 2:

Flight 1:

Louis Vuitton Cup - Round Robin Two - Provisional Leaderboard:

Update from Luna Rossa:

Luna Rossa beats the Swedes and is first on the leaderboard

A 14 knot breeze is blowing on the northern course at the start of the race between Luna Rossa and Victory Challenge. Spithill attempts to avoid the dial up but is not able to cross in front of Holmberg who pushes him up towards the starting line. Aggressive pre-start circling brings both boats to sail first in the spectator fleet and then on the right hand side of the box. Luna Rossa tries to shove the Swedes out to the right, but fails. ITA 94 crosses the line on starboard tack on the Committee end with a 3 second lead on Victory Challenge. SWE 96 immediately sails towards the right and pulls ahead. A drag race between the two up the first beat begins and the boats sail less than two boat lengths apart. James Spithill from leeward edges in without loosing speed and manages to push Luna Rossa’s dirty air on Victory’s sails. ITA 94 passes in the lead and from then on is in control of the race. The deltas: 12 seconds at the top mark, 26 at the leeward gate, 45 at the end of the second beat and 27 seconds at the finishing line. Luna Rossa wins her second race of Round Robin 2 and is first on the leaderboard following BMW Oracle’s loss to the Chines.

Back on land Luna Rossa’s tactician Torben Grael talked about today’s race: “This was not an easy opponent. The start was important and James did an excellent job which then allowed us to be in a strong position at our first cross and to defend our lead. We maneuvered well, the boat proved to be fast and we were able to control the match.”

Christian Kamp (Denmark), trimmer on Luna Rossa, said: "Finally a race in optimal conditions with almost 16 knots of wind blowing even on the whole course. We have been waiting for a day like today for a couple of months. The start was good, then we managed to squeeze them towards the end of the first beat and were able to take control. We mustn't allow our concentration to falter; all you need to do is look at what happened to the Americans today. 100% concentration against all the teams, starting from tomorrow with Team Germany."

Update from BMW Oracle Racing:

BMW ORACLE Racing posts a loss

Gear problem on USA 98 hands win to China Team

A gear problem on USA 98 saw the team record its first loss of Louis Vuitton Cup Round Robin Two in Valencia today and saw China Team record its first win of the series so far.

The problem came early in the first windward leg when the genoa sail pulled out of the headstay foil. Efforts by the crew to rehoist the sail proved fruitless when it tore out a second time and USA 98 was left sailing the first windward leg under mainsail only. China Team overtook and then extended to a lead which proved insurmountable in the end, despite significant gains by BMW ORACLE Racing on the remaining three legs.

Race summary: USA 98 dominated the start, luffing up sharply just before the gun to force China Team almost head to wind. At the gun, USA 98 leaped away into an early lead and was extending up the windward leg in a fresh 12-15 knot breeze when misfortune struck the BMW ORACLE Racing boat. China Team led by 5 minute 15 seconds at the first mark rounding. USA 98 reduced that by more than 1 minute downwind and the crew managed to hoist and secure a headsail for the second beat. At the finish, China Team led by 3 minutes 15 seconds.

Ian Burns, BMW ORACLE Racing design coordinator: “We will remove the rig and do a thorough inspection overnight. Obviously, we will take remedial action to ensure this does not happen again. We had a similar problem in Act 13, but the two incidents happened in completely different circumstances. We will be ready to race tomorrow.“

Sten Mohr, BMW ORACLE Racing helmsman: “Obviously, we are very disappointed at what happened today. We were looking forward to our race against China Team and were optimistic for a different outcome.“

Update from Emirates Team New Zealand:

NZL 92 starts regatta with a win

Emirates Team New Zealand got its first race of round robin 2 today, beating Mascalzone Latino.

The race was postponed yesterday.

On the leaderboard, NZL 92 with 20 points is third in the Louis Vuitton Cup rankings behind Oracle and Luna Rossa, both on 23. Emirates Team New Zealand was the scheduled bye in Monday’s race programme and has one race in hand.

In other racing today, there were some close contests and a major upset.

Spain snatched a victory from +39 in the last seconds of their race to win by 1sec; BMW Oracle lost to lowest ranked China Team by 3min 15sec and Areva beat Mascalzone Latino after a fight right to the end.

USA 98 broke its headsail foil on the first beat which handed the win to CHN 95. ITA 99 and FRA 93 were seconds apart at the finish but the Italians had incurred a penalty which cost them the race.

