Louis Vuitton Trophy La Maddalena, Sardinia - Day 3
by Louis Vuitton Trophy WSTA 24 May 2010 22:08 BST
22 May - 6 June 2010
Italian teams feature prominently
Three Italian boats featured today in some of the closest and most contentious racing in a very long day on the water at the Louis Vuitton Trophy La Maddalena.
When the last race finished in fading light just after 8:00 pm local time, Mascalzone Latino was the top scoring Italian boat with a 2-1 record after losing today to All4One in a race that saw the umpires impose a red flag penalty on the local boat for a collision just before the weather mark. However she may be assessed a further scoring penalty – redress hearings are scheduled for Monday night. The Italian boat Azzurra won her first race of the series, beating Luna Rossa, and now has a 1-2 record. Luna Rossa’s loss today puts her on 0-2.
Francesco Bruni, Azzurra’s young skipper reported: “It felt very exciting. I did struggle a little bit on the start line today, but we drove the boat fast and kept the game close. I’m very happy because it was a group win, not down to one single department on board, but a team effort. We did a very beautiful Sambuca [tack, gybe, set] and the match was open again.
The cleanest record of any of the ten international teams competing in matched America’s Cup boats is the Swedish team Artemis with two wins and no losses.
Sardinia today offered up warm, sunny and windy conditions. The problem was not a lack of wind but a lack of consistent wind direction. Crews waited all day until the first of six match races started at 4:00 pm, local time.
Flight Seven, Race One: TEAMORIGIN def BMW Oracle Racing, 01:03
Ben Ainslie steering TEAMORIGIN herded Oracle’s James Spithill in to the pin corner of the start box with time running out before the start. The America’s Cup winner struggled to escape but earned a penalty in the process. They split with Ainslie starting at the gun on port and eking out an early lead in a 6-8 knot breeze. At the first cross the British boat led by two boat lengths. Spithill kept it close for the first two legs but Ainslie stretched out to finish 160 metres in front.
Flight Seven, Race Two: Synergy Russian Sailing Team def All4One, 00:35
Karol Jablonski sailed the Russian boat to victory in a race that saw multiple lead changes. Sebastien Col won the split start and the right. Jablonski initially prevailed on a long lead out to the port tack layline but the French/German boat led by 10 seconds at the top mark in shifty conditions. Synergy controlled into the bottom mark, forcing All4One to the unfavoured gate. With both boats on starboard Synergy was ahead by 60 metres and never relinquished the lead. All4One was requesting redress on Monday night.
Flight Eight, Race One: Azzurra def Luna Rossa, 00:29
Baird controlled the start until Bruni got clear and pushed the 2007 America’s Cup winning skipper into coffin corner. Baird gauged his escape perfectly and started on port at the pin with Bruni below him on port. Luna Rossa enjoyed a 35 to 45-metre lead and rounded the top mark with a seven second margin only to surrender the lead early after a tack-gybe-set that cost time and speed.
Flight Eight, Race Two: Artemis def ALEPH Sailing Team, 01:12
After an initial dialup, Terry Hutchinson on the wheel of Artemis chose the left and took it. Bertrand Pace split away to the right. Artemis tacked and followed out to the right into an early four boat-length lead. Pace fought back but never really threatened the Swedish boat around the next four legs.
Flight Nine, Race One: All4One def Mascalzone Latino, 00:43
Gavin Brady went for the left side and won it but All4One split away on port. Both boats level-paced on port but All4One enjoyed the starboard tack advantage in two close tacks approaching the mark. Mascalzone made two lee-bow tacks but there was contact the second time with the safety wand from Brady’s boat hooked into the bow of All4One.
Flight Nine, Race Two: Emirates Team New Zealand def TEAMORIGIN, 00:15
Ben Ainslie seized the left and an early advantage in a split tack start that saw an 850 metre split before the British boat tacked to follow the Kiwis on port. Dean Barker bided his time to take over the lead approaching the weather mark. Ainslie closed on the run but the Kiwis led as they rounded opposite gates at the bottom mark.
