Louis Vuitton Cup - Semi Finals Day 5
by 32nd America’s Cup media 19 May 2007 19:04 BST
BMW ORACLE Racing and Desafío Español 2007 down to final chance
BMW ORACLE Racing and Desafío Español must win their next four races if they hope to advance to the Final of the Louis Vuitton Cup. That's the grim reality facing both teams after they lost their matches on Saturday on the waters off Valencia, in front of an enormous weekend spectator fleet.
The Italian Luna Rossa Challenge came into today's match having led BMW ORACLE Racing at every turning mark in their four contests to day. Under pressure to strike early, the skipper of the American team, Chris Dickson, found himself in trouble during the pre-start, eventually taking two penalties. With such a big disadvantage coming off the starting line, the American team could never get back into the race and Luna Rossa streaked to the win and a 4-1 series lead.
In the other match, Emirates Team New Zealand came off the starting line later and slower than Desafío Español. But a small right hand shift allowed the Kiwis to get their nose in front and they extended from there. The Emirates team leads the series 4-1.
The first team to win five races in each series will advance to the Final. Racing continues on Sunday.
Match 1 - Luna Rossa Challenge beat BMW ORACLE Racing - DELTA 1:57
Luna Rossa Challenge's James Spithill was powerful during the pre-start, throwing two penalties onto BMW ORACLE Racing and skipper Chris Dickson. The American team had been in danger of being shut out on the left side of the starting line, and Dickson, on the 'give-way' port tack, attempted to cross ahead of the starboard tack Luna Rossa Challenge. The Umpires judged Spithill had to take evasive action and issued the first penalty.
Then, with both boats side by side on port tack, the stern of USA 98 swung into the side of ITA 94 when Dickson tried to bear off to build up speed. That resulted in a second penalty, and from then onwards, the match was Spithill's to lose.
Luna Rossa played a good covering game from there, much tighter than in previous races, and Torben Grael kept the Italian boat in phase with the windshifts, extending the lead on every leg. By the finish, with BMW ORACLE taking the second penalty on the finishing line, the finish delta was 1 minute 57 seconds.
Match 2 - Emirates Team New Zealand beat Desafío Español 2007 - DELTA 1:49
In the pre-start, Dean Barker tried to get the hook on Desafío Español but didn't quite manage it. With the green boat to leeward, Karol Jablonski gently luffed Barker up towards the line, forcing the Kiwi boat closer to the start line than Barker would have liked. The Kiwis were forced to tack off towards the Race Committee boat and, by the time they tacked again to cross the line, the Spanish had moved to two boatlengths ahead.
The boats sailed on a long starboard parallel course, but gradually the Kiwis chomped back the lead. When the Spanish fell out of the line of breeze, the Kiwis sailed into the lead and took control of the race from that point. The Spanish tried to keep the game tight but New Zealand extended around the track to win by 1 minute 15 seconds.
Louis Vuitton Cup - Saturday's Semi Final matches:
(the first team to win five points in each pairing advances)
| Team | 1 | 2 | 3 | 4 | 5 | 6 | 7 | 8 | 9 | Total |
|---|
| Emirates Team New Zealand | 1 | 1 | 0 | 1 | 1 | | | | | 4 |
| Desafío Español 2007 | 0 | 0 | 1 | 0 | 0 | | | | | 1 |
| Team | 1 | 2 | 3 | 4 | 5 | 6 | 7 | 8 | 9 | Total |
|---|
| BMW ORACLE Racing | 0 | 1 | 0 | 0 | 0 | | | | | 1 |
| Luna Rossa Challenge | 1 | 0 | 1 | 1 | 1 | | | | | 4 |
Update from Emirates Team New Zealand:
Another good day as NZL 92 goes 4-1 up
Emirates Team New Zealand today went 4-1 up in its semi-final against Spain.
With a 1min 49sec win against ESP 97, NZL 92 needs to win one more race to win the semi-final and go to the final.
But as team boss Grant Dalton says: “No one around here is thinking that far ahead.
We are very happy being 4-1 today, but we are still taking this regatta one race at a time.”
All eyes today were on the other semi-final match - Luna Rossa against BMW Oracle where ITA 94 was 3 – 1 up against USA 97
With the chance at the end of the day BMW Oracle might be only one race away from an early exit from the Louis Vuitton Cup, media interest was high in the match.
