by Louis Vuitton Trophy WSTA9-21 March 2010
YANDY.CO.UK mobile sailing news
Louis Vuitton Trophy Auckland - Day 5
by Louis Vuitton Trophy WSTA
9-21 March 2010
Emirates Team New Zealand enjoys unbroken record
Brisk breezes and high-pressure competition delivered a basket of surprises and some painful losses during the fourth day of competition for the Louis Vuitton Trophy in Auckland.
After a day lost to heavy, gusty winds, the moderate to fresh conditions today were still sufficient to test the eight international teams that took turns in match racing on the Waitemata Harbour on the Emirates Team New Zealand boats NZL84 and NZL92.
In the second race, a collision between Britain's TEAMORIGIN and the French team ALEPH earned the French boat a penalty, plus the loss of a point. Then in race three, Sweden's Artemis conceded a healthy lead over Italy's Azzurra when the spinnaker pole went over the side and they went trawling with the spinnaker.
With three days remaining in the round robin, the host Emirates Team New Zealand has a perfect record after a convincing win today over the German/French boat All4One. Azzurra, the young Italian team that won the Louis Vuitton Trophy Nice is in second place with a 3-1 score. The two teams will meet in the second race tomorrow.
Currently four teams are in equal third place with two wins and two losses. They are All4One, sailing under the German and French flags, Artemis, Mascalzone Latino Audi from Italy and TEAMORIGIN. The tie between Artemis and ML Audi will be decided tomorrow in the fourth race.
Conditions on the Waitemata Harbour were perfect for racing with bright sunshine, blue skies and a 12-knot breeze that built in the afternoon, bringing with it some clouds and a brief shower. Crowds ashore watched racing on the jumbo screen in the Louis Vuitton Race Village in the Viaduct Basin's Market Square but the best viewing was from the grassy slopes of North Head.
Race One: Emirates Team New Zealand def. All4One, 00:26
ETNZ skipper/helmsman Dean Barker took the host team to a 4-0 record, never really threatened by the German/French boat All4One after a tense, scrappy pre-start duel. Sébastien Col at the wheel of All4One was pushing the Kiwi boat in the last seconds as they came to the line but the Kiwis pulled off a down-speed tack and split away on port as Col was forced to tack and follow. The French helmsman pressed hard on the first leg but New Zealand exploited the dominance of the right side and maintained a comfortable lead. “The race was lost at the start when we left the overlap a little bit too late,” said Jochen Schümann, skipper and tactician for All4One. “They were in control at all times. It looked good for us at times but never good enough that we could sail around them.”
Race Two: TEAMORIGIN def. ALEPH, 02:11
With the breeze up to 17 knots the race began with a bang in the pre-start as the bow of TEAMORIGIN slammed into the stern scoop of NZL 84, crewed by ALEPH. There was damage to both boats and the French boat, steered by Bertrand Pacé, was penalised under Rule 16 for altering course. The umpires reported that as the boats turned out of the dialup, Ben Ainslie steering the British boat was keeping clear of ALEPH but the French boat turned away, causing the contact. Matt Cornwall mid-bowman on TEAMORIGIN said: “Obviously the French think we fouled them. Question is whether they swung their transom and prevented us from getting our bow down in time to avoid their transom. They did close the gap on us and didn't give us room to keep clear.” In addition to the penalty, ALEPH was docked one point for hard contact which the team said it will appeal to the jury. At the gun, Pacé started to leeward of Ainslie. The British boat consolidated an early advantage to control for the rest of the race as the breeze built to over 20 knots. The French enjoyed a great last leg and came storming into the finish only two boat lengths behind TEAMORIGIN.
Race Three: Azzurra def. Artemis, Ret.
Terry Hutchinson steering the Swedish team Artemis, with skipper/tactician Paul Cayard calling the shots, started strongly in their race against the Italian boat Azzurra. The Swedish boat chased the Italians deep into the start box before it breaking clear, tacking and starting on starboard with speed. Francesco Bruni had a clean start on starboard at midline but Hutchinson enjoyed an early lead that he smartly leveraged into a 44 second lead at the weather mark. But only for seconds. As Artemis bore off and set up for a spinnaker hoist, the pole end went over the side, was dragged aft and the pole broke around the shrouds as the spinnaker went under the boat. Game over. “The jammer for the pole slipped,” Hutchinson reported. “Down the pole came and went in the water and that was all she wrote. The sheet went under the boat and the spinnaker went under the rudder. It's disappointing but we'll debrief it and make sure we don't make the same mistakes twice.”
Race Four: Mascalzone Latino Audi def. Synergy Russian Sailing Team 00:19
After a pause for repairs, there was plenty of energy from Poland's Karol Jablonski, steering the Russian boat, and Kiwi Gavin Brady at the helm of ML Audi Team. Synergy had the advantaged starboard entry but chose to duck below the Italians. It the hotly-contested manoeuvres that followed, with two green flags from the umpires, Brady drove Jablonski above the line. Despite that, the Russians broke clear and crossed the Italians on the first tack. When Jablonski conceded the right to Brady, the Italian boat took the lead and held it. Even a botched spinnaker takedown when the Italians gift-wrapped their boat's bow with a messy late takedown was not enough to give the Russians a chance.
