Louis Vuitton Pacific Series at Auckland, New Zealand Day 7
by Keith Taylor 6 Feb 2009 07:54 GMT
30 January - 14 February 2009
Rich get richer on the Waitemata
The rich got richer today on Auckland’s Waitemata Harbour as international teams match racing in the Louis Vuitton Pacific Series competed before crowds ashore and afloat. Bright sunshine, a brisk 16-knot north-easter and flat water provided ideal conditions for crews and the crowds on North Head and on a spectator fleet that started at 60 boats and grew during the day.
Host team Emirates Team New Zealand and the Swiss team Alinghi both won races while America’s BMW Oracle Racing showed winning form and finished its race first, only to be docked a point for a pre-start collision
To celebrate New Zealand's Waitangi day, Emirates Team New Zealand skipper Dean Barker experienced that winning feeling again with a conservative but comfortable victory over the Italian Luna Rossa team helmed by Peter Holmberg
The hapless Greek Challenge, with Gavin Brady steering, copped two penalties well before the start gun in their showdown with China Team and Ian Williams. The double hit effectively shattered the Greeks’ hopes of advancing any further. They will race once more tomorrow and again next week against South Africa’s Team Shosholoza in the contest for 9th and 10th places.
Russell Coutts for BMW Oracle Racing was relentless in the pre-start in his attacks on TEAMORIGIN’S Ben Ainslie With the seconds counting down after a long dialup, Ainslie made his bid to break clear. There was hard contact as the boats split away and the umpires docked Oracle one point and TEAMORIGIN half a point. Adding insult to injury, the British boat suffered headfoil damage that prevented the crew raising their jib and was forced to retire. Coutts won the race but the victory point was cancelled by the penalty point. The Britons protested but the jury upheld the umpires’ decisions against both boats.
The first race of the day saw a penalty when Italian helmsman Francesco Bruni, who was leading on the first weather leg, attempted protect his lead and trap Alinghi’s Ed Baird in a dial-down. The umpires red-flagged the Italian boat and Alinghi sailed on to win. In other racing, Sebastien Col, driving Pataugas K-Challenge for France, defeated Paolo Cian at the wheel of Team Shosholoza and eliminated the South Africans from this round.
Day 7 Results:
Alinghi beat Damiani Italia, 43sec
Pataugas K-Challenge beat Shosholoza, 12sec
BMW Oracle Racing beat Team Origin, (DNF)
China Team beat Greek Challenge, 2min 58sec
Emirates Team New Zealand beat Luna Ross, 26sec
Gold Fleet scores:
Alinghi, 2 pts
BMW Oracle Racing, 1 pt
Damiani Italia Challenge, 0 pts
Luna Rossa, 0; TEAMORIGIN, -.5 pts
(Emirates Team New Zealand is not awarded points in this round)
Silver Fleet:
Pataugas K-Challenge, 2 pts
China Team, 2 pts
Team Shosholoza, 0 pts
Greek Challenge, 0 pts
Saturday’s Draw: (in starting order)
Damiani Italia Challenge v BMW Oracle Racing
Greek Challenge v Team Shosholoza
Luna Rossa v Team Origin
China Team v Pataugas K-Challenge
Emirates Team New Zealand v Alinghi
The event web site www.louisvuitton-pacificseries.com has content in English French and Italian. Race reports, press reports, features and photographs are being updated daily. The site includes a link to live streaming radio commentary about the racing originating from Auckland’s radio BSport Sailing 103FM.
The Louis Vuitton Pacific Series is being organised in association with the New Zealand Government, Emirates Team New Zealand, the Royal New Zealand Yacht Squadron, Auckland City and SKYCITY Entertainment Group.
Drama on the water (from Warren Douglas, Emirates Team New Zealand)
There was drama aplenty on the second day of round robin 2 of the Louis Vuitton Pacific Series.
BMW Oracle Racing was penalised one point for colliding with Team Origin in the pre-start of their match. Origin was penalised ½ point for contributing to the collision. They were sailing Emirates Team New Zealand yachts; damage was minor.
Origin led from the start and with Oracle closing on the first run could not raise a headsail as they approached the leeward gate and retired from the race. The problem was a break in the head foil – a carbon fibre fitting that runs the length of the forestay into which the headsail is slotted. The yacht returned to base for a replacement foil to be fitted.
Both teams have filed protests and the jury will meet after racing is completed.
With NZL 92 out of action the race committee decided the Emirates Team New Zealand match against Luna Rossa would be sailed in the BMW Oracle boats.
That presented another small problem for officials: teams draw for the boat they will sail and in this case the draw was for NZL 92 and NZL 84.
Teams agreed to toss a coin. The team transfer boats came together for the toss – probably another first in top-level match racing for the LVPS.
China Team beat Greek Challenge by 2min 58 sec. The Greeks had trouble raising their headsail and went into the start box without one. They were penalised for failing to enter the start box within two minutes of the five-minute gun and then got another one for a port-starboard incident.
With two penalty turns required, Greek Challenge had little chance of winning. China Team sailed away from the start extending all the way.
The Emirates Team New Zealand-Luna Rossa match was the last of the day. Dean Barker and his afterguard won the start handily, hitting the start line at full speed, with Luna Rossa down-speed three boat lengths astern.
A last minute change of boat posed no problem to the crew of ETNZ. “We have to be adaptable in this type of event,” Barker said.
“We have very little time to prepare between each race, the conditions are forever changing and there is a lot happening out there. The guys slotted in straight away and in a way it was easier for us as we sailed the Oracle boats throughout round robin one.”