They were not disappointed. USA 97 incurred two penalties in the pre-start and ITA 94 went on to sail a flawless race. There was little USA 98 could do about it and lost by 1min 57sec.
NZL 92 established control of its race against ESP 97 early on the first beat and extended all the way top the mark.
Taking the right of the course at the start, Dean Barker and crew took an iron grip and nothing Spain did could shake it.
Grant Dalton said: “We followed the plan right from the five-minute gun… take the right, take the lead if possible, extend when we could, keep the match tight and stay in phase with the Spanish.”
“In a soft breeze like today, there’s no point trying to get too far ahead with a very real possibility of missing a wind shift or an area of increased pressure. A win is still a win whether its by 10m or 100m.”
As the wind softened towards the end of the first run and fell away to 8 knots on the second beat, NZL 92 profited, extending the advantage.
“The breeze got really soft on the last run and the final delta was a little flattering to us. It was a classic case of the boat in front benefiting. We kept ourselves between ESP 97 and the finish and the result was never in doubt.
“Tomorrow is another day.”
Tomorrow’s weather: north-east 8-12 knots, temperature 18-27 degrees, 55% humidity, sun with some cloud.
Update from Desafío Español 2007:
Desafío Español 2007 were not able to defeat the powerful Emirates Team New Zealand today. Despite the Spaniards having left in front of the New Zealanders and having lead by more than a length in the first part of the upwind leg, the experience of the winners of two America's Cups was too much for ESP-97.
Desafio Español 2007 had a hard fight in the pre-start against the Emirates Team New Zealand in which both marked closely and in which, twenty seconds before the start, the Spanish boat finally moved towards the left much faster than their opponent who moved towards the committee side.
In the first moves of the leg, the Spanish team took a slight advantage which increased to a length. But in the first third of the beat, an increase in the wind pressure on the right side of the course allowed the New Zealand team to recover ground and half way down the leg they took the lead. Desafío Español 2007 turned to the right and in the first crossing the New Zealanders were ahead by a length. There then began a tacking duel which went in favour of the Kiwis who continued to increase their lead to three lengths in the last part of the beat.
Despite the efforts of the Spanish boat, the New Zealanders were leading by 35 seconds as they turned at the top marker. On the downwind leg, Desafio Español 2007 tried to recover ground by marking their rival along the right but the New Zealand boat gave no option to the Spanish team and stretched their lead to 55 seconds by the leeward gate.
On the second upwind leg, Desafio Español 2007 moved towards the left side, a manoeuvre which was responded to by the New Zealanders who, despite their good advantage, did not stop marking their rival, who in turn did not cease in their attempt to shorten the distance between them. But Desafio Español 2007 saw themselves overcome by the implacable New Zealand boat which, still marking closely, continued to stretch their lead and arrived at the top marker with a lead of 1:15 over the Spaniards. On the last beat, the efforts of the Spanish team to pursue their opponent resulted insufficient and finally the New Zealand team crossed the finishing line with an advantage of 1:49 over the Spanish team.
With this new victory the Emirates Team New Zealand are positioned at 4-1 on the results table. Tomorrow will be a decisive day for Desafio Español 2007. If the Spanish team should win the regatta tomorrow, they would gain another point and would have another regatta on Tuesday 22 May, as Monday is scheduled as a reserve day in the official calendar of the competition.
Comments:
John Culter, technical director and tactician: "We are very pleased with today's start on the left side which was the side we wanted and we managed an advantage, but after five minutes the Emirates Team New Zealand began to shorten our lead rapidly as the wind had moved to the right. They sailed very well and very rapidly.
Tomorrow we will have the same level of motivation as today. We try to do the best we can and we go out to win."
Santiago López Vázquez, strategist: "the key to the regatta is that the right side of the course was finally the favoured one, although it was not initially so. The New Zealanders gradually drew away from us further and further.
The Emirates Team New Zealand is a very difficult team to pass because throughout the regatta they protect themselves and increase their lead.
We had a good start along the side we preferred, but it turned out not to be the better side."
Regarding the team's spirits, López Vazquez said that "we are pleased because we have qualified for the semifinals, but also a little bit sad because we will have to face up to defeat".
The strategist also wanted to thank people for all the support "we are receiving from everybody, the port is full of people giving us morale both when going out to sea and when we come back having been defeated.