Provisional win-loss leaderboard after Flight Nine: (redress hearings are pending)
=1. Artemis, 2-0, 2 point
=1. ALEPH Sailing Team, 2-1, 2 points
=1. All4One, 2-1, 2 points
=1. Mascalzone Latino Audi Team, 2-1, 2 points
=5. Emirates Team New Zealand, 1-0, 1 point
=5. Synergy Russian Sailing Team, 1-0, 1 point
=5. Azzurra, 1-2, 1 point
=5. TEAMORIGIN, 1-3, 1 point
=9. BMW Oracle Racing Team, 0-2, 0 points
=9. Luna Rossa, 0-2, 0 points.
Racing scheduled Tuesday 25th May:
Flight 10
Match 1 – Synergy V Luna Rossa
Match 2 – BMWO v Artemis
Flight 11
Match 1 – ALL4ONE v TEAMORIGIN
Match 2 – Aleph v Azzurra
Flight 12
Match 1 – Luna Rossa v ETNZ
Match 2 – Mascalzone v TEAMORIGIN
Live streaming web coverage of the Louis Vuitton Trophy La Maddalena is available on the event website, www.louisvuittontrophy.com
TEAMORIGIN beat America's Cup defenders, BMW ORACLE Racing, before falling to Emirates Team New Zealand (from Leslie Greenhalgh, TEAMORIGIN)
TEAMORIGIN dominates the pre-start, earns a penalty and takes a win from BMW ORACLE Racing before dropping a race to old rival Dean Barker and the team from New Zealand.
Today promised some great racing for TEAMORIGIN, matched against BMW ORACLE in the first flight and then Emirates Team New Zealand in the third flight of the day. The wind refused to play ball for much of the day but the race committee never gave up hope and the first warning signal was sounded at 1555 the last race getting under way just before seven in the evening in the best wind of the day.
TEAMORIGIN vs BMW ORACLE Racing
Britain’s TEAMORIGIN had the port entry at the five-minute gun and managed to cross ahead of the American opponent deep in the start box. This was a significant first small victory for the team who then went on to dominate the rest of the pre-start period as it headed towards the start signal. Both teams could see from looking up the course that the left was going to be favoured as there was significantly less wind on the right hand side. As the pair fought to approach the left hand end and win the left hand side skipper Ainslie hustled and pressured the America’s Cup defender towards the line too early forcing the legendary James Spithill into either starting early or committing an error. The result was a sequence of events that left the British team with a better start and a penalty awarded to their opponents.
TEAMORIGIN had started on port on the right hand side at speed and quickly tacked back to shadow their opponent from a dominant position to windward and on the right. The pair continued up the race course for some minutes before starting a tacking duel. TEAMORIGIN, by remaining in phase and sailing well, never getting too close to the lighter right hand side of the course, extended their lead over the next six tacks to round the first mark with and 18 second lead.
Any team’s strategy when it has a lead and a penalty on their opponent is to stay conservative and not take too many risks. TEAMORIGIN sailed fast and safe and built the lead up over the following legs to win by more than a minute.
The other match was between the Russian Synergy team, their first race of the series, and ALL4ONE, and another tightly fought start. Initially the French/German team lead but started to lose a bit of distance on the first run. The Russian team anticipated a bias on the leeward gate and positioned themselves early to take advantage of the inside turn. When the pair had finished rounding their respective downwind marks the Russian team had taken a 70 metre lead which they increased over the second lap to win the race comfortably.
Quote after BMWO race:
Ben Ainslie, Skipper and Helmsman, “It was a close one on the pre-start with both teams fighting hard for the left hand side of the course. We managed to get an overlap on them and a penalty issued. In doing so they were slowed and at the pin end on the start so that gave us the edge we needed to get away. The guys did a great job of sailing the boat fast around the course to take the win. A nice result for us but a long way to go.”
Racing continued late into the evening with Artemis winning again this time against Aleph and then a nail-biting race between Luna Rossa and Azzurra with Azzurra coming through to take their first win of the round robin.
TEAMORIGIN vs Emirates Team New Zealand
With the warning signal fired at 1855, this pairing enjoyed the best winds of the day to yield a great match. In the pre-start TEAMORIGIN fought for the left hand side starting right at the pin, the Kiwis ending up with the right. Initially TEAMORIGIN took the lead and stormed up the left of the course with a fairly large split between the pair. Several minutes into the leg the shift went in Team New Zealand’s favour and this converted into a lead around the first mark of a small 9 seconds.