ETNZ controlled the first beat, maintaining a cover on Luna Rossa and extending the lead to four boat lengths, translating to 22 sec, at the top mark.
With the breeze a fairly steady 14 knots from the east, ETNZ sailed conservatively, staying in touch with Luna Rossa, always comfortably in control and extending.
The margin for ETNZ at the first leeward gate was 19 sec, at the second top mark 32 and at the finish 26 secs.
Tomorrow Emirates Team New Zealand is matched against Alinghi. “That will be a tough race – a good re-match,” Barker said. “It won’t be easy, that’s for sure.”
Pataugas by K-Challenge gets its ticket for the Challenger Sail Off (from Stephanie Nadin, K-Challenge)
The French team just won its second consecutive point in the silver fleet for Round Robin 2 against South-African Team Shosholoza. This day had a taste of revenge from the Louis Vuitton Cup 2007 between these two teams in Auckland, but the French won the point this time.
“Pataugas by K-Challenge” is now sure to go in the Challenger Sail Off of the Louis Vuitton Pacific Series, even if the team has one more match to race tomorrow against China Team to complete the Round Robin 2 in the silver fleet. As a reminder, Pataugas by K-Challenge defeated China Team in its first match of Round Robin 1.
Philippe Mourniac, Navigator: «this match was really interesting as we were very close from the harbor, with lots of “no go” zones, and short courses (1.5 miles). Sebastien really did a great job on the start: we were on Shosholoza's back, Sebastien put a lot of pressure on Paolo Cian during five minutes, he never let him alone, and then we started in front. So really a tremendous job from Sebastien on the start. Then it was also a great job from the rest of the team that made it possible to keep Shosholoza behind us all the time.
We are part of the teams who need to sail, so the more we can sail, the more races we do, the more we will improve. We really feel that the confidence in each one of us, in the group, is different every day.
The two firsts of this silver fleet will meet the two lasts of the gold fleet in the Challenger Sail Off, so we will find ourselves in a configuration where the two leaders of the silver fleet will start the battles with two or three wins behind them, which is going be the contrary for the ones from the gold fleet. So psychologically speaking, it is always better to be in a winning atmosphere. But we don't lie to ourselves, if the gold fleet teams are where they are, it is because they have a real potential. So this will be balanced.”
Rod Dawson, Tactician: “It was a really tough race today, Sebastien got a fantastic start, and basically we had Shosholoza locked out about the committee boat, so we were in control at the start, and we were able to choose the side of the race course that we wanted on the right. From there we just wanted to control them till the finish, and our goal was not to extend our lead, so we didn't take too many risks.”
Pataugas by K-Challenge will race against China Team tomorrow to complete the Round Robin 2 races in the silver fleet, and before starting the Challenger Sail Off leading to the quarter finals.
Greek Challenge sadly thwarted by gear failure (from Pierre Orphanidis)
A gear failure beyond the control of the Greek Challenge crew cost them the race against China Team and their chance to move on to the Louis Vuitton Pacific Series quarterfinals. In a day marked by breakages in almost all races, the first ever America’s Cup team from Greece suffered in the prestart when the crew was unable to hoist the jib due to gear failure.
Since the 10-minute prestart sequence had begun the Greeks were denied a postponement of the start and had to try to enter the start box with just their mainsail while at the same time trying to fix the problem. World match racing champion Ian Williams on China Team took advantage of the situation and pushed the Greek boat out of the start box. With 2 minutes to go Greek Challenge was given a penalty for failing to enter and 1 minute later another one. Unfortunately, the race was over before it even started for the Greeks as China Team sailed conservatively and crossed the finish line ahead.
In the day’s most thrilling match, Team Origin conceded defeat to BMW Oracle when a similar failure in their headfoil sent the British home halfway through the race.
In the other race of the Silver Fleet, Pataugas K-Challenge scored a convincing victory over South Africa’s Shosholoza. China Team and Pataugas K-Challenge will move to the quarterfinals, regardless of Saturday’s results while the Greeks and the South Africans will face each other for the final match of Round Robin 2 and in a second confrontation for 8th and 9th place overall, next week.
Quotes of the day
Gavin Brady (NZL), helmsman of Greek Challenge: “We had a gear failure on the boat. The jib wouldn’t go in the foil and as a result we had to pull our jib down for the start. We were then unable to pull the jib back up and tried to enter without a jib, something very hard. When we found out what the problem was we were not close to the start line and had to go to the start line with just the mainsail up.
The race committee wouldn’t postpone the start and we didn’t enter the start box because we were on port entry. If we were on starboard entry it would have been much easier. We would have just gone with the main and deal with the problem”.
The frustrated kiwi helmsman added that “there was nothing we could do; we couldn’t start the race properly. We got the jib up with two minutes to go and they gave us a penalty and then another one. With two penalties, one of which had to be done right away, there was nothing we could do.
We can’t protest because the umpires decision is final, which is good, because otherwise we would have endless protests and hearings and nobody wants that. That’s the way it is and we will have to accept it.”
Sotiris Buseas (GRE), aft grinder and Greek Challenge CEO: “You know, Greeks never give up and never abandon a race, regardless of the circumstances. Due to this gear failure, beyond our control, we were unable to race. Our helmsman asked me to abandon the race but that was not an option. I asked the crew to go ahead and sail until we crossed the finish line.
We came to the Louis Vuitton Pacific Series to sail with our heart and that’s what we have done. We will win with our mind in future races.”