Louis Vuitton Trophy – Auckland – Knockout Round
Greetings yachties,
The Louis Vuitton Trophy is now in knockout mode, below is a collection of all the best links, stories, lies and video of the Louis Vuitton Trophy Auckland New Zealand 9 – 21 March 2010
Enjoy
Waitemata Harbour to host America’s Cup boats
Auckland, dubbed the City of Sails for its huge sailing fraternity, hosted two hugely popular America’s Cup Matches in 2000 and 2003. Auckland also hosted the Louis Vuitton Pacific Series in February 2009, which gave rise to the WSTA and Louis Vuitton Trophy.
Sailed in former America’s Cup boats, the Louis Vuitton Trophy Auckland is the second of five match race regattas.
Part of the Auckland Festival of Sail organized by Emirates Team New Zealand, the Louis Vuitton event will overlap with the Auckland International Boat Show. The two Cup boats will race on New Zealand’s Waitemata Harbor and dock in the heart of the Viaduct Basin on the quayside adjacent to Aucklanders’ favourite restaurants and wine bars, providing an unprecedented opportunity for spectators to view boat preparation and the departures and arrivals of the teams each day.
Results
Image Gallery
Video Gallery
The Sailing Teams
Latest News here
Live Racing here
Radio Live Sport here
Louis Vuitton Trophy TV here
Virtual Eye Live Racing here on SailTV
Emirates Team New Zealand
Emirates Team New Zealand twitvids here
The days racing videos here
Race Day One – Running commentary
Cup Talk on Crew.org
Chatter on Sailing Anarchy here
Into the final four
The semi-finals on Friday will see Emirates Team New Zealand, top of the table at the end of the Round Robin, face Azzurra after ETNZ skipper Dean Barker selected the Italian team as his opponent. That leaves Mascalzone Latino Audi Team against Artemis. The winner of each ‘first to two points’ series will advance to the final.
Barker said it was always tough choosing an opponent, but he went with Azzurra, the team who triumphed over the Kiwis in the final of the last Louis Vuitton Trophy event in Nice.
“We know the guys well and maybe we will get a little bit of revenge hopefully for Nice. We always have good races against those guys,” he said.
Azzurra skipper Francesco Bruni said he was confident going up against the home team, who may have a perceived advantage in stronger breezes and their own boats – especially after Azzurra’s victory over All4One today.
“I think we sailed the boat very well today in difficult conditions. It was a very, very nice performance from the whole team. I think we are getting better in strong winds. We learn day by day; there is no secret that we would prefer lighter conditions for a match with Team New Zealand. But we are also happy to have a chance to race against them in their conditions and in their boats – we have nothing to lose.”
The Swedish Artemis team is rounding into form at the right time and enters the semi-finals with confidence.
“We have won four in a row, and had two fantastic races with the British, which were pretty epic battles in the list of America’s Cup races I’ve been in. I think it’s good training for us in preparation going into the rest of the series.”
For his part, Mascalzone Latino Audi Team strategist Cameron Dunn is sure it will be a difficult match. “We feel we are improving with every race – we started slowly, but we’ve been chipping away and getting better as a team. We had a very good race with Artemis in the round robins, so we know we’re in for a tough battle.”
Racing is scheduled to start with a warning signal at 10:00 on Friday morning. The forecast is for fresh conditions.
more Louis Vuitton TV here
© Bob Grieser/outsideimages.co.nz
New life for Gavin Brady
After two decades on the road, Gavin Brady is talking of putting down roots. The New Zealand-born, American-based helmsman of an Italian boat in the Louis Vuitton Trophy is finally coming home.
“Home has been Annapolis, Maryland, but my wife pretty much made the decision yesterday that we’re coming back to Auckland in August. We’re going to be Kiwis again,” 35-year-old Brady says.
“We feel it’s important that our globetrotting days slow down a little bit, and we put our roots down now our girls are in school. We’ve been to a lot of fantastic countries, but there’s no doubt New Zealand is a great place to bring up children.”
So is Gavin Brady, international helmsman for hire, really settling down?
“I think so. But as soon as the five minute gun goes, it will be the old Gavin Brady again,” he says with a wry smile.
Brady, renowned for his attacking style at the wheel, has driven the multi-national Mascalzone Latino Audi team into prime position in this Louis Vuitton Trophy Auckland regatta – marching to the semifinals with their win over Aleph today.