Results after Day 5: (four flights)
1. Emirates Team New Zealand, 4-0, 4 pts
2. Azzurra, 3-1, 3 pts
=3. All4One, 2-2, 2 pts
=3. Artemis, 2-2, 2 pts
=3. Mascalzone Latino Audi Team, 2-2, 2 pts
=3. TEAMORIGIN, 2-2, 2 pts
7. ALEPH Sailing Team, 1-3, 0 pts *
8. Synergy Russian Sailing Team, 0-4, 0 pts
* Penalty point deducted
LIVE Sport Sailing 103.0 FM is featuring all-day live coverage of the Louis Vuitton Trophy. On television, during the seven days of the round robin, TVNZ is carrying nightly reports on its sports news. From March 16, during the elimination rounds, TVNZ will feature nightly half-hour reports. For the finals on 20th and 21st March there will be live coverage of the racing from noon to 4:00pm.
More information on the event website.
Live Event Video Player:
Race schedule for Sunday 14th March:
Race 1: All4One (FRA) vs Aleph (FRA)
Race 2 : Azzurra (ITA) vs ETNZ (NZL)
Race 3: Synergy (RUS) vs TEAMORIGIN (GBR)
Race 4: Artemis (SWE) vs Mascalzone (ITA)
TEAMORIGIN take win from the French Aleph team after a ‘heart in mouth' start line collision (from Leslie Greenhalgh, TEAMORIGIN)
TEAMORIGIN scored an important point on the score board today by beating the French Aleph Team. The pre-start action was dramatic with a hard contact collision between the boats as Aleph illegally altered course in the tight pre-start manoeuvring and was awarded a penalty by the on-the-water umpires.
In the other races today, Emirates Team New Zealand added to their undefeated record with a win over ALL4ONE; and Azzurra took victory from Artemis after an unforced error saw the leading Swedish yacht's spinnaker pole break during a complicated hoist causing them to retire. In the final race of the day Mascalzone Latino beat the Russian Synergy in a close race.
TEAMORIGIN's race, the second start of the day got underway just before midday in a 17 knot Southerly wind. Bright sunshine also greeted the legendary AC historian and scribe, Bob Fisher on board the British boat as 18th man and what a day he had.
Skipper TEAMORIGIN entered from the unfavoured port end and was unable to cross ahead of the French opponent, which resulted in the standard dial-up. The pair hung head to wind for more than a minute and ended up sailing slowly backwards with Aleph on the right. The lateral separation was enough for skipper Ben Ainslie to let the British boat fall onto port tack and with a backed jib and completely eased mainsail bare away sharply to swing inside the French boat and pass behind. But as the British boat was three quarters of the way through its manoeuvre the French crew started to get underway again on port tack from stopped, a consequence of which was the stern of the French boat to started to swing towards the bow of the British boat. Skipper Ainslie was compromised and without being given any opportunity to keep clear the British boat clipped the stern of the French boat. The Umpires ruled against the French team awarding them a penalty, and later a one point deduction from their regatta scoreboard.
The penalty on the opponent caused TEAMORIGIN to switch to a more conservative strategy for the race knowing they just had to stay close and avoid trouble to take the win and the point. TEAMORIGIN won the start and opened up a nice lead on the first beat to round the first mark with a 30 second lead, a lead on the water they succeeded in maintaining in the constantly building breeze to the finish.
Ian Moore, TEAMORIGIN Navigator, gave his thoughts on the pre-start ‘heart-in-mouth' action, “Both boats entered a pretty standard dial-up with Aleph to windward, both boats head to wind, a small gap appeared and TEAMORIGIN took the opportunity to bear away behind the stern of Aleph. The Aleph team then pulled their transom up to close the gap and gave us no room to escape and a collision ensued. The umpires gave an immediate decision giving a penalty to Aleph and deducting 1 point from them. We then went on to sail a conservative race, always keeping a small lead and taking an important race win.”
The French team flew a red protest flag. This resulted in a request for redress to the International Jury. Following a short hearing at the end of racing, where video evidence from both teams and the Louis Vuitton Trophy TV production team was shown, the Jury felt sufficiently confident to deny the request.
ETNZ tops the leader board (from Warren Douglas, ETNZ)
Emirates Team New Zealand made it four in a row at the Louis Vuitton Trophy Auckland regatta on Saturday.
ETNZ the only undefeated team in the round robin is top of the leader board with four points. Azzurra is second with three points and TEAMORIGIN, ALL4ONE and Artemis each on two points.
Today's race was sailed in a building breeze: 10 – 12 knots at the start, rising to 15 knots by the second down-wind leg.
Tactician Ray Davies describes the race:
“We had a good start. We managed to get below the pin end of the line with ALL4ONE to leeward of us, making it very hard for them to get a good start.
“We both started on port tack. ALL4ONE was quite slow and we immediately took a comfortable lead. We had control and took them right out to the exclusion zone (an area of shallow water and rocks) on the southern side of the course.
