Louis Vuitton Pacific Series at Auckland, New Zealand Day 8
by Team media 7 Feb 2009 09:46 GMT
30 January - 14 February 2009
British nail convincing win against Italy
A taut and tense battle between Italy’s Luna Rossa and the newcomer British team TEAMORIGIN went to the wire in a fresh southerly breeze during racing on the Waitemata Harbour today in the Louis Vuitton Pacific Series. The British team won by four seconds, barely a boatlength.
A first attempt to race was abandoned in light air when the time limit ran out and the race committee moved to a new course as the southerly filled in. Spectators crowding North Head were treated to a battle royal as Cup veteran Peter Holmberg steering the Italian boat swapped tacks and gybes with three-time Olympic gold medallist Ben Ainslie.
After a pre-start that included a high-speed reach into the spectator fleet, the pair split at the gun with the Italians going right and the Britons going left. A big left shift under North Head put the Italians just ahead at the weather mark.
The boats tore down the run, side by side, but despite his efforts Ainslie’s team trailed by 16 seconds as they split at the leeward gate. Another challenging beat ended when Luna Rossa carried the British boat past the mark.
Both boats wheeled into crash gybe sets around the buoy with the Italians just in front. The Britons split away on the run and moved out to an 80 meter lead as they closed the finish line on opposite gybes. The gun sounded for TEAMORIGIN with the Italian boat only a boat length and four seconds astern.
In other racing today, Alinghi conceded a match to Emirates Team New Zealand by failing to start. In the other Gold Fleet race, BMW Oracle Racing beat Damiani Italia Challenge. In the Silver Fleet China Team finished the round unbeaten with a convincing win over Pataugas K Challenge, while the Greek Challenge gained some redemption with a victory over Team Shosholoza.
Gold Fleet scores:
Alinghi, 2pts
BMW Oracle Racing, 2pts
TEAMORIGIN, 0.5pts
Damiani Italia Challenge, 0pts
Luna Rossa, 0pts
(Emirates Team New Zealand is not awarded points in this round)
Silver Fleet:
China Team, 3pts
Pataugas K-Challenge, 2pts
Greek Challenge, 1pt
Team Shosholoza, 0pts
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.
Alinghi doesn’t show for race against New Zealand (from Warren Douglas, Emirates Team New Zealand)
Emirates Team New Zealand’s match against Alinghi did not go ahead today when Alinghi did not turn up for the start.
Dean Barker and his crew started the match by themselves and race management awarded the race to ETNZ when it was obvious Alinghi was not going to race.
Skipper Dean Barker said he was stunned by the no-show. “I was disgusted. The racing has been close, competitors are enjoying themselves and the public are being treated to some great sailing. Why would they introduce a niggle into a very successful regatta?
“It’s all about the spirit of the event. It’s all about doing what right for yachting. Their action was insulting and disrespectful to our team and to the New Zealand people.
“We were really wanted to race them today, the first time since July 2007.
“We don’t know what their agenda is. If they were taking a swipe at us they missed the target and whacked the thousands of New Zealand yachting fans who are following the action in the Louis Vuitton Pacific Series and wanted to see two great teams go head to head.
“It inexplicable when the team pulls a stunt like this. It’s just bad sportsmanship.”
Earlier, Alinghi told regatta management that they would not race against ETNZ because they disagreed with a regatta rule which was written specifically to deter teams from actions that might cause a collision while racing. With only four yachts in the fleet, a collision that disabled a yacht even for a few hours would have a serious impact on the regatta.
Grant Dalton said: “The rule allows the race committee to deduct a point from a team found to be at fault in a hard contact. In the second round robin, races against Emirates Team New Zealand do not carry points as all other races do. This is to prevent any chance that a result in a match involving ETNZ could skew the final standings in the round robin.”
Dalton said: “ETNZ goes straight through to the final. We did not want there to be any chance that we could influence which teams emerged on top.”
Alinghi's position was that they could lose a point if found to have caused an impact, but not earn a point by winning. Therefore why take the risk?
Dean Barker’s answer to that: “They obviously haven’t done the maths. If they had raced us today and they had lost a point because of a collision, then won their next two races, they would have finished the round robin on equal points with Oracle. A count back would decide the winner.”
Dalton said the other teams in the gold fleet of round robin 2 were happy with the rule. “We will be out tomorrow racing against Team Origin. On Monday we’re up against BMW Oracle.”
Racing was delayed today by a lack of breeze. Races one and two finished successfully, but three and four were abandoned. The course was moved closer in and those two races were completed successfully.
Pataugas by K-Challenge gets ready for the Challenger Sail Off (from Stephanie Nadin, K-Challenge)
Last race in the Round Robin 2 for «Pataugas by K-Challenge» who was racing today against China Team in the silver fleet.
The French team who already had two victories in the basket didn't manage to get another point unfortunately, but this doesn't change anything to the result as they now move up to the Challenger Sail Off after yesterday's win against Shosholoza.