But there are no guarantees that Brady will stay on with Mascalzone Latino, the Challenger of Record, for the next America’s Cup. That decision is likely to rest with the syndicate head, Vincenzo Onorato, and Brady’s performance in Auckland – and that of the rest of the crew – may have some bearing on that.
In the three Louis Vuitton regattas in the last 12 months, Brady has helmed for three different syndicates – the Greek Challenge in Auckland last year, BMW Oracle in Nice, and now Mascalzone.
© Paul Todd/outsideimages.co.nz
And then there were six!
The Synergy Russian Sailing Team and ALEPH Sailing Team from France were eliminated from the Louis Vuitton Trophy Auckland regatta today, leaving six international teams fighting for supremacy over the next four days.
Top seed Emirates Team New Zealand and second-ranked Mascalzone Latino Audi from Italy each won their races and went through to the semi-finals to be sailed on Friday.
Saved from sudden death by their ranking and/or their performance today, the other four teams were paired for best-of-three matches to be raced tomorrow. Standing besides a glistening, flood-lit America’s Cup in a formal ceremony at the Voyager New Zealand Maritime Museum, third-seeded All4One skipper Jochen Schuemann chose to race Italy’s Azzurra. Sweden’s Artemis will race Great Britain’s TEAMORIGIN.
Auckland’s harbour lived up to its name today. Waitemata means “sparkling waters” and whitecaps dappled the course in mostly bright sunshine and gusty, shifty southerly winds that ranged from 15 knots to 30 knots. The Royal New Zealand Yacht Squadron’s race committee delayed racing three times waiting for squally weather to move through.
Paul Cayard, skipper of Artemis and chairman of the World Sailing Teams Association that is a co-organizer of the event with Louis Vuitton, put it best. “It’s a big breeze today and exciting for our fans and exciting for us,” he said. “It’s fantastic racing. We’re flirting with that threshold of tolerable winds and so far, so good, we’re dancing on the right side of it. We’re providing spectacular racing.”
ALEPH, the seventh seed, was eliminated in the third race of the day, beaten by Mascalzone Latino Audi. French skipper Bertrand Pacé was already planning for the next Louis Vuitton Trophy regatta in La Maddalena, Sardinia, but was quick to praise the boats and the organization in Auckland.
“It was a fantastic regatta,” he said. “The wind was hard to sail, the boats were fantastic as well. We enjoy a lot sailing these boats. For us it was a great event. For sure I thank all the Kiwi organisers. I still love Auckland. Even though Grant Dalton doesn’t like losing to the French!”
Karol Jablonski, the veteran Polish match racer who skippers the Synergy Russian Sailing Team, was philosophical. “We are out, but we sailed a good race,” he said. Noting the crew’s lack of opportunity to practice, he added, “the crew work was coming along, but obviously in these tough conditions 22-23 knots with current against you, you need more hours on the water together.
“We were just missing a little bit in every department, not only crew work, my timing, our trimming, our boat speed, our tactician, our calls where we go – it was everything. You know you’ve got to have a chain that doesn’t have a weak, weak, weak link. And we had some weak pieces. During the event, we got stronger, and I think today we showed quite good performance.”
Race One: Artemis def. Azzurra, 00:32 – After a brisk circling duel the boats hardened up for the line on starboard with Artemis to weather. “We wanted the right. We’d have preferred more distance between the boats but we had enough gauge to live through the first shift,” Artemis skipper Paul Cayard said later. The right paid and Artemis forced the port tack Azzurra steered by Francesco Bruni away at the first cross. The boats were evenly matched in a series of quick tacks up the 1.3-mile weather leg but Artemis controlled, to lead by two lengths at the top mark. They forged down the run with big bow waves, touching 15 knots at times. Artemis extended at the leeward mark as Azzurra struggled to get the chute down.