“We both tacked away. We sheeted hard in and ALL4ONE was in our wind shadow but couldn't tack away. They were a couple of knots slower but had no alternative but to follow us into the mark.”
The margin at the first mark was 32sec. Ray Davies: “On the run we again saw the power that the trailing boat has when it brings up the pressure from behind. ALL4ONE took big chunks out of our lead.
“We took the left end of the gate, giving us the right side of the course on the beat, and covered hard to protect our advantage. Towards the top of the course the breeze became very shifty so we have to play the shifts rather than cover the opponent.
“We had enough of a lead at the mark (21sec) to feel comfortable on the run. The breeze was good and steady and they didn't have any passing opportunities.”
The margin at the finish was 26 sec.
Tough match for ALL4ONE against Emirates Team New Zealand (from Stephanie Nadin, All4One)
ALL4ONE did a very nice match today against the local team of Emirates Team New Zealand, even if the point was not for ALL4ONE in the end.
All the match was set after the start, even if the French-German team did a very solid race behind to come back as close as possible. Jochen Schümann and his crew sailed very close to Dean Barker's team all the match, but it hasn't been enough to take over the advantage in this race.
ALL4ONE improved a lot since the Louis Vuitton Trophy Nice, and proved it again recently here in Auckland with nice points scored in the Round Robin of the regatta. The team has to carry on working and spending lots of time together sailing again and again to continue its progression.
Sebastien Col, Helmsman: "we are still in a learning process with the afterguard, and we have to focus to be more on the same page regarding our target for the start. Today we clearly wanted the left side of the race course. There were two steps on the start: on the first one we put ourselves in difficulty coming back late on the line, with a last jibe a bit too late. And the second mistake came from the fact that we were already in a difficult position being behind Emirates Team New Zealand, so we got close to the lay line on starboard of the mark (on the left end of the line) with less speed than them, and we found ourselves blocked. The frustrating side of it for me is that I could have realised 25 to 30 seconds before the start that it was not possible anymore to take the left on the start, which was our target. I should have tacked and left on port side, even if losing our target. I was too fixated on it and I didn't realise early enough that we couldn't start in that position. It is even more frustrating for me today as we have a great team that never gives up. Our team can win any match, provided that we have a good start. We'll have a debrief tonight with the team, in order to be on the same page at the start and to take the good decisions at the right moment."
A famous 18th man was on board today to support team ALL4ONE: Jean-Pierre Dick, a famous French skipper, who is currently following up the building of his new boat in Auckland for the next Vendee Globe single handed race around the world.
Jean-Pierre Dick: "it was a fabulous day, and an extraordinary match between ETNZ and ALL4ONE. Everything was over in just a few seconds, with a start a little bit behind for ALL4ONE unfortunately, but we sailed a great race and gave some work to the Kiwis who were playing at home. For sure they are the team to beat in this regatta, as it will be difficult to get them at home, and they are a strong team. I think that ALL4ONE did a great job today, the team is getting stronger, and I hope to see them in the semis. I wish them the best for the coming days."
ALL4ONE will race against French team Aleph tomorrow for the 5th match of the Round Robin.
Clear win for Mascalzone Latino Audi Team (from Mascalzone Latino Audi Team)
It was a clear win for Mascalzone Latino Audi Team in the fourth flight of the Louis Vuitton Trophy of Auckland. Russian team Synergy was hungry for points, their scoreboard indicating 0, making skipper Karol Joblonski even more formidable.
But Gavin Brady has proved he is not a man to be intimidated by anyone.
Entering on port, for the fourth time, Brady knew how to disengage and he dominated almost all of the exciting prestart, characterized by calls for the intervention of the umpires from both teams. At the start, Synergy was faster and on the right, obtaining an initial advantage that faded away thanks to Morgan Larson's tactics and the Russian's failure to cover the right side: in short the Rascals reversed the situation and put Synergy in their dirty air, pushing them over the lay line. At the windward mark Mascalzone had a two boat length advantage, equal to 18 seconds. Downwind the advantage increased, until Synergy started a gybing duel that allowed them to get a little closer. Mascalzone appeared to maintain a comfortable lead, but races are the realm of uncertainty, and they soon had a problem dropping their kite: the retriever which helps to quickly perform the maneuver did not work properly. Many races have been lost for this, but the crew of the Latin Rascals did well to not give up, and performed a miracle, recovering the enormous sail without losing concentration. If the lead disappeared, the tactic decisions on the right of the course helped by a second error by the Russians, allowed the Rascals to regain a margin that increased until the finish, earning Mascalzone Latino Audi Team a 19 second win.
"We are getting to know each other better, because these races are the first for the new group - stated Cameron Dunn, strategist - but we are not sailing at the level that we would like. Today we made some errors, the most obvious was when we dropped the spinnaker. We knew how to recover, but in the first upwind leg we were surprised Synergy let us have the right without covering us."
Mascalzone Latino Audi Team is on even points with the British of Team Origin, the Swedish of Artemis and the French-German of All4One. In front are only Azzurra, with one loss out of four races, and the unbeaten kiwis of Emirates Team New Zealand.
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