RACE DAY THREE: Louis Vuitton Trophy La Maddalena regatta in Sardinia

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.”
 
Race Results Day Three, Mon 24th May 2010, Round Robin One
Flight 7 - COMPLETED
Match 1 – TEAMORIGIN beat BMW ORACLE Racing, 1min and 3 secs
Match 2 – Synergy beat ALL4ONE, 36 secs
Flight 8 - COMPLETED
Match 1 – Azzurra beat Luna Rossa,
Match 2 – Artemis beat Aleph, 1 min and 12 secs
Flight 9 - COMPLETED
Match 1 – ALL4ONE beat Mascalzone Latino,
Match 2 – ETNZ beat TEAMORIGIN, 14 secs
Results to date (after day 3)
Aleph : 2 wins, 1 loss
ALL4ONE : 2 wins, 1 loss
Artemis: 2 wins
Mascalzone latino : 2 wins, 1 loss
Synergy : 1 win
TEAMORIGIN : 1 win, 3 losses
Azzurra : 1 win, 2 losses
ETNZ : 1 win
Luna Rossa : 2 losses
BMW ORACLE Racing : 2 losses

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
 

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