Race Two: TEAMORIGIN def. All4One, 00:27 – Faced with the possibility of elimination today, this was a must-win for sixth-seeded TEAMORIGIN, and Ben Ainslie and his crew rose to the occasion. They circled warily with the German/French boat steered by Sébastien Col. Both boats wanted the right but the British prevailed and hit the line at speed on starboard and to weather of All4One. They were bow to bow off the line but TEAMORIGIN held strong in the weather berth and edged ahead. After five minutes, as the trailing All4One came over on port, Ainslie had sufficient clearance to tack clear ahead directly in their path. “It was an early gain, and then they controlled the race,” said All4One skipper Jochen Schumann. “We will see if it gets a little lighter now – some of these teams are really strong in the heavy breeze, with good crew work and a lot of power.”
Race Three: Mascalzone Latino Audi def. ALEPH, 00:59 – Faced with the threat of elimination, seventh seed French boat ALEPH entered the start box from the unfavored end. Mascalzone Latino Audi skipper Gavin Brady controlled his opponent Bertrand Pacé all through the pre-start, pushing him outside the starboard layline, then leading back to win the start. Pacé trailed by three boat lengths at the top mark and then gybe-set on a big left shift. Fate struck and his spinnaker exploded during the hoist. The race was Brady’s and the French were going home. “They chose a risky manoeuvre at the weather mark,” said ML Audi tactician Morgan Larson. “Had they not torn their spinnaker they probably would have been bow-even with us on the run.
Race Four: Emirates Team New Zealand def. Synergy Russian Sailing Team, 00:15 – With no wins in the regatta, Karol Jablonski’s Russian team had to win to survive for the next stage. They almost pulled it off but fell victim to uneven crew work. Emirate’s Dean Barker started at the committee end on starboard but he left just enough room to weather for Jablonski who squeezed through the gap before tacking off to port. The right paid and the Russians led at the top mark. The Kiwi spinnaker set was flawless but Jablonski’s crew, two boat lengths ahead, crumbled under the pressure as Barker sailed through their lee. The Russians made more unforced errors but they continued to play the right and were only 15 seconds astern at the finish. “Every race against ETNZ, is going to be a tough one for us, you’re racing against one of the best teams in the world,” Jablonski said. “That team has sailed together for a long, long time. In one match with them you learn a lot. You do a small mistake, and you lose.”
LIVE Sport Sailing 103.0 FM is featuring all-day live coverage of the Louis Vuitton Trophy. During the elimination rounds, starting tomorrow Television New Zealand’s TV1 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.
A CLINICAL DISPLAY BY TEAMORIGIN SEES THEM ADVANCE TO THE NEXT ROUND
LOUIS VUITTON TROPHY AUCKLAND REGATTA
WEDNESDAY 17TH MARCH 2010
TEAMORIGIN take an impressive and important race victory against the French/German ALL4ONE team to guarantee their place in the next round tomorrow.
Elimination Round One kicked off today, the eighth day of racing in this exciting and hotly contested Louis Vuitton Trophy Auckland regatta. The competition has been intense and the next two days will be critical for all teams, including TEAMORIGIN.
Race one was between the Swedish Artemis team and the Italian Azzurra team, who finished 5th and 4th respectively, in the Round Robin phase. Artemis took control from the start and took the win by 32 seconds guaranteeing them to move forward into tomorrow’s Elimination Round Two.
Next up was TEAMORIGIN, whose opponent was the French/German team of ALL4ONE. The result of this match was critical for the British team if they were to retain control of their destiny in the competition. If they won the race, they moved forward into tomorrow’s Elimination Round Two; a loss meant they would have to rely on the outcome of the last two races of the day.
After a short postponement due to strong winds increasing to 25 knots, the warning signal was fired at 1245. Conditions had stabilised, down to 17 knots of wind.
It looked like a fairly quiet and conservative start by both teams, but the reality was that Ainslie was at his finest and controlled the speed and lateral separation of TEAMORIGIN to weather of the opponent in the crucial last run to the start gun. The pair crossed at speed on the gun but TEAMORIGIN had been positioned to stay comfortably to windward of the Franco-German boat managing to slowly move forwards for the first part of the beat.
GGYC wins the 33rd America’s Cup Match, James Spithill’ Carlo Borlenghi/ Alinghi ©
BMW Oracle Racing have advised that a special function will be held at the Special Funcion Room upstairs at the Voyager Maritime Museum, downtown Auckland, where young sailors can meet America’s Cup winning skipper, Jimmy Spithill and get a free poster of USA-17 signed by the winning helmsman.
The America’s Cup will also be on display at the event, which starts at 5.00pm on Thursday.