On the downwind leg the British boat worked hard to cast their wind shadow onto the Kiwis. An intense battle followed downwind with Ainslie and his crew holding the left and closing the gap to a mere 5m at one stage. Emirates Team NZ played a careful game and positioned themselves well, going for the left hand marker at the gate.
When a team is behind it looks to split from the leader and find an advantage with a different patch of wind. When you are in front you have the advantage of choosing the best side of the course to start your next upwind leg. If there is a bias on the gate to one side or the other the trailing boat has to choose the extra distance by rounding the ‘wrong’ mark to gain the lateral separation or to just follow the leader around the right one and try and split later.
TEAMORIGIN worked the separation as hard as they could, trying to minimise the losses and wait for the attacking opportunity. But the New Zealanders were rock solid and not making any mistakes. The opportunities were not coming and the pair rounded 15 seconds apart at the second weather leg. The final run was similar and although the Brits fought hard to keep it close the passing chance never came.
A great race all in all between two great teams, ETNZ get their first race win and first score on the board.
Iain Percy, TEAMORIGIN Tactician, commented after the day’s racing, “An unfortunate last race with both sides fighting for one side, we got it and then the wind went against us, really close racing and the guys sailed excellently all day. Very tight and we were as close at the finish as we were at the first mark which is pretty hard to achieve in these conditions.”
Mascalzone Latino halted by 'maestro' Schuemann (from Mascalzone Latino Audi Team)
After a long day waiting for the breeze to build and settle, in the match opposing Mascalzone Latino Audi Team to All4One, a penalty, unfortunately compromised the outcome of the race. The reason was a tack too close to the yacht of champion Jochen Scheumann, that the Umpires red-flagged: penalty to be immediately offloaded.
Mascalzone Latino wanted the left side and got it, a choice that soon proved to be the correct one and allowed them to keep the race open.
After rounding the weather mark 10 seconds ahead of All4One, the penalty, a 270-degree turn, resulted in the "Rascals" dropping back 5 boatlengths. Nevertheless, Gavin Brady and the rest of the crew didn't give up and kept attacking their opponents and the final delta at the finish line was 43 seconds.
As per the regatta rules and due to the contact that resulted in the penalty, one point is deducted from Mascalzone Latino's score.
ALL4ONE wins another point against Mascalzone Latino (from Stephanie Nadin, All4One)
After a long time waiting this morning, the wind finally went up on the Louis Vuitton Trophy - La Maddalena's race course, and the race committee managed to launch today's six scheduled matches.
ALL4ONE's races of the day:
In the first match, Synergy won the point against ALL4ONE. Jochen Schümann, Sebastien Col and their crew won the split start and the right of the race course. Karol Jablonski initially prevailed on a long lead out to the port tack layline, but the French-German team rounded the top mark 10 seconds ahead. Synergy drew level on the run downwind and controlled into the bottom mark, forcing ALL4ONE to round the unfavoured gate. With both boats on starboard, Synergy was ahead by 60 metres and never relinquished the lead.
In the second race, Mascalzone Latino went for the left side of the race course and won it, but ALL4ONE split away on port. Both boats level-paced on port but ALL4ONE enjoyed the starboard tack advantage in two close tacks approaching the upwind mark. Mascalzone made two lee-bow tacks, but there was contact the second time with the safety wand from Mascalzone Latino's boat hooked into the bow of ALL4ONE. The umpires red-flagged the Italian boat for the penalty and unfair advantage, and Mascalzone Latino dropped back as they completed their penalty turn. ALL4ONE won the race by 43 seconds.
Jean-Marie Dauris, Bow: "We have jibed a bit early after the first mark in the downwind leg while we were leading in front of Synergy, and we thought that there was a bit more wind on the left of the race course. So we left the right side, which forced us to take the right mark downwind, where the left one was the most favoured gate. That is when Synergy took the lead. Besides, we've had a technical issue with the jib lock that didn't work, so it didn't help the whole situation.
Then in the match against Mascalzone Latino, the tacking battle while reaching the mark upwind ended up with a late tack from Mascalzone Latino which received a red flag for that, (the red flag needs to be completed straight away), and allowed us to take control of that race and to win that point."
Christian Scherrer, Trimmer: "it was really good that we got that race in the evening against Mascalzone Latino after the disappointment of earlier in the day. It was a really tight and close race in pretty shifty conditions."