The match against ITA 99 ran out in a softening breeze, with NZL 92 crossing the line 25 sec ahead.

“It was a tough race,” Grant Dalton said. “We went out to take control on the beat and then defend because all the indications were that the breeze might go soft and shift as the afternoon wore on.

NZL 92 rounded the first mark 24 sec ahead of ITA 99 and extended to 44 sec on the first run. “Then it was time to close up the game because we didn’t want to be on the wrong side of a shift or sail into a light patch. Mascalzone had a bad day today having lost twice but they are not a team to give any opportunity in this sort of breeze.”

At mark 3, NZL 92 was 33 sec ahead and kept the run tight to ensure the win.”

‘We sailed better today” Dalton said. “It was good to get the first race of round robin 2 away and to win it.”

Update from Team Shosholoza:

Team Shosholoza back in the hunt

Team Shosholoza was back in the hunt again today for a place in the Louis Vuitton Cup semi-finals after a clean, no mistake start-to-finish victory over United Internet Team Germany in rising 12 to 15 knot breezes that saw plenty of action and drama among the other boats on the race course.

"What is significant is that our team has been first to the windward mark in nine out of the 12 races sailed so far. That is an incredible 75 percent record. But we have had some bad luck with tricky wind shifts, shredded spinnakers and a broken spinnaker pole. Without these misfortunes we would have been sitting comfortably in the top four on the same level as Spain and ahead of Mascalzone and the Sweden's Victory Challenge," said Captain Salvatore Sarno, founder and team managing director.

The win over Germany was a reassuring confidence booster for the South Africans after their bitter loss yesterday (Sunday) when a broken spinnaker pole lost them a crucial race to Victory Challenge despite building a solid lead which they had held for three of the four legs of the race. "It was a good day in that the boys made the German win look easy. We know it isn't, but they did and they were good at it", said sailing manager Paul Standbridge.

Once again it was a must-win-match for Team Shosholoza who was first to get away off the start line after a modest pre-start tussle which saw the two boats stall head to wind and then bear away into the classic circling position of the dial-up. The Germans attempted to push the South Africans up on the line but Shosholoza got away to the right to immediately pull out a boat length.

The German navigator was scanning RSA 83 with his special binoculars which contain a built in range finder while Shosholoza's Marc Lagesse had his laser gun out shooting for distance on the Germans as the South Africans continued to extend up the beat to swing around the first windward mark with a handsome 28 second lead.

Shosholoza quickly pulled out a 154 meter advantage on the downwind run, stretching it to 207 at times while flying an asymmetrical spinnaker. The South Africans shot through the leeward gate 33 seconds ahead of the Germans and streaked off up the beat to port. Once again they took advantage of stronger winds to the right to confidently pull out a lead of over 300 meters before triumphantly rounding the second windward mark 1.06 minutes ahead. The Germans were no obvious threat and Shosholoza RSA 83's spinnaker was hoisted in a flourish for the final run to the finish. Shosholoza crossed the finish line first with a delta of 1.23 minutes.

The jubilant South Africans could be seen using the team's huge 100 kg plus grinder Reinhardt Rauscher - albeit the youngest in the team at 21 years old - as a punch box as they crossed the line in high spirits.

Today's win was no less a victory for the Team Shosholoza boat builder team, who worked through the night to repair the carbon fibre spinnaker pole, broken in the Swedish match on Sunday. They presented it as good as new and ready for racing this morning.

Meanwhile there was plenty of dramatic action on the race course with tail-enders China Team pulling off the biggest upset of the Louis Vuitton Cup so far with a resounding win over America's BMW ORACLE who sailed the first leg without a headsail after repeated foil problems. Victory Challenge racing against Italy's Luna Rossa dumped a spinnaker in the sea - referred to as a chase boat spinnaker drop - as their support boat had to quickly pick it up. The Italian +39 Challenge blew their headsail in a race against the Spanish Desafío Español.

Update from AREVA Challenge:

Two victories - the French are vindicated

The French sailed two superb matches today. AREVA Challenge faced two of the Italian teams: Mascalzone Latino-Capitalia Team and +39 Challenge. The French were remarkable on all levels because they had to counter constant and aggressive attacks.

This double victory, despite constant pressure by the Italians, marks a turning point for AREVA Challenge. The goal to reach the Semi-Finals remains realistic when one analyzes the course of the French team and these two intense duels. The provisional classification of the Louis Vuitton Rankings is clearly modified after today’s results. Luna Rossa Challenge is tied with BMW Oracle Racing in first place. Desafío Español 2007 preserves fourth place, but only one point behind the Kiwis. And, AREVA Challenge lies just one point behind the South Africans and Mascalzone Latino-Capitalia Team!