Tomorrow we will have the opportunity of another victory, we have to think positively and if we win tomorrow we can compete again on Tuesday".
This morning, HRH Princess Elena visited the installations of the Spanish syndicate and watched the crew leaving for the regatta course. This is the first time that the Princess has visited Agustín Zulueta's team. It is well known that the Royal family is very interested in the sport of sailing, and at the beginning of the week both HRM the King Juan Carlos and HRH Prince Felipe wanted to show their support for the Spanish team and sailed on board ESP-97 as the eighteenth crew member.
Update from Luna Rossa:
Luna Rossa leads 4 - 1
The fifth race of the Semifinals kicks off with Luna Rossa leading the scoreboard 3-1. On the northern course 10 knots of breeze from the east north east dying out in the course of the race, sunny skies and calm seas. Aussie James Spithill pushes Kiwi Chris Dickson into a dial-up. Slowly drifting towards the right Luna Rossa manages to start squeezing BMW Oracle beyond the line. Dickson gets two penalties in the process, one of which needs to be offloaded immediately. Luna Rossa stretches out from the get go and has a lead of about 100 meters up the first beat.
Francesco de Angelis and the afterguard keep their opponent in check the whole time, rounding the first buoy with a 25 second margin that increases to 48 at the leeward gate. Spithill goes for the starboard mark and Dickson heads left, but ITA 94 continues to keep a very tight cover closing any passing lane. At mark 3 the delta is 54 seconds and Luna Rossa sails down the final run keeping herself between the finishing line and BMW Oracle. Luna Rossa wins the fifth race with a 1 minute and 57 second final delta, leading the series 4-1. The sixth race will take place tomorrow.
This morning Ferrari’s CEO Jean Todt and driver Felipe Massa visited the Team Luna Rossa base in Valencia where they met the Head of the Syndicate Patrizio Bertelli and the Italian press. Massa, Torben Grael’s fellow countryman and fan, said he wants to take his cue from James Spithill’s starts.
Jean Todt and Felipe Massa were Telecom Italia’s guests, official sponsors of the Ferrari racing team with the Alice brand.
Update from BMW Oracle Racing:
BMW ORACLE Racing says don’t count us out yet
Scoreboard goes to 4-1 in favour of Italian team
A double penalty in the pre-start cost BMW ORACLE Racing dearly in the fifth match of the Louis Vuitton Cup final and allowed Luna Rossa Challenge to extend their lead to 4-1 in the best-of-nine series.
The pre-start incidents meant the race was won and lost at the start and the Italians protected their lead all the way round the track. This sets up a crucial must-win situation for BMW ORACLE Racing, needing a run of four victories in succession to overtake the Italian team and advance to the challenger final.
“It was a disappointing pre-start for us“ said BMW ORACLE Racing navigator, Peter Isler. “We must now win every race. We will see what we can throw at Luna Rossa. Don’t count us out yet.“
Race summary: After an extended dial-up, the two yachts were head to wind close to the line with Luna Rossa Challenge on the right and USA 98 on the left. With 40 seconds to the gun, there was nowhere to go and USA 98 was forced to sail out beyond the pin end and gybe back onto port to try to make a run for the line. Luna Rossa Challenge managed to turn tight inside USA 98 and remained on starboard, forcing the first penalty as USA 98 tried to cross ahead on port. The second penalty came immediately afterwards, as Luna Rossa gybed inside USA 98. With both yachts on port tack and Luna Rossa to windward, USA 98 luffed hard and then bore away. As the BMW ORACLE Racing transom swung wide, it made contact with Luna Rossa Challenge and the umpires imposed a second penalty – accompanied by a red flag to indicate that at least one of the two penalty turns must be made immediately. The Italian team moved into an immediate four-boatlength lead and then defended their lead around the track to take their score to 4-1 in the best-of-nine series.
Quotes from BMW ORACLE Racing navigator, Peter Isler: “The first penalty was a port-starboard incident as we tried to wriggle off the hook. It was a calculated risk. We thought we could get across in front of them, but we couldn’t quite get there.
“You never like to put yourself in the hands of the umpires, but we figured if we could have got across, we would have neutralised the situation we were in, but it didn’t pay off for us.
“Luna Rossa has sailed well and had some breaks. They have earned their victories, but we have seen big turn-arounds in regattas before. Don’t count us out yet.“