The wind has been very complicated today in Auckland, and the teams have had to wait quite long for the races to start. A first race was launched between Pataugas by K-Challenge and China Team, where Sebastien Col did a really good start, and was leading the race by almost 200m before rounding the first mark. But this race was canceled, as the first leg lasted more than 20 minutes.
The second start was launched just after the course had been repositioned, but this time it was not good for the French, as they blew up their spinnaker on the last downwind leg, so the race was over.
Olivier Herledant, Mastman: “It was a long day waiting for the wind, and we had a good start on the first race, sailing on the right side of the course and getting more wind, which allowed us to lead the race. But the race was canceled because of the shifty wind. On the second race our start was only average, and we didn´t manage to take the lead on the first upwind leg. The first spinnaker hoist was good, we come back very close to them on the downwind leg, but nothing special happens on the second upwind leg. At the third mark they are still within our reach, and we can get them, but when we hoist the spinnaker, it blows up, not because of a big mistake, but because of several small ones, mainly due to the fact that we didn´t train in these wind conditions. By the time we hoisted an other spinnaker, the race was lost. We are disappointed, as we could have got them on this last leg.
We will repair the spinnaker for the next races in any case.
We will see who we will sail against in the Challenger Sail Off, we have to be patient now, we will have our chance, and we learn from our today's mistakes for the rest of the event, we'll work on that during the two coming days before the Sail Off.”
The Challenger Sail Off will take place on February 11, and Pataugas by K-Challenge will know who its first opponent will be at the end of Round Robin 2 races for the gold fleet, which are still on for the two coming days (8 and 9).
Second victory for Greek Challenge in LV Pacific Series (from Pierre Orphanidis)
Auckland, NZ – On a beautiful day on Waitemata harbor, hundreds of spectator boats witnessed an exhilarating victory for Greek Challenge. Not only did the new America’s Cup team score their second victory in the Louis Vuitton Pacific Series, they beat the team that a mere two days past defeated the America’s Cup Defender, Alinghi. Greek Challenge nurtured a slight advantage at the start line into a huge lead of 1 minute 26 seconds at the finish.
The two aggressive match racers, Gavin Brady on the Greek boat and Paolo Cian for the South Africans, had a tight and close pre-start. The two boats hit the starting line on an equal footing, the Greeks on the left and the South Africans on the right, both powering towards the left side of the course. Nevertheless, Greek Challenge soon got a slight speed advantage over Shosholoza, allowing them to be ahead in the first cross. Brady’s astute match racing tactics forced Cian to do 2 additional tacks, slowing the South African boat even more. Greek Challenge rounded the first weather mark with a comfortable 35-second advantage.
Despite being the novice crew in the Louis Vuitton Pacific Series, Greek Challenge sailed with confidence in the first run, doing a fantastic job in gybing under tricky conditions, and increased their lead to 38 seconds in the leeward gate.
From there on, it was plain sailing for the Greek crew, their Kiwi teammates and the South African navigator onboard Greek Challenge. They did a magnificent job in covering their opponent, putting an excellent display of teamwork and realizing their motto of “sail with your heart, win with your mind.”
The two teams will now face each other again next Tuesday in a race that will decide the 8th and 9th positions in the Louis Vuitton Pacific Series.
Quotes of the day
Gavin Brady (NZL), helmsman of Greek Challenge: “Everything came together very well today, from start to finish. We had a good start, our tacks and gybes were excellent but more importantly there was good communication on the boat. We were calm, relaxed and quiet, undoubtedly the quietest day so far. Boat handling is undoubtedly getting better by the day. After yesterday’s unfortunate chain of mishaps we rallied and won the race.
All Greek sailors that took part in this regatta are now in a position to impress anyone on a Cup boat, no matter what team they might end up with. They could very well crew any big boat and I urge them to do it this summer in the Med.”
Marc Lagesse (RSA), navigator of Greek Challenge, on beating twice his former team: “…[Big smile]”
Sotiris Buseas (GRE), aft grinder and Greek Challenge CEO: “It was a great day and I have to thank the entire team for this very positive end to the Round Robins. Poseidon was on our side, as he always was. Our goal when we first arrived here was to sail correctly and participate. We finish the Round Robins with two victories under our belts but the most important thing is what we learned from the New Zealanders on the boat in two short weeks. We faced the world’s best sailing teams and we feel honored to take part in such an event”.
H.E. Evangelos Damianakis, Greek Ambassador to New Zealand and 18th man today: “This is my first time on a sailing yacht and I’m exhilarated. I was also told this was the second victory of the team and Greek Challenge proved they were up to the challenge. I’m proud I was part of the crew even if as a simple spectator at the back. It was a wonderful experience and I was surprised by the coordination and teamwork required in order to sail these yachts, let alone win a race.
I have to congratulate Mr Buseas for accomplishing this Herculean endeavor, bring a team down here to New Zealand and achieve two victories. I wish him all the best and I really look forward to a continuation.”