During the first match against Mascalzone Latino, the pre-start was full of aggressiveness, but AREVA Challenge managed to preserve the Committee Boat end of the line and the right side of the course. The French afterguard had excellent tactics and slashed the initial lead of the Italians. At the first windward mark, there was only one boat-length between the two boats. On the run, the Italians tried to block the wind of the French and prevent them from gybing. The moment was tense as both teams jockeyed for position. Sébastien Col and his team luffed the Italians, who did not respond quickly enough and were forced to take a penalty. Additionally, FRA 93 once again protected the right side of the course and managed to widen the gap a little until the Italians were able to slip to the starboard side…

Just prior to the mark, the Italians came across on starboard (therefore having the right of way), preventing FRA 93 from tacking around to go downwind. Flavio Favini even tried to force a penalty onto the French, but the on-the-water jury refused: the Italians were too deliberate in their movements. The two boats finally rounded the mark one after another, with FRA 93 in the lead. They sailed the run within meters of each other. Just near the finish, the Italians tried one last time to destabilize the French, but it was not enough….AREVA Challenge won this very intense duel!

And for the second match… perpetual lead changes

To follow, the French caught up with the schedule, sailing Sunday’s postponed match against +39 Challenge. This time, the Southeasterly sea breeze was in good form, blowing between twelve and fifteen knots. Although the strength was solid, the direction oscillated, forcing the afterguards to make decisions about which side of the course would be favored. Sébastien Col was once again the author of a good start and preserved the favored side of the course. But, +39 Challenge proved to be rather quick in the conditions and managed to benefit from a small wind shift to cross in front of FRA 93. The Italians rounded the first mark 17 seconds ahead. There weren’t any changes on the run, but both boats battled to take control. It was during the second beat that AREVA Challenge pushed hard, played the shifts perfectly, and took the lead. The variation was very small… just seven seconds.

Considering Ian Percy’s aggressiveness, one boat-length was not a comfortable lead for the French. At one point, Sébastien Col and his team luffed +39 Challenge who were trying to get around them. In the process, the Italian spinnaker touched the French boat and tore. The judges gave the Italians a penalty for the infringement. AREVA Challenge crossed the line as the winner for the second time of the day!

For the other matches of the day, the big surprise came from the American-Chinese match. The Americans had trouble with their headfoil early in the first beat, which resulted in them having to sail the rest of the leg without their genoa. The Chinese went on to defeat BMW Oracle Racing by over three minutes! The Spanish raced +39 Challenge and nearly lost, finishing only one second in front!

Update from +39 Challenge:

Close racing for +39

Only one second from Desafio Espanol in the first race, a gennaker problem in the second race against Areva

Just one second from the Spanish of Desafio, undoubtedly a disappointing result for the men onboard +39 who lead the race for most of the time, and a loss with the French of Areva, after another exciting match.

"The raced very well in both flights – said skipper Luca Devoti talking about the group of young sailors he created- Iain Percy and the afterguard were fantastic in the first start, beating Jablonski. I saw a really strong a motivated crew, which is improving every day, let’s hope to go on with it.”

“I’m sure we gave our supporters and the TV viewers some fun to see today - said helmsman Iain Percy. We could really match race, the wind conditions were right for us. But it was also very frustrating because the changes we made to ITA85 started to show, and with no breakages things surely would have been different. Time is what we need to become more and more competitive. Today the boat’s performances were better, both in fresh and light air. Preparation in every area is crucial, and we could not do that.

As for the second race I think that approaching the finish line we gybed too close and then we had a failure of the gennaker halyard. My crew still enjoys sailing together and getting better, I am proud of them. No doubt we are disappointed for not having scored any point today, but we don’t give up.” When asked about tomorrow’s match against Emirates Team New Zealand and his friend/competitor Ben Ainslie Percy answered: ”We have always been good against them, even with our old boat, I think this will put some pressure on them. In the end is up to them to lose…”

Italian traveller Gabriele Bruni commented, “We had two close races, good ones. When the genoa sheet broke, it was not simple bad luck, it was the wrong moment. It could have happened before the start… As for the second race, it was tough, the wind was shifting continuously and changing in intensity.”

Tomorrow +39 will face Emirates Team New Zealand, that the “international Olympic” crew already beaten in 2005 in Malmo during Act 6.